resonator

[brandon.w]

what exactly IS a resonator...besides a big metal acoustic guitar that sounds cool with a slide? is it JUST a slide guitar? do people play open chords on them? are they tuned just like guitars? why are they in a seperate category on musiciansfriend?

anyway...excuse my ignorance and thanks for indulging me.

 

[faderbug]

resonator guitars are guitars with a metal resonator in stead of a soundboard to amplify the strings. you can play it just like an ordinary guitar although they are very frequently used for slide guitar (the sound goes along nicely with using a slide).
when you play slide guitar you tend to tune in an open tuning (all strings played open give a chord) so you can play chords with the slide . not everybody does that, slide guitarists are known for their exotic tunings and some guys just use the standard tuning.

a resonator guitar is just another guitar