Roy Lardbean - Posted - 03/21/2009:  10:32:12

Banjo players have the Earl Scruggs Banjo book as the definitive book to learn from. Is there something similar for the Dobro, as an overall instruction manual? In other words I would like to hear recommendations for an excellent instruction book for the Dobro.

oroonie - Posted - 03/21/2009:  11:49:09

stacy phillips" the complete dobro player" you'll find plenty to be going on with in this publication

jwstahl - Posted - 03/22/2009:  05:34:56

As you probably know, as complete as it is (thanks Bill Keith!) the Scruggs book isn't the best place for the absolute beginner banjo student to start. I feel the same way about Stacy Phillips' book(s). I found that Jim Heffernan's "Reso from Scratch" DVD gave me the very basic instruction I needed in order to take advantage of Stacy Phillips' books.

So it depends upon where you are in your learning process, in my opinion.

Good luck,
John

Arrowsmit - Posted - 03/22/2009:  20:24:25

Mike Witchers stuff is good & the price is right ($25 for spiral bound book & CD). His first kit; "Resonator Guitar; Tunes, Techniques, & Practice Skills" has lots of rolls, scales, practice drills, etc that have been very useful to me.

Vic



The more I learn about playing this crazy thing the more I realize how very little I know about it...

RobA - Posted - 03/23/2009:  06:23:31

Mike Witcher, Stacy Phillips and Jimmy Heffernan are all great players with top notch instructional materials. With that said, there is - IMO - no authoritative single source of information or instructional material that everyone in dobro-world would agree on as definitive. One of the things that you'll notice as you dive into the various instructional materials available is that everyone has their own approach to the instrument. In that regard, the best place to start is probably to define your goals as an aspiring player. I agree with John's note above: If you want to play like Mike Witcher, studying the Stacy Phillips catalog is not going to get you very far and vice-versa.

If, on the other hand, you are brand new to the instrument and have not had a chance to familiarize yourself with the different players out there, you might want to start by studying the collected works of the Abraham, Issac and Moses of bluegrass dobro: namely Josh Graves, Mike Auldridge and Jerry Douglas. If someone were to compile a definitive curriculum for the dobro it would have to include these 3 seminal musicians, at least as a starting point; and that's leaving out a whole bunch of other styles like Hawaiian, swing, and so on...

All of this is, of course, just my opinion.

I teach dobro and Weissenborn at the group level in Chicago and host a website that I've designed to assist aspiring players that includes tabs and video clips. Feel free to take a look there, you might find some of my stuff helpful...

Regards,
Rob Anderlik

axeslingincowboy - Posted - 03/26/2009:  09:54:22

The Homespun Rob Ickes dvd took my playing leaps and bounds. But if you are a total beginner, I don't know how much it will help. But it covers very useful stuff like scales and backing up a vocalist.

Dobro playin'' mofo.

Bradskey - Posted - 03/26/2009:  10:10:49

I'm just starting Stacy Phillips' book, as I'm not a total beginner any more ;) I think its a good resource, one of the most comprehensive probably, but there really isn't just one definitive tome about playing the dobro that I can tell. In fact this was one thing that struck me when I first got into dobro that, while there were several good sources of material, there was nothing that just jumped out as "this is the one everybody starts with". It just doesn't exist. I started with Jimmy's "From Scratch" and Janet Davis YCTYD and maybe some crusty old tab books from Mel Bay and have gone from there.

And it is true that Earl's book is good, but its not all that good for beginners. People used it in the past because it was almost the ONLY book. Now there are several excellent books that are designed to teach the beginner how to play the banjo, rather than being a study and overview of Earl's style of playing.

jmb3450 - Posted - 03/26/2009:  10:27:52

Rob, I just want to say a big thank you for your website and especially the tabs and videos you have available there. They're great and have been, and continue to be, very useful to me in learning to play.

Jim

jmb3450 - Posted - 04/02/2009:  08:00:07

Stacy Phillips book "The Complete Dobro Player" was mentioned previously in this thread, but I'd like to add my 2 cents. I just got this book about a week ago, and it's loaded with stuff that will keep me busy for a long time to come. It's not a begginer's book in that it doesn't take you from absolute scratch with it's instruction, but it does go through the basics. With only a few months playing time on the squareneck I'm still in the beginner category myself, and I still find it full of stuff I can use and work on. The book highlights playing styles of several people including Josh Graves, Mike Auldrige, Jerry Douglass and others....and also includes sections on hawiian style, jazz, music theory, etc. Also comes with 2 CD's containing recordings of most of the music in the book. It was published in the 90's so any players or new music that's come out since then are not in the book.

Jim

Philsweep - Posted - 04/02/2009:  08:10:16

As far a a difinitive dobro book it would have to be Stacey Phillips the complete dobro player since it covers so much material when there really isn't a whole lot out there especially in one book. Even going into different open tunings is touched upon here where others just concentrate on G tuning.
As far as a banjo book the Earl Scruggs is a must have for every banjo player but I think the difinitive banjo book would be Masters of the five string banjo which covers many players and their stories and techniques etc.
Phil