To slide or not to slide...

lincolnblue

I have only ever owned one slide - a glass one I got about 20 years ago. I've never really got to grips with it and my slide playing is poor at best.

I'm a massive fan of Joey Landreth and Ariel Poson and their slide playing. Whilst I know ill never be anywhere near as good as them, would a different slide e.g. a Rockslide help or will it not make any difference what type of slide I have?

koss59

I own a couple of rock slides and have played quite a bit of slide for years.
If the one you have ready fits what finger you use then they’re not going to make you Derek Trucks over night. They add a tad more comfort and don’t wiggle around on your finger as much.
Worth it if you play slide loads but not if you dabble IMO.

Roland

A brass slide sounds warmer and earthier than glass. 

Funkfingers

Use whatever fits your finger comfortably and sounds pleasing to your ears. 

The other important thing is to decide in which tuning(s) you want to play. Some things come easily in (D)GDGBD. Others demand EBEG#BE (or DADF#AD). e.g. Duane Allman. Other interesting tunings are available.

Some clever bastards manage to pull off slide licks in standard tuning that sound like open tunings.

I see a direct parallel between slide guitar and fretless bass guitar. It helps to ignore visual clues (i.e. frets) and concentrate on aural ones. It takes enormous skill to hit the exact note position first time, every time. Instead, make a point of arriving at the correct pitch by glissandi. When you reach pitch, lay on some vibrato by shaking the slide.

Mainly, practice a lot.

lincolnblue

Is DADGAD a good running for slide?

billzabozo

Do you have a dedicated slide guitar? Heavier gauge strings and a slightly higher action (not massively) help a lot. The lower and thinner your strings the lighter your touch needs to be which is a lot easier with a lighter slide, but you sacrifice a bit of tone and sustain. It takes a bit of time to settle on a slide so quite a bit of trial and error can be involved. My personal favs for what it's worth are diamond bottlenecks slides.

Funkfingers

lincolnblue said:

Is DADGAD a good [tuning] for slide?

Depends on the individual song. Generally, things are easier if the strings are tuned to a chord.

Just to disprove my own assertion, Led Zeppelin's version of When The Levee Breaks is EACFAC. 

slacker

A brass slide is easier to use than glass. Start in open d or e. Damp behind the strings. Derek trucks uses a delayed vibrato which sound nice. Oh don't actually listen to Derek trucks, he's too good. 

Funkfingers

slacker said:

Oh don't actually listen to Derek trucks, he's too good. 

In that case, Duane Allman is completely verboten.

Voxman

Funkfingers said:

lincolnblue said:

Is DADGAD a good [tuning] for slide?

Depends on the individual song. Generally, things are easier if the strings are tuned to a chord.

Just to disprove my own assertion, Led Zeppelin's version of When The Levee Breaks is EACFAC. 

Zeps travelling Riverside Blues uses a double drop D - I kind of based this part of an amp demo from 8:26 on it.

Voxman

And this (first slide part) was just with the top E detuned to D;

57Deluxe

I have a glass slide and never got on with it until I got a particularly beautifully toned Telecaster and tuned to G and found it really snarled through my Session Rocket amp.

Then in the course of teaching (introducing) students to slide I handed out Sainsbury's spices/condiments jars and although you need 2 fingers to grip them they make the best glass sound ever! Be ready to sound like George Harrison!

ESBlonde

I've known people use thier Zippo lighter as the slide, traditional bottle necks and lumps of brass tube. A particular favourite of one guy was a thick walled brass tube that had been chromed to give a hard finish.
Me I've given up as many times as I've started to learn slide. I like the idea but seem to lack the talent.

prlgmnr

57Deluxe said:

I have a glass slide and never got on with it until I got a particularly beautifully toned Telecaster and tuned to G and found it really snarled through my Session Rocket amp.

Then in the course of teaching (introducing) students to slide I handed out Sainsbury's spices/condiments jars and although you need 2 fingers to grip them they make the best glass sound ever! Be ready to sound like George Harrison!

"Hi Mr Deluxe, I was hoping you could help me add a bit of spice to my playing?"

earwighoney

billzabozo said:

Do you have a dedicated slide guitar? Heavier gauge strings and a slightly higher action (not massively) help a lot. The lower and thinner your strings the lighter your touch needs to be which is a lot easier with a lighter slide, but you sacrifice a bit of tone and sustain. It takes a bit of time to settle on a slide so quite a bit of trial and error can be involved. My personal favs for what it's worth are diamond bottlenecks slides.

Diamond Bottlenecks are great, my favourite slide for electric guitar.  

I have a brass Rockslide which I find works better for acoustic.

KDS

Tele (although other guitar will suffice) + open g + slightly overdriven champ (other amps will suffice) + Glass diamond bottleneck slide = Great tone and fun. Can add some reverb as well for ambience. 

Edit: heavy strings work well, but I get away with 10's

stimpsonslostson

Greg Koch thinks Derek Trucks might be “cheating”!! 
The slide bit is around 27mins in, but it’s Greg Koch- the whole thing is entertaining. 

https://youtu.be/K-Tij3cRceU

billzabozo

@earwighoney I agree glass slides work great on electric but something with a bit more density and weight works best if you are playing acoustic. Derek Trucks uses medicine bottles (or a modern recreation) and Lowell George used to use a spark plug socket wrench, they both get by okay I guess:) If you are gonna really try slide you need to jump in and experiment a little to find whats comfortable for you and your guitar. Players can't even agree which finger is best to use so there are no hard and fast rules to slide just what works for the player.

Voxman

I use my little finger so I have my other fingers free to play triads, solo runs etc. I have 4 slides...brass, chrome plated steel, a shop bought glass slide and a home made one I made myself from a wine bottle that is much thicker and heavier than the shop slide. Each sounds a bit different but my faves are the homemade bottleneck and brass.

Jimbro66

Funkfingers said:

Some clever bastards manage to pull off slide licks in standard tuning that sound like open tunings.

Mainly, practice a lot.

Back in the '90s a guy I used to play with always played all the Free Bird slide parts with his full pint of beer, and he did that in standard tuning so that he could then play the up-tempo solo at the end of the song. As @Funkfingers says - practice a lot and then more.

The important thing about standard tuning slide is to use the fingers of the picking hand to mute the strings that are not required to sound, i.e. the discordant notes. Again, it's just practice.

mr-mac

Other option is a hoolahan slide,made by a guy I know abd avail on his own site or via Amazon, worn a bit like a ring so very easy to hold and can just twist out way when not using avail in a number of diff sizes, weights and materials (and how to measure for fit with bit of string round finger) on site iirc.