[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by bloozeman

So I’ve been getting into slide and resonator playing more and also playing more acoustic solo shows. I play a Taylor 914ce 99.9 % of my show. But I’d like to add more resonator playing into it as I’m a blues player. I want to buy a nice national or mule and using that as my main guitar. My question is, will I be able to play the resonator as easily as my Taylor for strumming and chord work as nice as it is on the taylor?

Though chord work will be different because the tuning will be different, it won't be any harder if the setup is good.

You probably won't do much strumming on a reso. It's not where most reso players think they shine. On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with a change-up of sound, and if that's the appeal of a strummed National or Mule, you can certainly he held blameless.

Originally Posted by bloozeman

I’d like to think if I got a nice resonator that I could play that for everything I play now and it would give me the blues tones for my playing and then I could just tune it to an open tuning for some slide work, which I’m not an expert at but suffice.

Any guitar is good for anything, of course. But the reso blues sound isn't just in the notes you play. Acoustic reso players usually like their resos because it goes so well with percussive Delta fingerstyle. It's also great for un-Delta fingerstyle, as heard in Mark Knopfler's "Romeo and Juliet" and Duane Allman's "Little Martha."

On the few songs I play on both standard-tuned flattop and open-tuned reso, I play them differently. Likewise, when I play them on mandolin, I don't try to duplicate my guitar riffs or chording. For my style, there's be no point. But you might like simply having the variation in voicing. That's one reason so many players these days have more than one acoustic guitar.

My own bottom line is that it's the player that makes the music. Rory Block always did well playing Delta-style on a Martin D-28 — because again, a guitar is a guitar. Unorthodox, but so what?

Originally Posted by bloozeman

Any opinions or advice? And also what would you recommend for the resonator? National vs mule?

Someday I hope to be able to afford a National Style 0. Meanwhile, I love my OMI-era roundneck Dobro and Quarterman cone. Don't know anything about Mules. I'll keep reading this thread to see what others say.

Originally Posted by bloozeman

I like the look of the national NRP black rust O style. I do have a Michael messer blues resonator 12 fret right now as well but playing that mostly wouldn’t be feasible as after about 3 songs my fingers hurt like hell

If it's hurting your fingers, there's something wrong with the setup. The action might be too high. Avoid that. It makes fingering hard (Ow!), and it makes the notes you finger go sharp.

Let us know what you end up getting. Operators are standing by!