Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

~Christine

Since my main instrument is the dobro, tuning each note as I play is extremely important. First off, I used to rely on a tuner to tune. Now I do it by ear as often as possible. Takes a bit longer at this stage in the game, but it’s getting better. Secondly, I do an “ear tuning” exercise where I drone on the G (and sometimes on a D note) while playing notes on the other strings. This allows me to really hear where each note sounds the best. It’s amazing how great a third in the scale can sound when played just flat of standard tuning. Thirdly, I noodle around in open G (sometimes playing around with the key of D) and simply focus on playing as in tune as possible – the point is to focus on pitch rather than dynamics, note choices, etc. Focusing on 1 thing can be very valuable.

If I only had 5 to 15 minutes to play, that’s what I’d do. With a little more time I might practice scales with a metronome. Or maybe noodle around ’til a new tune develops. And speaking of scales, a valuable exercise on dobro or guitar is to play different keys in the open position (along with open strings). Even though I tune my dobro to G, many keys are great in first position – A, Bb, B, C, D, E, F.

I’ve also been really focused on playing effortlessly. Check out a book by Kenny Werner called Effortless Mastery. Talks about playing with as little tension and effort as possible. It’s almost like meditation. I love that.