In my squareneck of the woods the resonator guitar is a low-key instrument and I hope this site will help raise the action, so to speak!

Here's a few tips for anyone that can use them…

Use a heavy slide. The average music store bottleneck is far too light for acoustic music.

I played for years without fingerpicks. Very, very wrong. And painful. For beginners, make sure you have them on properly. I kid you not, I had a fellow call me for lessons and he was keeping his picks on with electrical tape. This is not good. You should be able to see your fingernails or you have them on backwards!

Light picks and strings sound…well…kinda light. I prefer heavy.

Your picking hand is the most important to develop and mute the strings behind the bar with your left hand fingers.

I have a habit of overtilting the bar when playing the high strings. Keep the bar as close to the strings as possible.

A steel slide on steel strings tends to wear out the strings fairly quickly. A decent set of strings on your guitar is critical to level of volume and dynamic range. As dobros can be limited in both these elements, I usually wear a really loud shirt on stage.

I use a Beard/Gold Tone Resonator with Beard strings and Beard capo.
Acri picks and a Shubb Pearse slide.
Fishman reso pickup with L.R. Baggs Para Acoustic D.I.

Amplifying resonators can be a huge hassle. Bottom line is they are feedback machines. Soooo....

Spend the money up front and get the Fishman resonator p/u or a Highlander. Whatever you go with you will definitely need a preamp and the Baggs works just fine for me. Using the pickup and a microphone is generally the best way to go as you can increase your monitor with the pickup channel and avoid feedback, as well as add a bit of weight to the mic channel. You also have options in case of problems.

Run the monitors as low as possible! Always.

(Photo credit: Rick West)

Wear a loud shirt. It really helps.

Jerry Douglas
Mike Auldridge
Bob Brozman
Stacy Phillips
Rob Ickes
Doug Cox
Sonny Landreth
Ry Cooder


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Another guy who doesn't need a dobro player (MPEG)
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