So I was cleaning up our workbench the other day and I spotted a large hex wrench adapter (or whatever it’s called) and I thought “that might work as a slide!” so I started using it to play slide guitar. Today I decided to try it on banjo. This is what I came up with. Has anyone else tried this? I used my thumb to fret on the 7th chords.
Slide Banjo!?
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Do Orange Blossom Special!
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Oh Yeah! That’s totally next! 
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Nice job!!
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Cool! I used to do this a lot before I made a “dobro” (guitar conversion) but I never fretted also, I only used the slide
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Sounds cool Harrison
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OK, my first reaction is 
Then, I think, OK that’s gonna be a thing now. Please don’t let @Dragonslayer see that.
Of course you did that Harrison, how could you not? I’m so glad you’re here 
I appreciate ya.
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I’m not sure if the Bluegrass Police would approve, but I’ll let it “slide” (See what I did there?) 
Ok, ok, lame joke…
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I hear sirens…
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In my defence, I would play dobro but I don’t have one don’t think I’ll be able to afford one any time soon… (but a conversion like what Gunnar did might be in the works)
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That’s cool! Keep at it. I’d like to see what else you come up with.
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Maybe you’d be interested in a cheaper alternative… like a DIY lap steel made from a 2x4?
If you build it, and then play it, and then get famous and then make a CMA MOTY acceptance speech, just remember The Olde Guy From Florida™. I mean, if you can turn a hub cap into an accepted IBMA category, then surely the CMA is good with a 2x4. 
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I have looked into that in the past. I might try something like that after I finish the dulcimer.
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Or you could flip the dulcimer over and build you a lap steel on the other side. That could be pretty cool!
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I made a nut extender and played it for like 5 minutes and then realized there wasn’t anybody teaching the dobro and now I wait for when ben can find a good teacher for site, where did you learn how to play?
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@Hillbilly_picker He’s not actually playing Dobro in that video; he’s just using a slide on the banjo. Dobro has slightly different tuning. That being said, it is similar to banjo, so I would imagine you could relate a lot of banjo-style once you get used to the slide bar. I’m not sure what you mean by “nobody is teaching the Dobro", as there are several teachers online, including Rob Ickes, Troy Brenningmyer, Zeb Snyder, etc.
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@Hillbilly_picker I literally invented this and used banjo songs but added the slide. For dobro, you can take a lot of what you play on banjo and just play it on the dobro, slowly adding slides, pull-offs, etc. like @Michael_Mark said there are plenty of teachers online, usually at a cost though. I just taught myself dobro since I’m using and old guitar with a homemade nut extender.
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Ok that’s neat. I dont know why I couldn’t find those guys I must have been looking in the wrong places.
So how does the left hand chords get played or are substituting them with something else.
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They are mainly “bar” chords… literally. Since the standard tuning for dobro is normally a G chord (GBDGBD), you can just use a straight bar for major chords.
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