New Article: Getting Started on Dobro

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 28 Jun 2006 6:49 am

My latest Steel Crazy article is up for those interested: http://www.guitarjamdaily.com/guitarjam/2006/06/steel_crazy_get.html

I'm doing a 3 part series on getting started on steel, starting with resonators, then pedal steel, and finaly lap steel.

Gary Boyett · Post by **Gary Boyett** » 28 Jun 2006 11:46 am

I am signed up to this daily email and what to my surprise to see your article today.
Great Job!

I think is is the first steel article from them.

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HSGA & RMSGC member
Play it with "Glass"
Boyett's Glass Bars

Rob Anderlik · Post by **Rob Anderlik** » 28 Jun 2006 12:22 pm

Bill:

Thanks for posting this! Well-written and a great starting point for anyone new to the dobro and/or interested in bluegrass dobro specifically.

In a cyber-world (more or less) preoccupied with gear talk, an article such as this is a welcome sight indeed.

Kind regards,
Rob Anderlik
www.robanderlik.com

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 28 Jun 2006 12:36 pm

Actually Gary, it is the second. I did one last week. I'll be writing a weekly or bi-weekly article from now on depending on my schedule.

Alan Kirk · Post by **Alan Kirk** » 28 Jun 2006 5:10 pm

"Okay, let’s face it: learning to play Steel Guitar is no job for wimps. Other than the bagpipes, there is probably no more difficult instrument to get started on."

Great way to discourage and drive away a beginning student, and to congratulate yourself on mastering a "difficult" instrument.

I don't see how these types of statements are helpful to beginners. Having taught over 1,000 beginning music students myself, I find it more useful to be positive and to avoid discouraging words like "difficult," which just set up people to fail.

You may be a great player. I don't know. But your teaching strategy is not well reasoned.

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HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 28 Jun 2006 5:36 pm

But your teaching strategy is not well reasoned.

On the contrary, I believe it's a statement of challenge, incentive, and instills a determination to accomplish something worthwhile. The bagpipe analogy is lightly humorous.

I see it not as driving beginners away, but driving them to learn a unique instrument.

Of course, this works if your glass is half full, but if you live with your glass half empty all the time, well then, don't even attempt it.

Great way to discourage and drive away a beginning student, and to congratulate yourself on mastering a "difficult" instrument

I would say that the above statement is not "well reasoned."

[This message was edited by HowardR on 28 June 2006 at 06:44 PM.]

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 28 Jun 2006 5:57 pm

Alan,

As I said in my private email to you, I'm completely baffled by your open hostility both publically and privately.

And as I also said, at least one person liked the articles: Mike Auldridge who sent me a very nice note.

I think Howard has understood what I was going for. And the difficulty I speak of is the difficulty associated with such a non-standard instrument where there are so many choices to start with.

BTW, let me save you some future agitation. If this article bothered, please don't read any more of my articles. As anyone who has read my stuff can tell you, this is mild compared to when I really get going.[This message was edited by Bill McCloskey on 28 June 2006 at 07:01 PM.]

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 28 Jun 2006 11:03 pm

Bill, I found your second article as informative and well written as the first one. Anyone just startin out on steel guitar will certainly get some useful info reading your articles and besides if someone like Mike Auldridge liked it you musta done something right. Keep up the good work.

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 29 Jun 2006 2:10 am

...at least one person liked the articles

Make that two.. Very good article Bill, and you explain your opening statement so well that anybody who bothers to read the whole article will understand what you mean by it. I don't see a problem with it,- good work!

Steinar

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"Play to express, not to impress"
www.gregertsen.com
Southern Moon Northern Lights

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 29 Jun 2006 5:07 am

Good writing hooks the reader from the very first sentence and your article does that beautifully (and humorously) then delivers on its promise. Nicely written, Bill.

Rick Jolley · Post by **Rick Jolley** » 2 Jul 2006 1:05 pm

Bill, enjoyed the columns immensely!

I've been teaching guitar for fifty years and I don't think it's a mistake to tell people that it's hard to be good. (Certainly works when you're raising young girls!)

Personally, altho I know chord theory COLD, translating to the steel has been difficult, and the fact that there's such a gap between playing "a little" and actually gigging on the PSG is (almost) overwhelming.

I have told others that PSG is the hardest thing I've ever done since I quit smoking! Actually, I got into Resonator in order rekindle my interest, and it's a lot easier to get to the performance state -- at least for me. (I can play what I hear, a lot of the time.)

So, I think it's good to tell the truth. If someone wants something easy, let them get a flattop and learn a few blues licks. Steel guitar is going to take a lot of effort and they might as well understand that right off.

Keep up the good work,

Rickey Zahn

John McGann · Post by **John McGann** » 2 Jul 2006 1:18 pm

Great stuff, Bill!

Okay, let’s face it: learning to play Steel Guitar is no job for wimps.

Why sugar coat it? It's a tough instrument, and I happen to believe that playing another easier instrument first (like straight guitar), if only for a few months, could really help a beginner's perspective. Co-ordinating everything picks'n bar related AND trying to make it musical (in tune, in time) from the very beginning is difficult, and I feel a student would be more likely to "stick with music" in the long haul by getting some instant gratification AND acknowledging that the steel guitar is particularly rough sledding for a newbie to instrumental music.

Isolating the individual elements of playing and breaking them into small bits, and putting them together, is easier when there are fewer bits to assemble into a whole.

I recently taught a rank beginner on dobro, and it was real work- just the basic concept of playing in 4/4 time was such a challenge, let along trying to play a simple melody in time. YMMV but I wish we had done a little primer work on a fretted instrument first...

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http://www.johnmcgann.com
Info for musicians, transcribers, technique tips and fun stuff. Joaquin Murphey transcription book, Rhythm Tuneup DVD and more...

J Hill · Post by **J Hill** » 2 Jul 2006 8:48 pm

Bill,

Your article was informative and fun to read. I've just been bit by the Dobro bug and am hungering for such stuff. Looking forward to your next articles. Thanks.

Adrienne Clasky · Post by **Adrienne Clasky** » 3 Jul 2006 7:52 am

Interesting article! Is there an accoustic that you think would have the best tone for jazz?

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 3 Jul 2006 9:07 am

Depends on the type of Jazz you are playing. Mike Neer burns it up on his national steel which is great for early jazz.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 3 Jul 2006 11:11 am

Adrienne:

Though he is careful not to refer to himself as a jazz musician, dobro master Rob Ickes plays some pretty legitimate sounding jazz on his solo albums "Slide City" and "What It Is" along with his most recent collaboration with Andy Leftwich and Dave Pomeroy, "Three Ring Circle."

The great Jerry Douglas has often ventured into the jazz neighborhood in his career. On his latest CD, "The Best Kept Secret" he does a fine job on the Weather Report piece, "A Remark You Made."

These players are using dobros built by Tim Scheerhorn and Paul Beard. So the same resonator guitars that are heard in bluegrass and country music, with wooden bodies and necks, are at home in music that has a jazz flavor.

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Mark
[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 03 July 2006 at 12:45 PM.]

Adrienne Clasky · Post by **Adrienne Clasky** » 4 Jul 2006 7:23 am

I LOVE Jerry Douglas. Don't have his newest CD, though. Thanks for the great tips.