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Lap steel guitar resurgence?

One instrument that could be in for resurgence is the lap steel guitar or Hawaiian guitar. The lap steel guitar features in a wide variety of music styles such as Blues, Country and Bluegrass. We love Western Swing and the whole Bob Wills and Hank Williams style of playing, coloured very heavily by the lap steel guitars of players like Leon McAuliffe (“take it away Leon”), Noel Boggs and Jerry Byrd. “The Salter’s Road” from Diesel Therapy has some nice examples of slide playing in its various forms.

Clarence White B Bender Telecaster – How Does He Do That?

The b bender telecaster isn’t the only string bending design that lends the standard electric guitar that ‘pedal steel’ effect. However, the invention in the late 60’s by Gene Parsons and Clarence White of Nashville West, and subsequently the Byrds, has become the most renowned.

Am I Too Old To Play The Dobro®?

The answer to that question is a definite no! If you can get it out of the case then you can make a noise on it. I’m not saying you will be making a Dobro instrumental cd in three weeks or joining an acoustic band. As I get older, and the occasional twinge in my [...]

Al Perkins records with Diesel Therapy

Al Perkins, he of the “Flying Burrito Brothers” and many more seminal Country Rock bands, has given us the ultimate compliment by playing on four of our tracks destined for the new Diesel Therapy CD.

Dobro Playing Positions

There are two positions mainly used for playing the Dobro. Sitting and standing … easy!

Dobro® Tuning

The standard ‘Nashville’ or ‘Bluegrass’ tuning is G-B-D-G-B-D (low to high).

Dobro® String Guages

I use D’Addario or John Pearse strings guages .016, .019, .028, .036, .044, .056 (high to low) …

Dobro® Necks

My first Dobro® was a metal bodied, round neck model. I bought it thinking that it would make the sound I had heard on Bluegrass records. Of course I was wrong! If you want the sound as made popular by Buck Graves, Mike Auldridge and Jerry Douglas, then you must get a square-neck, wood bodied [...]

History of the Dobro®

So what is a Dobro®? Well, Dobro® is a trade name from the DOpyera BROthers …