Resonator help

[MrDB]

We have an original song, key of Dm. Dm A G Dm with a DM C G Dm chorus.

My mission is to play some resonator licks and comps while everyone else is playing the song.

Should I stay in D? should I go to Dm? Or some other key?

I've messed with it in D but if there is a better way let me know.


Thanks

[BlueStarfish]

I don’t know for sure without hearing the melody — but from the chords listed, it sounds like maybe your song is playing ambiguously with the space in between D Dorian, and D harmonic minor. So maybe lean on those as your foundation. You could stick in a major third (F#) as a passing tone but it would probably not quite fit if it was a “main note.”

Some players are up on the modes, some aren’t. With apologies if this is old news to you — D Dorian simply means take the notes from a C Major scale. But play the scale D to D instead of C to C. It should have a sad, spooky, folky sound. Those are the scale tones to use in your riffs. D minor pentatonic scale fits great here too (the notes are all part of D Dorian). The most important chords for D Dorian are D Minor, C Major, G Major, and A Minor (but sometimes with A Major substituted, as you’ve got in your song).

On last thought. You didn’t say what kind of resonator or tuning or playing style your are playing. I don’t have a resonator — but coming at it from the perspective of a flat top player, I would try out Drop D tuning to see if I like it for that song. Gives a great D bass note and D-based keys and modes fall nicely on the frets. Have fun!

[Jimmie]

One thing you might try, with D tuning on your resonator, is to drop that 3rd (F#) to F, so you have an open Dminor; this is fairly common, and frequently works on modal/minor-sounding tunes. (If you need a major sonority, just bar back to the F#.)

[Mandobart]

Tuning to the relative major of Dm (F) gives you the same notes as Dm.

Staying tuned in the key of D will of course have an F#, C# and B natural, none of which fit the key of Dm (or F). So I wouldn't do that.

[MrDB]

Thanks for the help. I've messed with adding licks and runs in both open D and open Dm, was just making sure I had the right tunings.

[slimey]

I'd be a coward and go to regular guitar tuning .