You print out the tab, get that all set up. Let’s go ahead and tune up your dobro. We want to make sure it’s as close to in tune as you can get. So I’m going to start here with my first string as a D. It shows that it’s in tune. Okay, I’m going to skip my B string for right now and we’ll come back to it. I'm going to my third string, my G string. I know it’s in tune. My fourth string is my D. That looks like it’s in tune. And my sixth string is my G.
Let’s go back to this B string. Now, a lot of players including myself tune the B strings a little bit flat. So they blend with all your other strings when you share my chord. So I’m going to tune my—its a little bit flat there.
[Demonstration]
When you hit you fourth string and then you also hit your second string at the same time, you can really tell when that note comes into tune. I’ll show you what I mean. There, its right too flat, and as I tune it.
[Demonstration]
So I went on and tune the second string. Now I'm going to tune my fifth string. This beat is low B of that string.
[Demonstration]
And beyond my tuner here it also, and as you can tell and see if you can. If I can put that in the camera so you can see. Well, I'm going to turn on the microphone first.
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You can hold that still.
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It’s about how flat that second string is that B string. It’s the same way with my fifth string. There’s little nitrate there on that tuner and I cannot put it right about where that notch is. I could actually play a sharp a little bit more. So I might just go ahead and I’m going to put this back down. I might go ahead and tighten it up just a little bit.
[Demonstration]
So that seems to blend pretty well right there according to my years. Well let’s go ahead and get started and now that we’re all tuned up. Let me show you some tricks. They’re not really tricks but tips that I found and at least visualizing these notes. As you look down at your bar right here, what you’ll see I take a slide there to my 5th fret and fourth string. Trying to play that G note right there on my fourth string. As I look down right here on my bar, I see about a millimeter of space in between my bar and the fret. That’s about what you’re going to see as you’re playing your dobro down in this area.
Now as you move your bar out, like say your 12th fret, the angle that you’re looking at changes. So it actually looks like the bar is a little bit over top of the fret. So keep that in mind always as you were doing exercises. I’m going to take you through these exercises real slow. Keep in mind exactly what your bar looks like in relation to the fret. Now that we totally ever dobro in tune, keep in mind what this looks like. And what when you’re playing, you want to get normally a muscle of memory of playing that note in tune. You also want to get a visual memory of what that looks like. That being said since we’ve dropped that B string down a little bit, what you’re going to notice is--
[Demonstration]
You’re actually going to have to look what would normally be, maybe a millimeter. So behind the fret down here on that B string, you’ll actually have to bring your bar up just a little bit to compensate for that B string being a little bit flat. If I look down right there, it looks like my bar is right on top of the fret and that’s the third fret second string. But when I play like say maybe an A here, and really play it slowly, you get that in tune. It looks like it’s a little bit behind the fret. It’s the same way with this G note on my fourth string, fifth fret. It’s a little bit behind the fret.
So you have to compensate for this B string but keep that in mind. Remember, we’re going to build with all these exercises a muscle memory with our left hand and also a visual memory of basically, in millimeters. What your bar is going to look like whether it’s a little bit behind the fret, right on top of the fret, or maybe a little bit in front of the fret. Okay, so let us go ahead and get start with these exercises.
There’s something really interesting too. Remember over that G chord how the flat or B string use a little bit to get that? whatever it’s in tune. The same thing is going to happen. In measure number six is we go to F sharp because F sharp is the major third with the D on the base sliding up to an F sharp. In my chord, the F sharp is the major third over that D. It’s sort of confusing but I’ll just start with home music theory here. So just like how B was over the G that’s what F sharp going to be over that D. So as I slide in there, it’s sliding two up to four on my first string.
[Demonstration]
It’s going to really fall in place a little bit flat if I checked it on my tuner. It’s a little bit flat there on that. So as you look down on this, it’s going to look like you can try to see what I see. And it looks like it’s a little bit behind that fret there. That’s exactly what I see.
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It’s normally in tune there, F sharp. So like if I test it with my tuner, there’s the F sharp totally in tune. Now if I play it with the D, it does not sound good at all. So we got flat there.
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So you just really got to use your ears now for a lot of these. My little suggestion there is to go pass it where you know that sharp. So you know that sounds bad. So keep going down.
[Demonstration]
A It’s kind of hard to get. And then push down on the string. It’s a kind of a touchy thing right there. The exercise then is just to slide to pick two on my second fret, first string and then open fourth sting and then, slide it with an F sharp.
[Demonstration]
The more you do this, the more the tab will—you’ll start to hear when that’s in tune. As I'm doing, I'm a kind of practicing it too but it’s really touchy in there and I’m trying to find right where that is perfectly in tune.
[Demonstration]
And if you search for this, it will really help your ears to develop and do it. Formulate your own sense of what’s in tune. You can always test it with the tuner like we did. Just put a little bit—
[Demonstration]
That’s just a little bit flat on that F sharp. So if I remember right where that is and what that sounds like
[Demonstration]
Okay! Let’s move on to the net measure.
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