How Hard Is It To Learn Dobro
The Dobro is a unique musical instrument of the guitar family of string instruments. Dobro is actually a company name and brand of the original steel resonator guitar. The brand is currently owned by the world-renowned guitar maker, Gibson. While it is not a widely played instrument, there are plenty of musicians that love and continue to play the Dobro. As with any musical instrument, there are possible challenges that beginners may face and to know what some of them are can make it easier to learn.
Read Also: Website to Learn Dobro Online
How Hard Is It to Learn Dobro?
Beginners’ Challenges and Useful Tips
- Getting used to playing with fingerpicks
While a standard guitar is played using a single pick held between your thumb and index finger to pluck the strings. The Dobro guitar is typically played with fingerpicks on several fingers. This type of pick is made of metal and is similar to ones used by banjo players. It can be a bit challenging for someone who has never used them before to get used to them.
- Finding the necessary time to practice
For some, the time to practice may actually be the absolute biggest challenge when it comes to learning how to play the Dobro guitar. However, if you are able to set aside a good amount of time each day for practice, you will likely be rewarded with the ability to play the instrument well.
- Being patient
Well, besides time, being patient is a close second when it comes to the biggest challenges to playing the Dobro guitar. It is not the easiest of musical instruments to learn to play, but if you are patient and do not rush yourself, you will likely pick it up easier.
- Deciding which position to play
The Dobro guitar can either be played while sitting in a chair with the instrument lying across your lap or while standing with the guitar strapped around your shoulder and lying in a horizontal position. So, you will need to figure out which way you prefer to play.
4 Methods For Learning How To Play The Dobro For Beginners
Learning how to play a musical instrument like the Dobro guitar can be a bit challenging. However, thanks to today’s advanced digital technology and the Internet, a person can learn to play the Dobro from one of the best-known professional resonator guitars in the country.
ArtistWorks.com is a membership website that features a network of more than 200 professional artists. The website features a massive database that is filled with lessons on video that covers most every musical instrument. Each of the artists has hundreds of lessons on video covering their favorite musical instrument. One of those artists you can find in the database is Andy Hall, who is one of the best known Dobro & Lap Steel guitar players in the country.
As a paid member of ArtistWorks.com, you will have complete access to all of the training lessons in the database. The only requirement is that you have a reliable Internet connection and you are able to view the videos 24/7.
Truefire.com is another online resource like ArtistWorks.com that offers students online access to a video-based training lesson. As a member of the site, you have full access to all of the training courses contained in the companies massive database.
Each of the video-based training courses consists of many small video clips that cover individual aspects of learning how to play the Dobro guitar at home. By purchasing the online training course from the Truefire.com website, you will be given full access to stream the video-based training lessons.
Learning from a professional Dobro guitarist like Jimmy Heffernan is an amazing way to get started. What better way to learn valuable techniques of playing the very instrument like the Dobro guitar that you are wanting to learn how to play. Truefire.com is one of the least expensive ways for the person who wishes to learn to play the Dobro online.
3) Online One on One Tutoring
For many years people who were looking to learn how to play a musical instrument like the Dobro guitar, they would have either go to an instructor’s local studio or find someone who would come to their home to teach them in person. However, these days, people are far too busy to have the time to do so.
Fortunately, there is an alternative way to get the same benefit of one on one interaction without having to leave your own home. Thanks to today’s advanced digital technology and high-speed communications, you can use your mobile phone such as an Apple iPhone and use the included FaceTime app to schedule multiple online video chat sessions. If you prefer to use your desktop or laptop computer, you can use Microsoft’s Skype video chat technology to set up your online one on lone training sessions.
One of the major advantages of online one on one tutoring with a professional Dobro player who just possibly be halfway around the world. However, there is a possible downside, this option will likely be the most expensive of all the methods.
4) How-To videos on YouTube.com
In today’s high technology age people have been using the Internet to find out how to do things for themselves. These days everyone knows that if you want to learn how to play a musical instrument like the Dobro guitar, you can go online and find video clips created by people that show you how.
One of the most popular websites online is YouTube.com, with more that one billion uploaded video clips in its massive database, you are likely to find several videos for whatever you want to learn how to do. By entering “learn how to play the Dobro” in the search bar, you will be given several videos to choose from.
The video clips are created by a wide range of people from all walks of life who are just looking to share their skills and love for the Dobro guitar. Since YouTube.com is totally free to access, this is the cheapest way for anyone to learn how to play on your own. The only thing you need is a reliable Internet connection.
The Difficulty and Hardness of Learning Dobro
The Dobro guitar is one of the most unique of all the acoustic string instruments. It produces an amazing sound that makes it perfect for several genres of music like; country and bluegrass. Since it is such an interesting instrument and it does present a certain amount of challenges for a person to play. We hope that the four methods that we came up with during our research will provide you with the best method to help you to learn to play the Dobro.