Dobro sites?

Subject: Dobro sites?
From: Sourdough
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 04:44 AM

For the last several years, every Wednesday evening I have met with two friends and we'vew spent the evening playing music together. Not surprisingly, the two acquasintances, after hours of playing together, have turned into good friends. One of the two is a carpenter, a cabinet maker. Ten days ago, he cut off three fingers of his left hand. The saw that took the fingers was a large radial one and it chewed through the bones making any sort of reattachment impossible.

He is no longer able to play guitar or banjo. He is already looking for alternative instruments. Dulcimer, harmonica and dobro guitar came to mind. Tonight he said he was inteested in Dobros.

Does anyone have suggestions for Dobro sites or dobro instruction materials?

Sourdough

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 05:02 AM

Mudcatters seem to lose as many fingers as Rick loses guitars, but my sincere sympathies go to your friend. Those of us who have all our parts,but none of them working musically ,feel for anyone who has the ability and has it cruelly taken away. Your suggestions sound good (and there's always the kazoo...!) but I'm sure digitally-challenged 'Catters will give more pertinent advice. I'm sure you'll find a way to continue your musical comradeship.
RtS

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From:
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 06:04 AM

My sympathy to your friend. Gene Ellison, who used to be active in this forum has a site. I haven't visited it in a long time; but it had links to various slide guitar sites. The URL is http://home.att.net/~Ellison-TexasHe is a real expert on the instruments and some of the styles and you can contact him via his site to ask specific questions.

By the way, I think it is possible to play slide guitar with just a slide; but your friend will have to master a number of open tunings and be ready to capo to get the other keys.

If he goes for the harmonica he can look at http://home.stny.lrun.com/gnstudio/basics.html or http://www.volcano.net/~jackmearl

I am far from an expert (in fact I am a rank beginner!!); but I find the diatonic harmonica very satisfying to play.

Murrau

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: Dharmabum
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 03:04 PM

Sorry to hear about your friend, I wish him all the best. A number of years ago I lost the use of my hands to M.S. Luckily I regained about 95% of it back over time. Being a guitar & banjo player it made the diagnosis that much harder. To keep from going totally insane,I took up the hammer dulcimer. With a little practice & some duct tape {I couldn't hold the hammers very well at first}it worked out pretty well. I'm sure he'll do just fine, You can't keep a good musician down. Ron P. S. Anyone out there going to Merlefest?

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: Tony Burns
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 04:49 PM

Your friend shouldn't have too much trouble playing slide guitar. There is a man who busks in San Francisco at one end of the trolley line. He plays fine slide guitar and has far fewer fingers than your friend.

He plays it lap-style and retunes as needed.

It is good to hear that your friend is looking for alternatives so soon after the mishap.

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: Fountainfox
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 07:14 PM

I was considering getting a dobro a few months ago. One site I went to was Tut Taylor's. It is at:

www.tuttaylor.com.

Tut is an old timer, has recorded stuff and plays in bluegrass festivals. His site includes a message board in which he participates. I sent him an email asking if he knew anything about an uncle of mine, now dead, who played for years in country (he called it hillbilly) shows of one kind or another in the 20s, 30s and 40s, and about whom I don't know an awful lot more. Tut sent a nice reply saying he had never heard of him.

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: Pablo
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 10:51 PM

Stacy Phillips's site has lots of good links on it and one of them leads to Mike Auldridge who has loads of videos, and other instructional things. Now let's see how I do on the blue clickie http://www.well.com/user/wellvis/phillips.html or Click here

Cheers, Pablo

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: Pablo
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 10:53 PM

(Squeaky high-pitched)

I did it! I did it!

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: Sorcha
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 12:25 AM

Oh God. as a fiddle player, my heart is breaking for your friend. I don't know what I would do........my vote is for dobro, I love it! Golly this hurts just to think about it!

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: Sourdough
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 03:06 AM

Sorcha,

Your message about my friend describes exactly how I felt. It really does hurt just to think about it. And yet, last night we got together to sing and it was fun. It was sad, it was different, but it was fun, too.

In a selfish way, I feel the loss too. I really enjoyed playing a few particular instrumentals with him. That is over. I guess we don't run into a whole lot of finality, usually and when we do, and it's negative, all we can do is gulp and play the cards we still have left.

Sourdough

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: Sourdough
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 03:22 AM

Thank you who have posted them for the suggestions of sites. I will take a look at them and then pass them on to him, too.

It's funny, it took me a while to think of the hammered dulcimer. It was only last night, after I got home, that I realized that it was a possibility. I don't know whether or not he would like the instrument becuse it doesn't have the gutbucket quality that you can get from guitars and banjos. I'm going to suggest it anyway.

Has anybody had any first hand experience with dobro learning aids like tapes and books?

Sourdough

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: Jason LaPrade
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 11:44 PM

I just found this thread, so I apologize for being so late. But I have a couple of sites I can suggest.

1. www.resoguit.com 2. www.jerrydouglas.com

The first site has an e-mail message board that I find particularly useful. Stacy Phillips, Tut Taylor and Mike Auldridge all participate from time to time.

That list alone will lead you to many sites and sources of dobro info.

Better late than never, Jason.

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 11:54 PM

Missed this one too Sourdough.......Lots of good choices here, he can learn more than one. But I tell ya'........A fiddler knows lots of tunes and fiddle tunes comprise a boatload of Hammered Dulcimer repetoire!!!! Might be a kick for him.

Sad news though....but it sounds like a guy with a great attitude.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: Catrin
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 11:56 PM

A friend of mine, who is brilliant singer, has only one hand. He plays the bodhran beautifully. I know that bodhrans get bad press sometimes - but you should hear this guy.....

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: reggie miles
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 01:36 AM

Sourdough, I too have a friend who has lost parts of his fingers while working with various machinery. He was and still is a player and has never let the loss keep him from what he loved. He plays upright bass, guitar, (slack key and straight), uke.

Tom Scribner, was once a violinist until he lost a number of fingers while working as a logger. He went on to become one of the best musical saw players on the planet. He's one of my heros.

I play bottleneck style guitar. There are a great many ways to approach slide playing. It seems everyone I meet has a different method. I use my slide on my little finger but some use their index, others use their ring or their middle. Playing lap style I've seen friends grip the slide between their index and ring finger as well as between their thumb and middle finger. I've even seen someone use a pocket knife gripped between the fingers in a similar fashion to how one grips a lap stlye slide but instead of playing lap style he was playing bottleneck fashion. Certainly this is something that your friend will have to work out on his own. I'm no master but it seems to me that once one develops substantial technique with this style of playing, capos are not an issue nor is retuning, any key change can be made, some, of course, may be a bit more difficult than others. I have always been fascinated with slide playing and how it allows for such indivdual expression. I guess that's why it's held my interest all these years. Music is so malleable. The Form I play in is an "E" form. It is interesting because there are a great many of what I refer to as couplets in this form. That is to say fingerings that need only two strings depressed at one time. I was first introduced to this form twentytwo years ago by a street singer by the name of West Virginia Slim. He seemed to have great success with it. I don't know that I have exhausted all the nuances associated with it yet but have been thinking that it may be time to start exploring other forms. The "E" form is similar in some respects to "G" form tunings that some of my friends use but perhaps I should allow others more knowledgeable in those tunings speak. If your friend has an interest in this and would like I would be happy to share what I know about this form in more detail. Just give me a shout.

Subject: RE: Dobro sites?
From: Sourdough
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 03:39 AM

Thank you for reviving this site. There are so many topics that come up on Mudcat that people can, and do, miss topics and they slip into great silent reservoir. As a result, we've got some good new leads.

Sourdough