I'm really focused on learning how to play "Good" Slide guitar and I was wondering if any of you guys got any tips on making a great sound? When i play i hear a lot of unwanted noise from other strings so any tips on that would be great. Also the song i'm attempting to learn is Statesboro blues live at Fillmore East. Thanks
You'll want to be muting strings with unused fingers on your picking hand.
Also, you don't have to have the slide laid across all 6 strings, unless you mean to play a large chord.
If a phrase you're playing only calls for the G, B, and E strings for a while, you can pull yoour hand back some.
Or if your playing is over on the E, A, D side, you can lift the slide, tilting it up off of strings you don't want to sound.
When you think about it, putting the slide where you need it isn't so different than putting your fingers only where that need to be.
You'll probably find that as you get more comfortable with slide, you'll do stuff like this out of practicality.
Slide's a wierd physical aproach to take after spending years getting used to fretting.
The muting thing should be the eastiest now, since the picking half of slide isn't all that foreign.
"Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello
what Neo said..
I might add that another technique is to use the pads of your fingers on your fretting hand (the ones behind the slide) to dampen the strings.
Also, try some open tunings. Duane used open E a lot. Open G is another popular tuning.
"If you're cool, you don't know nothin' about it. It just is...or you ain't." - Keith Richards
All good advice. I'd also suggest using heavy strings and maybe raising the
action just a bit, but not too much. Only slide on the strings that you are
using to keep the unwanted noise to a minimum.
Nothin left to do but smile smile smile.....
Best way to go would be to set up one guitar (if you have more than one, that is) especially for slide. If you don't, you might want to consider getting one. A lot of the quality issues that are usually valid for guitars don't mean much for a guitar that is being used for slide. Example: the cheap Danelectro reissues make a damn fine slide guitar.
Now go at least one step up in your string gauge - let's say go for an .011 set and raise the action so you have some space between the strings and the fretboard for a clean tone. You can start with the standard tuning - that's easy for the simple reason that you'll know where your notes are. Standard position would be where your tonic is on the g string and you go from there. But a lot of the fun is in open tunings - you can get all your intervals there: major, minor, dominant seventh, even diminished. Re: damping: there's more than one way to dampen unwanted noise and so-called "ghost notes": one would be damping with the heel of your right hand on the bridge like you might already do with standard playing, and then the most important technique would be to drag one of your left hand fingers behind the slide ( towards the nut) on the strings. Fingerpickers leave their right hand fingers on the strings that are not being plucked.
To get a reference for all the ins and outs of slide playing, get Arlen Roth's book "Slide Guitar" - that'll get you on your way in terms of everything that's important in slide - best 15 bucks you might ever spend in terms of trying to slide. There's also a lot of very good slide sites on the web. Planet Dobro, for instance or google for the slide guitar web ring. And: don't start with Statesboro Blues cause that's one hard to play tune, for sure.
Good Luck
Sliding Tom
Funny this should come up. I was just working on One Way Out and thinking how much I hate Duane....
It's been a while since I've played it, and for some reason I always get stuck with the slide part. I'm having to re-learn all the important riffs.
telecast, playing enough just slide to get me by.
A friend in need is a good reason to screen your calls.
I acctualy have an old Hamer strat copy lying around. I normally play 11's so i will but some 12's on um and raise the action. I know all about leaving a finger trailing the slide but i do mute all the other strings with my right hand if i am reading correct. Alright guys thanks! HEy Tom can i get that book at pretty much every book store?
More to the point, use the *fingers* of your right hand to mute the strings you're not playing. that will get almost all the remaining "unwanted noise" out of your sound. Ditch your pick when playing slide.
I'd also use even heavier strings than suggested - .013-.056
The Arlen Roth book should be readily available - amazom has it, for example.
The Lee Roy Parnell video is fine - he's an excellent player but not a very good teacher, I'm afraid - a little unstructured, so it might not be too good for someone just starting out on slide. If you want to learn from a video / DVD you might be better off with Roy Rogers' Slide Guitar for Blues and Rock, where he pretty much covers all aspects of slide playing, mostly in open G and open D/E. 90 minutes full of very valuable info. And regarding damping unwanted strings: just practice, it'll come to you.
I found the Parnell vid very useful. Learned a great deal.
I didn't mean to say it's bad but I find Roy Rogers' vid a little more structured for someone who is just starting out on slide. So if I only could buy one I'd get that one first.
The secret to slide.....just keep doin' it till it don't suck....then keep doin' it until it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up and puts chill bumps all over your arms. When that happens, and you realize..........
"Hey, THAT'S ME DOING THAT!!!!!!"
well, it just makes it all worth while.
If you leave the house, you're just asking for it.
Well for me, the Parnell vid gave me about what I wanted and needed, and I took it from there.
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