ianmc - Posted - 07/15/2024:  12:00:27

Hi everyone, i recently started playing my lap style dobro in a blues band.It does not seem like a frequently done thing, but my fellow bluesmen think it suits the music very well. A quick google search yielded no good results on players, albums ,techniques etc so i am asking if anyone has any info on playing dobro in the genre.

Many thanks, ;)

docslyd - Posted - 07/15/2024:  12:23:01

Start with Josh Graves....Virtually all well known reso players put out some blues, but Josh was the first. Work on the blues scales....

tomkatb - Posted - 07/15/2024:  17:31:52

I met Mike Esposito at Resogat in 2022.

He has some music on Spotify.

Nice fellow. Played All along the Watchtower on my guitar.

He is pretty blusy! His National anthem on the dobro is good.

Hank III is also pretty blusey. There is dobro on many of his songs. III is pretty off track for some.

JC Dobro - Posted - 07/15/2024:  19:39:51

Troy Brenningmeyer has some blues instruction.  He features different lessons in both GBDGBD and DADF#AD (open D) tunings, depending on your tuning preference.

lessonswithtroy.com

Example

youtu.be/f0LWDRwC9os?si=9UIkfPVq-9UDKlwS

Michael Messer in the UK has a forum that covers a lot of resonator blues territory.  It has both round neck and square neck players (although mostly round neck). Many of the members play metal body instruments, as this is a big focus on the forum. 

michaelmesser.proboards.com

IMO, much of this comes down to learning blues scales, licks, turnarounds,  chord progressions, etc. and in some cases "dirtying up" your technique to give it the blues vibe - Less damping, using some bluesy vibrato, and stuff like that.

And yes, study Josh Graves, who peppered his bluegrass playing with the blues...

gadobro - Posted - 07/16/2024:  08:36:36

I don't know how much dobro she plays these days but Megan Lovell (Larkin Poe, formerly of the Lovell Sisters) uses dobro tuning on lap steel to play blues. She's one of the ones I would study.

Lounge Primate - Posted - 07/16/2024:  08:44:24

Good suggestion re: Megan Lovell.

But also remember Rob Ickes, Jerry Douglas, Randy Kohrs, and more, have TONS of bluesy 135135 guitar tuned songs out there to study. That’s what pulled me to the dobro in the first place:  All the well played blue notes.

and 151351 tuning is a standard killer as a blues band tuning, great on dobro.

Edited by - Lounge Primate on 07/16/2024 08:48:12

Lounge Primate - Posted - 07/16/2024:  13:59:34

..and check this out:
youtu.be/8pDnt7yaihw?feature=shared

Piro39 - Posted - 08/12/2024:  15:11:17

Check out Watermelon Slim ( Bill Homan) he's the real deal.

Lounge Primate - Posted - 08/12/2024:  17:40:43

Watermelon Slim is a great bluesman.
Might be hard to learn from though (if you already play lap style dobro):
Watermelon plays backwards (left-handed), with a flat pick and holds a bottleneck like a steel.