Slide beakthrough!!!

[Stevics]

Slide Breakthrough!!!

I have been trying slide guitar and not getting there.

The today in the pub I listned to "Bad to the Bone" a tune I have heard so often! So today I tried it and all of a sudden I have 'slide'!!

For those keen to try, it's a great starter. The tuning is simple Es down to Ds.

Obviously it's only a start, but hey!!!

If you have any other ideas for us slide beginners please tell.

Thanks.

[River]

Originally Posted by Stevics

Slide Breakthrough!!!

I have been trying slide guitar and not getting there.

The today in the pub I listned to "Bad to the Bone" a tune I have heard so often! So today I tried it and all of a sudden I have 'slide'!!

For those keen to try, it's a great starter. The tuning is simple Es down to Ds.

Obviously it's only a start, but hey!!!

If you have any other ideas for us slide beginners please tell.

Thanks.

Congrats! Who's rendition?

[jomo]

I love a good slide player (Billy G tore it up last night). The key with slide (especially in standard tuning) is more the notes that DON"T come through. Warrens Haynes teaches in a standard tuning so you don't have to go back and forth with two guitars. I get fed up and lay it down, then pick it back up a month later. I will get it down some day.

[StrangerNY]

Originally Posted by jomo

I love a good slide player (Billy G tore it up last night). The key with slide (especially in standard tuning) is more the notes that DON"T come through. Warrens Haynes teaches in a standard tuning so you don't have to go back and forth with two guitars. I get fed up and lay it down, then pick it back up a month later. I will get it down some day.

Yep. I learned a lot about damping and blocking from playing lap steel early on, and ended up having to step it up quite a bit when I got my pedal steel.

It takes a lot more discipline than it looks. I listen to guys like Duane, Haynes and even Joe Walsh (who's under-rated as a slide player, IMO) and you're absolutely right - it's the strings that they're not hitting that makes the ones they are hitting so effective.

- D

[Stevics]

It's sort of a break through moment. I am on a bit of a high!

A bit like when I started to carve good turns on ski's!

I hope I am on an up hill slide!!

[Stevics]

Originally Posted by StrangerNY

Yep. I learned a lot about damping and blocking from playing lap steel early on, and ended up having to step it up quite a bit when I got my pedal steel.

It takes a lot more discipline than it looks. I listen to guys like Duane, Haynes and even Joe Walsh (who's under-rated as a slide player, IMO) and you're absolutely right - it's the strings that they're not hitting that makes the ones they are hitting so effective.

- D

Thanks. Duane maybe a bit ahead of me for now. But yes I think tomorrow I will try Joe's "Rocky Mountain Way".

Are there any good slide books?

I have always been a big Rory Gallagher fan but I never thought myself worthy of his slide stuff. Maybe I will try now!

[StrangerNY]

Originally Posted by Stevics

It's sort of a break through moment. I am on a bit of a high!

A bit like when I started to carve good turns on ski's!

I hope I am on an up hill slide!!

I keep coming back and editing this. Don't mind me...

Here's a tip - if you want to play single-note stuff, plant your three middle fingers on the D, G and B strings (leaving your thumb free for the low E and A strings) and practice picking one string with your fingernail or fingertip while you're blocking the others. A good exercise is not even playing anything, just going back and forth between the strings. Think of it a using one finger to turn one string 'on,' while using the other fingers to turn those strings 'off.' It's similar to finger-picking, but without having to coordinate a rhythmic thing between thumb and fingers.

If doing the four-finger thing is too much to bite off at one time, try using just your thumb and pointer finger. Same principle applies - use your thumb to pick while 'blocking' the next string with your pointer. You may be able to get a little more speed this way. when i play 'Statesboro Blues' or 'One Way Out' by the Allmans, I use this method and can get up to Duane-speed with a fair a mount of accuracy.

Listen to the single-note stuff on 'Heartache Tonight' by The Eagles. Walsh is really good at single-note slide, and he keeps his stuff pretty simple. You can pick up a lot listening to his stuff.

Hope you get better at slide than I am at skiing!

- D

[Stevics]

Originally Posted by StrangerNY

Hope you get better at slide than I am at skiing!

- D

My Skiing ain't that great, at least I can't slide guitar into a tree!!!

EDIT: Thanks for "Heartache Tonight" Yehh!

[Stevics]

Originally Posted by jomo

I love a good slide player (Billy G tore it up last night). The key with slide (especially in standard tuning) is more the notes that DON"T come through. Warrens Haynes teaches in a standard tuning so you don't have to go back and forth with two guitars. I get fed up and lay it down, then pick it back up a month later. I will get it down some day.

Sounds like a good excuse for another guitar. Will the wify buy it???

[specter1001]

I've been itching to learn more slide but I get lazy when you have to keep switching with the tuning
I need to find more lessons with standard tuning

[Lampens]

Originally Posted by jomo

I love a good slide player (Billy G tore it up last night). The key with slide (especially in standard tuning) is more the notes that DON"T come through. Warrens Haynes teaches in a standard tuning so you don't have to go back and forth with two guitars. I get fed up and lay it down, then pick it back up a month later. I will get it down some day.

I hear ya Jomo, I'm on the same route. I'm getting there, can do Tush in standard and trying the warren haynes version of just got paid, you can find it on youtube. (warren's version not mine, that would sound like strangling a cat) Playing in open tunings is a bit better. Can nail some basic muddy waters and fred mcdowell stuff.

Just read something about duane allman.
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyl...ndy-poe-talks/
I seems it took quite a while before he got the hang of it. He wasn't a natural at it either it seems. So just hang in there.

[jonesy]

I learned to play in Slide in Standard tuning first, by playing along with songs like Tush etc.. and in my gigging days worked out great, no fooling around on stage with tunings all I had to do was grab my slide and I was good to go.
Then years later when I became a serious student of the blues I stumbled on the open G and thought cool stuff. I use that tuning for a more "Authentic Delta Tone" it has a great feel for me as well and I use it on acoustic as well as electric.
I still have th Craftsman socket my dad cut down for me back in the early 80's then I switched to brass for about 10-15 years. Currently I got a hold of some Really Sweet hand made double cut slide by a guy name Willy out of Michigan. I have 3-4 I kept for myself. I have 2 that fit on my ring finger, 1 that will fit pinky or ring finger and then I have a cobalt blue pinky slide.
Playing in open G I use it on my ring finger for big thick chords and muting, in standard tuning I use a pinky slide so I can still riff and play chords with my other fingers.

[Stevics]

Thanks all for the great advice.

As usual the MLP comunity comes out top trumps.

[tigerfan22001]

I play slide and the best thing to say is practice. Also your right hand is more important that many people think. A good place to start is search the name John Tuggle on youtube, he is very good.

[05jrock]

I heard little red rooster by The Doors for the first time the other day.I'm guessing that its using slide in that song.Sounded cool what ever he was doing.

I just learned the opening riff to Bad to The Bone.Such a cool song.

[frisco]

dampening strings is the key to slide playing and becames essential in playing slide in regular tuning.

watch your right hand technique, if you master that your way over there

[Stevics]

I found for some tunes a capo is a help, eg Rory Gallaghers Bulfrog Blues.

Of to the store I went. Came back with a real good one, a G7th. I would recomend them, realy compact and easy to use.

[Jawsh]

I new good one is Stormy May Day by AC/DC. It's the first time Angus has used slide guitar on an AC/DC song, it's pretty simple to.

[FLICKOFLASH]

Originally Posted by Jawsh

I new good one is Stormy May Day by AC/DC. It's the first time Angus has used slide guitar on an AC/DC song, it's pretty simple to.

YouTube - ACDC black ice - stormy may day

[LJGriggs]

I have also had a "slide breakthrough". After many years of playing slide in standard tuning, and being a little less than satisfied with the overall sound, I made a commitment to "open E" tuning on my LP Studio. I put on a set of 11's and tuned it up (it has a really fat neck so it took the extra tension with no problems). The additional tension basically "raised the action" a slight amount which worked out well. After about a week of stumbling around my "scale patterns" everything seemed to click. The overtones from playing slide in open-E are far better than what I was getting before. The basic Pentatonics are fairly simple once you stop "thinking" in standard tuning. I've still got a long way to go in order to transpose the rest of the scale patterns and slide riffs in my head into the new tuning, but I can tell the payoff is going to be worth the effort. If this "old dog" can learn some new tricks, anybody can. It just takes a little commitment and perseverance.

[Jayce62]

I just got my first LP as an upgrade from my squier strat. I figured since I could get a max of about fifty bucks for a well used squier and amp I would just raise up the action and put on really thick strings and tune it to open D. It's really convenient.

[toneguy86]

Originally Posted by LJGriggs

I have also had a "slide breakthrough". After many years of playing slide in standard tuning, and being a little less than satisfied with the overall sound, I made a commitment to "open E" tuning on my LP Studio. I put on a set of 11's and tuned it up (it has a really fat neck so it took the extra tension with no problems). The additional tension basically "raised the action" a slight amount which worked out well. After about a week of stumbling around my "scale patterns" everything seemed to click. The overtones from playing slide in open-E are far better than what I was getting before. The basic Pentatonics are fairly simple once you stop "thinking" in standard tuning. I've still got a long way to go in order to transpose the rest of the scale patterns and slide riffs in my head into the new tuning, but I can tell the payoff is going to be worth the effort. If this "old dog" can learn some new tricks, anybody can. It just takes a little commitment and perseverance.

It is slightly different, no doubt about it. I did the opposite though--starting to play slide in open E and G and then got tired of either re-tuning or having another axe dedicated to slide--so I learned to play slide in standard. Now I rarely do the open tuning thing. There may be some disadvantage, but they are slight.

Mark

[Splattle101]

I use three guitars these days for gigs. One in concert pitch, one in open G or A, and the third in open C. I organise the set lists to minimize guitar changes, but it works a treat.

The G / A tuned guitar is usually my Danelectro DC 59, and I use that for rockin’ blues (Black Crowes, Zep, ZZ Top). I usually have my Tele tuned to C, and I used that for really delta-influenced stuff. Because it’s so deep (it’s an E tuning, dropped 4 semitones), it has a real growl to it but there’s still a root note available on the 1st string. I use it for stuff like Cruel Sea, or tunes like Nobody’s Fault but Mine.

I use one of my LPs in concert.

These days I’m using a brass slide. I’m not particularly fond of any material for slide, be it glass, steel, nickel or brass. The main criterion for me is weight. It must be as heavy as possible for maximum sustain. At the moment, the heaviest I can find is brass.

That said, I like glass for my acoustic sometimes. It’s a little mellower than the metal. But most of the time I’ll use the brass anyway, and tame the thing with my left hand if I don’t want it too raucous.

The trick for taming it is to have a finger damp the strings behind the slide. So if you’ve got the slide on your little finger (the way I play), then you use either your 1st, 2nd or 3rd finger to damp the strings. This prevents the sting vibrating on both sides of the slide. If you let it sing on both sides, one of the notes will always be out of tune. This can sound good if you want to sound really scratchy and out there, but if you’re trying to control the wailin and moanin, damping is the thing.

Cheers,
splat

[Splattle101]

Actually, a good little Zep song to try if you're learning slide in concert pitch is What is and What Should Never Be from Led Zep II. It's got a neat little slide solo.

cheers,
Splat

[jonesy]