Dobro Open D Tuning Lesson

Hi I'm Troy Brenningmeyer, welcome to lessonswithtroy.com. You just heard an original tune that I wrote in open D tuning called Above the Reef and that’s what we’re going to learn today and this is a really great one for incorporating alternate bass techniques with your right hand into a tune where you're playing the melody on the higher strings but keeping a nice rhythm going with an alternating bass with your lower strings. We've got a lot to learn so go and print out your tab and let’s go and get going. Okay before we get going here with the song, let’s go ahead and get tuned up. Once again we’re in open D tuning. That’s going to be from your sixth string to your first string, that’s D-A-D-F#-A-D. Once again, D-A-D-F#-A-D. That’s open D tuning. Okay let’s go and get going. Okay the first phrase is going to start on the beat four of measure one. It’s going to sound like this— [Demonstration] Okay there’s a lot more going on with the right hand than the left hand here. Let me go ahead and show you exactly what I'm doing with my left hand. That pickup on beat four measure one is just this— [Demonstration] It’s just a hammer on zero to two on your second string to an open first string, just like that. And then you slide in to fret four with your first string, basically from fret two and while you do that, you're playing this open sixth string too, just like that. Then you hit an open fourth string, open third string and open sixth string. [Demonstration] This will make more sense when I’ll show you the right hand, then you can really see what's going on with the picking part of it. Okay now we’re going to slide— [Demonstration] We’re going to slide from fret four to fret two, pull up to zero on your first string but when you get to fret two, you're going to play your open fourth string. [Demonstration] Just like that. [Demonstration] And then you’d play open second string, open six string, once again go back to your fourth string open to the third string open and so far we’ve got— [Demonstration] With your sixth string open, first string open, fourth string open. Let’s measure two there. let’s focus in on that and I’ll show you the right hand for that too in just a second. [Demonstration] Slide up from fret two to fret four. [Demonstration] Open fourth string open third string. [Demonstration] And the sixth. [Demonstration] Slide from four down to two, pull up to zero. When you get to two, hit your open fourth string. [Demonstration] Open second with an open sixth string. Open fourth with your open third. Open six and first, open fourth. [Demonstration] Okay before we move on to the next part of this phrase, let me make sure and show you the right hand and this will make a lot more sense. Let me go ahead and show you the right hand. Okay here is the right hand for basically measures one and two. Start off with your middle finger. And you can play that several different ways. Sometimes I play it with index, the middle. That’s just that little pick up, hammer on zero to two to an open first string. [Demonstration] Okay now here’s measure two with the right hand, check out what it looks like. [Demonstration] Rules you can keep in mind with the right hand is you're going to be doing this a lot. [Demonstration] Or some permutation of that where you're going to be playing your thumb on your sixth string and your thumb on your fourth string, that will be your alternating bass and you’ll also be using your index on your third string. [Demonstration] That’s a need, a little exercise just to do to get used to this picking pattern. I'm not pushing down with anything with my left hand and this isn't in the tab, this is just an extra picking exercise you can do where you pick your sixth and your first string and then thumb on your fourth, index on your third. [Demonstration] So okay, fourth string, third string, sixth string, first string, fourth string, third string. [Demonstration] That’s the basic idea with this picking pattern but keep in mind your thumb is on your sixth string and your fourth doing that alternating bass. It’s actually just an octave so you're not playing the fifth of the chord, you're playing a D and then another D. [Demonstration] Just kind of like that and then your index will be playing— [Demonstration] So there’s another example of that. Okay now in measure two, here’s what it looks like, when you slide up to fret four— [Demonstration]