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Thread: Slide

  1. #1
    Forum Member curtisstetka's Avatar
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    Slide

    I want to get into playing a little slide. Mind you I wasn't going to set up a guitar specifically for slide or even adjust the tuning. I just want to play a bit on my regular guitar in standard tuning.

    Anyway, do any of you have any good resources you'd recommend? Maybe there's a decent book like "So You Want to Play Slide Half-Assedly"

    I was going to order one of those crazy Shubb Axys slides that spins around to accomodate quick changes between fingers and slide. But then I thought - is that how Robert Johnson got his slide? Did he call up Musician's Friend and order one? Hell no. I don't want no pussy slide!!!

    So I got me a bit of 3/4" brass tubing and cut a 2 1/4" piece and polished it up a bit. Them's the authentic blues, man. At least, as authentic as this WASP can get.

  2. #2
    Forum Member curtisstetka's Avatar
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    By the way, what noodling around I did last night on my Tele had really cool tone. It sounded like crap because I have no clue what I'm doing with the slide but the tone was there.

  3. #3
    Forum Member wurlwynd's Avatar
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    I found that the flatter the radius of your neck, the less effort is required to get a good tone.

    That being said, I think you really need some relief and a medium to high action to really get the full sound out of the slide. I use a ceramic one, and I love the way it sounds on my strat.

    I adjusted on of my strats to have a flat radius at the bridge, with a high action. I cut the bone nut (ha ha) a little high, and it sound pretty good. I wish I had a flatter neck though, cause my pinky gets tired fast.

    I'm just learning how to do it too.

    Plenty of resources on the net, just google "slide video" or "slide book"

  4. #4
    Forum Member GuitarG's Avatar
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    There were a couple of great thread regarding slide on the Les Paul Forum recently. Do a search for 'slide' and you'll find some great info.
    Here's one
    And here's another
    Last edited by GuitarG; 07-04-2003 at 05:23 AM.

  5. #5
    Forum Member cooltone's Avatar
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    I've been playing (entry level!) slide for about 17 years and the best piece of advice I can give you is to focus on your string dampening technique (muting un-wanted notes, strings, harmonics, etc.)
    I play with the slide on my pinky. This enables me to use the pads of my remaining left hand fingers to dampen the strings before the slide (think of your slide hand as a 'paddle'). Plus, lifting the rarely used pinky allows for easier fretting IMO.

    Also, your picking hand palm can mute the strings at the bridge as well as using picking fingers to mute individual strings (ala Duane Allman and Derek Trucks) if you play without a pick.

    It's all about finesse and a good ear for intonation and tone.

    Try experimenting with an open G tuning and then transposing those open tuning licks to standard tuning.
    "If you're cool, you don't know nothin' about it. It just is...or you ain't." - Keith Richards

  6. #6
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    "So You Want to Play Slide Half-Assedly"

    So you like my book eh?

    I've played on and off for a while. Once you get the string dampening thing down and you learn to hear when you're sharp and falt you've got it sorted.

    I have a BigHeart brass bomber slide now, my slide has migrated from my middle to my ring to my pinky. It'd get further but I ran out of fingers.

    The more mass the slide has, the more sustain (which I like) but the heavier the strings and the high the action need to be.

    Dunlop make a curved brass slide which might do well for smaller radiuses.

    The most important thing is to have fun. If you want more sliding info why not visit bigroadblues.com, they' have a slide section.

    BB.

  7. #7
    Forum Member curtisstetka's Avatar
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    Thanks for all the advice, guys!

    Really, what I want to do here is going to be an insult to any serious slide players. I just want to be able to fake it in front of drunk people who won't know the difference anyway.

    My band is actually a musical comedy act and I need to do more of a parody of slide playing than actual decent slide playing. The band is called Mr. Thingee and the song in question is the... uh... Jizzmopper's Blues.

    Actually, with a couple days of messing around with it I'd say I'm already at George Thoroughgood levels of competence but sadly Duane Allman proficiency remains elusive.

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