Playing Dobro In The Dreaded Key of F

George Keoki Lake · Post by **George Keoki Lake** » 21 Dec 2005 11:33 pm

Hey guys...I have never used a capo...'nor have I ever considered using a capo on steel. Playing in any key is a great challenge. No matter what tuning is used, I really question why a capo should ever be necessary ?

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 22 Dec 2005 6:02 am

George,- in my case I use a capo if I am to accompany myself or some other singer, say in the key of "F" on my open-D tuned Weiss, and desperately need to use open strings to get the chords and moves I want. Those drone bass notes are sometimes crucial... Besides that,- never.

Steinar

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www.gregertsen.com

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 22 Dec 2005 7:59 am

George, for much Hawaiian style and Jerry Byrd style, you don't need open strings. But if you listen to Jerry Douglas' very popular style of super fast hammer-ons and pull-offs, you just can't get that in multiple keys without a capo, retuning, and/or several Dobros with different tunings. I have seen pictures of Jerry D. on stage with a half dozen Dobros. He wouldn't be doing that if he really didn't need to. He can play in closed positions in a single tuning better than 99% of the rest of us if he wants to. But he still feels he needs multiple tunings for some things.

Mark can try to see what he can get with those two open strings that work in F, or with learning the C myxolidian scale, or just working with closed positions and slants if he wants to. But there is nothing wrong with using a capo or retuning if that allows him to get something not otherwise available.

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 22 Dec 2005 1:21 pm

Using a capo to avoid learning to play in various keys is cutting yourself off at the feet, improvisationally, but it's certainly true that some stylistic approaches are served by capoing. Many top bluegrassers routinely capo for the "open G" sound. Noteable also is Rob Ickes, who plays amazing stuff in every key without one.
In my case, I really like to use a capo to access some of the other "open" scales, particularly D- as the patterns and phrasing are so different than "open G".

ie: Playing in Eb capoed at fret 1. One of my duo partners tunes down a half step and this is a favored position for his "key of E" tunes.

I still would usually play in F without a capo, using F scale notes, and the C major scale, and honing in on the Roots on the third fret D string, and the thirds on the various A notes.

Larry Robbins · Post by **Larry Robbins** » 24 Dec 2005 12:40 pm

Well....its Christmas Eve. Let us know how you make out tonight

Good Luck!

Seasons Greetings

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 25 Dec 2005 9:16 pm

Well, Mark???

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 26 Dec 2005 10:53 am

I guess they switched Mark to washtub bass....

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 26 Dec 2005 11:45 am

Well, since you guys are all waiting with baited breath...

It went reasonably well during the Christmas Eve service.

My friend Badger read of my plight-he lives about 20 minutes from me and owns 2 nice resos. So I was able to borrow his black Beard Mike Auldridge model as a second guitar. It was looking vaguely Jerry Douglas-like with two sharp looking dobros on guitar stands (my maple Clinesmith also) before the service started. It was the closest I'll ever come to my fantasy of playing with Alison Krauss & Union Station!

By having a second guitar available, I tuned the Beard down to F. The Beard MA has a more resonant bass quality than the Clinesmith. I largely avoided strings one and 2 on those two F songs, concentrating on strings 3 through 6, and I think it sounded pretty good.

Pro musicians here, Mark Van Allen included, have suggested that we should have a better handle on being able to play out of all keys-and every time I go to another workshop that is impressed upon me by the teacher, and about 3 weeks ago was no exception. Rob Ickes was visiting his family (he's originally from Millbrae, just south of S.F., before moving to Nashville in about '92) and he put on a workshop in Burlingame (our own Brad Bechtel was in attendance-hi Brad!). Along with many great tips, Rob really emphasized learning your scales. In spite of how different methods have evolved over decades in learning how to play an instrument-it still comes down to being able to play those scales backward and forward! But, as I mentioned in the original post-I don't know my F scales very well-and wasn't going to become very competent on them with about 4 days notice, so I needed another approach. If it weren't for the availablity of the second dobro-I would have capo'd at 3. But tuning down to F allowed me to use a lot of the moves that I am comfortable with in open G. The strings felt slightly flabby-but not nearly noticeable enough to put on different gauges-especially for two three minute songs! All that said, Jerry Douglas posted on his bulletin board that he likes playing out of G in the key of F-he likes the tone of the guitar up around the 10th fret, before you get out over the body of the guitar, as he put it. But he didn't bother to explain why he plays "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow" with a guitar tuned to F with AKUS-but I think because it is a rousing bluegrasser he likes to have all the hammer ons and pull offs available.

There was a brief horror story on Saturday evening though. I was to play through "Silent Night" one time before the singing started as the final song. Like many churches on Christmas
Eve, all in attendance were given a candle to light during this segment. What no one bothered to warn me about was that as the song started, all the lights were to be switched off. I started into "Silent" (key of A, okay-I capoed the Clinesmith at 2-I've played the song without capo plenty of times, but I thought it would be cool to have the hammer-ons and pull offs). The keyboard player was backing me. Imagine my surprise, on my non-fretted instrument when it went pitch black! I got through the earlier part of the song fine, I think the intonation was accurate-but during the "sleep in Heavenly peace" part when I had to go up to the 12th, then 11th frets-I started to crash and burn and felt myself break out into an instant sweat. Fortunately our keyboardist didn't miss a beat so I think the damage was fairly minimal when I made my recovery.

Naturally I nailed the thing prior to the service during the sound check-but hey, whether you are an amateur playing at church, a weekend warrior at a club gig, or a pro at Carnegie Hall-you gotta be ready for anything!

This coming Sunday I am the music leader, so I will make sure to choose some songs for dobro that I have played a bunch of times-these once a year Christmas gigs can be stressful!

I'm thinking of doing the AKUS song by Ron Block, "A Living Prayer" that Alison Krauss sings so beautifully. On their last album, Jerry Douglas does not play dobro on it-it's the only one on the cd that he doesn't play on, but we have done it one time only at our church, and I did play on it. If you keep your playing subtle and don't get in the singer's way it can be good one for the dobro, along with just a six-string acoustic and maybe bass.

Once again guys, thanks for all the tips and suggestions for playing in F-fun reading and very educational!

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Mark

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 26 Dec 2005 12:37 pm

since you guys are all waiting with baited breath...

I've been to many steel shows....and let me tell you,....there's a lot of guys whose breath smells like bait!

Thanks for the conclusion Mark. It's a good read and always an education.[This message was edited by HowardR on 26 December 2005 at 12:38 PM.]

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 26 Dec 2005 1:14 pm

Actually playing in the dark is a real problem when I go to festivals and join the jam sessions. If there isn't enough light, playing Dobro becomes a real problem.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 26 Dec 2005 2:00 pm

Here is a handy little light.

Lee, from South Texas