G-B-D-G-B-D

• OVERVIEW •

Dobros, resonators, banjos, and 7-string ‘Russian guitars’ often take ‘repeated’ open G tunings – such as ‘looping’ a G-B-D major triad sequence throughout all the strings in turn. Setting up this way narrows the open-string range to 19 semitones (like Standard minus a string) – but the cycling regularity simplifies the fretboard’s harmonic geometry.

 

Known as ‘Square-Neck Dobro’ amongst North American ‘resonator’ guitarists, the tuning is also used in Hawaii, where it evolved from ‘Taro Patch’ some time around the 1920s (a.k.a. Open G: which swaps the low tones to D-G-D-G-B-D). Today’s kī hō’alu (slack-key) artists tend to refer to the pattern as ‘High Bass G’ (also see Banjo tuning: G-G-D-G-B-D).

Pattern: 4>3>5>4>3

Harmony: Gmaj | 1-3-5-1-3-5

• TUNING TONES •

• SOUNDS •

A ‘dobro’ is a ‘wood-bodied, cone-resonator’ guitar (see below). The term, now in general use, comes from a specific brand name – the original Dobro was crafted by John Dopyera, a 24-year-old Slovak-American luthier, who developed its ‘ampliphonic’ design in the late 1920s. He soon established a new instrument workshop with his two brothers, naming it ‘Dobro’: a Slovak/Slavic word meaning ‘good’, and also a contraction of ‘Dopyera brothers’.

 

His son John Jr. expands on the tale: “Dad told me that one day [in 1925], a vaudeville guitar player named George Beauchamp stopped by his shop…Mr. Beauchamp indicated that his acoustic guitar was unable to produce enough volume to compete with other instruments in the vaudeville orchestra….What came from their discussion was the idea of placing aluminum resonators into the guitar body to amplify the sound…Several months of experimenting resulted in a ‘tri-cone’, all-metal German-silver Hawaiian guitar” (Nigel Tufnel, to whom this entire project is dedicated, would doubtless approve).

 

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• Simple Gifts – Troy Brenningmeyer (2020):

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“Even though, in objective terms, [Dopyera’s] major contribution was with guitars, he also had at least three patents relating to violins…He realized few financial benefits. His rewards were ample, however, in what mattered to him most – the appreciation of those who enjoyed using and listening to these instruments.” (John Dopyera’s son John Jr.)

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To witness the tuning in resonator-guitar action, check out artists such as Andy Hall (Demo) and Troy Brenningmeyer (Demo, Sleepwalk). And over in Hawaii, see where playful slack-key master Ledward Kaapana takes it (Radio Hula/Yellow Ginger Lei). (n.b. Also note GBDGBD’s ‘half-tempered‘ microtonal possibilities, as discussed on Peterson’s ‘sweetened tunings‘ page).

 

For its use on the 7-string ‘Russian’ guitar, check out Oleg Timogeyev – the leading force behind the instrument’s modern revival. As he puts it, “Russian guitar is always tuned to the G chord“: in his case arranged as D-G-B-D-G-B-D (although he also has an unconventional ‘harp-guitar’: his 5 extra strings don’t just extend the bass, but add notes between those of the ‘normal’ strings too, i.e. a ‘re-entrant‘ tuning).

 

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• Demo: Russian 7-string – Oleg Timofeyev (2017):

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“Early music circles are a lot more receptive to experiments [than] contemporary guitarists…When I suggest to a classical guitarist ‘How about trying a DGBDGBD tuning? Just for fun: I’ll even lend you a guitar and [a] truckload of music’, nobody seems to have enough curiosity, courage, or simply time…” (Oleg Timofeyev)

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• NUMBERS •

	6str	5str	4str	3str	2str	1str
Note	G	B	D	G	B	D
Alteration	+3	+2	0	0	0	-2
Tension (%)	+41	+26	0	0	0	-21
Freq. (Hz)	98	123	147	196	247	294
Pattern (>)	4	3	5	4	3	–
Semitones	0	4	7	12	16	19
Intervals	1	3	5	1	3	5

• See my Tunings Megatable for further such nerdery: more numbers, intervallic relations, comparative methods, etc. And to any genuine vibratory scientists reading: please critique my DIY analysis!

• RELATED •

—Associated tunings: proximities of shape, concept, context, etc…

• Banjo (this with 5str -4): piling up Gs at the low end
• Open G: the common variant inverted with a D bass
• Overtone Series: same low half, then G’s harmonics

• MORE INFO •

—Further learnings: sources, readings, lessons, other onward links…

• Dopyera’s Dobros: learn more about the life of the resonator’s inventor via an Osobnosti profile, as well as a longer-scale overview of Resonator Guitar History from Martyn Roper of The Washboard Resonators, a ‘modern vaudeville’ duet from Leeds – and also check out the recollections of his son John Jr. (“Dad made his first violin under his father’s tutelage before the age of 14…Dad, with his father, started a general cabinet-making and repair shop, in which they also repaired musical instruments…[they] started manufacturing banjos. How many they made and sold I do not know. It was during this time, however that an incident occurred that was to change the shape of acoustic instrument development…”)
• Russian guitars: more from seven-string revivalist Oleg Timofeyev – start with his Czar’s Guitar album (a guitar duet with John Schneiderman), a quick interview at the 2012 Festiwal Narol Arte, and a profile from Harp Guitars (“We all know how the campanella-style technique [i.e. allowing open strings to ring]…makes the guitar sound more ‘harp-like‘ from the consecutive overlapping notes….the Russian guitar took this concept further by implementing the open G tuning to facilitate…more open strings being used, and…a more harp-like technique of both the left and right hands.”)

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Header image: one of John Dopyera’s Dobros (1940s)