Hey all - does anyone have a recommendation for good learning materials for dobro to get up to speed quickly?
I'm very comfortable on E9 pedal steel, but have only made very limited forays into playing non-pedal over the years and may have a gig requiring some basic dobro playing...
I certainly don't need to master the craft or even really improvise in the tuning - just need a quick way to get a handful of licks under control to bluff my way through a few songs in the set
You might listen to some old recordings that feature Josh Graves (Flatt & Scruggs) and Bashful Brother Oswald (Roy Acuff) for some basic Dobro vocabulary. Also, many of Tom T Hall's older recordings feature a lot of Dobro backup behind the vocals.
GFI Expo S-10PE, Sho-Bud 6139, Fender 2x8 Stringmaster, Supro consoles, Dobro. And more.
Go to youtube and watch some clips of Lessons with Troy. He does a good job of slowing down licks for teaching and explains them well. He has a lot of content.
Then if you like what he does, you can buy the full lesson or subscribe.
A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first.
I just bought a dobro and am learning lots from Ivan. He is doing a beginners course that started the first of the year and there is tons of content no matter what level you are at. Well worth the small monthly price.
Ivan’s monthly Patreon is very good and not expensive. He’s a great teacher and there is a lot of content there (mostly songs). Mike Witcher’s Dobro courses on Peghead Nation are terrific as well. Long time lap steel player who purchased a Dobro a little over a year ago with the intention of learning bluegrass Dobro. I’ve learned so much in that time from both of these courses including close to 20 songs adapted for Dobro.
Each lesson is $10 to buy, and we'll worth it for a crash course in GBDGBD tuning.
Two caveats:
1. Troy's will teach a lick in C, and then teach it again in G as a totally new lick. So there aren't really 36 licks. And many of them are the same, but with pinches vs staggering the notes.
2. Even as a total noob to steel, I found Troy's lessons EXTREMELY slow paced. (Granted, I had a background in banjo, so that might be a factor.)
But as I said, they are worth the money as a quick study.
I figured the low price of the book was worth it if it saved me a couple of hours research but I must admit, I am very impressed by the depth of content and quality of explanations.
I would say it meets your ask. It isn't a licks-library but many of the exercises, coupled with your background should get you what you want.
Paul Seager wrote: 22 Jan 2026 2:49 am
I've played lap-steel for a while and dabble in E9 PSG. Last year I began to take an interest in Dobro and found it surprisingly challenging.
I figured the low price of the book was worth it if it saved me a couple of hours research but I must admit, I am very impressed by the depth of content and quality of explanations.
I would say it meets your ask. It isn't a licks-library but many of the exercises, coupled with your background should get you what you want.
