I'm not that good with a slide yet,but I've been playing in open G.I'm also strumming some older songs,played by the Cater Family and such. Anybody use a resonator other than just for slide guitar?
Well yeah, you can play anything you want on it. I saw Béla Fleck play an hour of classical guitar on a National Tricone. They're very versatile guitars, as are spider bridge resos. Biscuits are less flexible IMO.
I play mostly slide on everything, not just my reso.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
What's the difference between spider and biscuit bridges?
A spider bridge is the Dobro type. The cone is concave, with an 8-legged spider on top that has the saddle in the middle. The legs of the spider rest on the outer part of the cone and transfer the vibratory force of the strings there. A central tension screw adjusts the preload force. The biscuit type has a convex cone with the saddle on a wooden "biscuit" in the center. They sound very different. The third type of reso, which was really the first, is the tricone with three small cones under a T-bridge. Sort of sounds like a blend of the other two. Here's a good article on the three types: http://www.acousticfingerstyle.com/ResonatorsExplained.htm
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Well yeah, you can play anything you want on it.
I just recently saw a "Soundstage" program on PBS with Emilou Harris and Mark Knopfler, and he was playing a resonator most of the time, only picking up a strat for couple of lead parts. I was surprised, in my mind I had kind of pigeon holed resonators as "delta blues" or something like that.
--vink
"Life is either an adventure or nothing" -- Helen Keller
