I want to learn to play slide...

[VAiN]

So, I've decided I'd like to learn me some slide gee-tar... I purchased a glass slide, now what? Anyone have any tips, advice, helpful links, etc?

[Jagermeister]

So, I've decided I'd like to learn me some slide gee-tar... I purchased a glass slide, now what? Anyone have any tips, advice, helpful links, etc?

Put it on your finger and start sliding. I think you are supose to do an open tune but you don't have to. I never really tried it that much but it's not hard.

[Nitro Express]

Yup. To play Ted Nugent's Hybernation you use your finger as a slide on standard tuning. It sounds cool. You can use any tuning and slide with anything.

[Nitro Express]

You can even use a plumbers wrench as a slide.

[chefcraig]

First off, adjust your settings on the guitar and amp to a fairly chunky and mildly distorted tone. Use a light touch, and let the weight of the slide and your hand dictate the clarity of the notes. The best place to start is by playing on the G & D (middle) strings. After a very brief period of time, you'll find yourself doing riffs like Zep's "In My Time Of Dying", which is a great tune to learn slide. From there, simply running through some standard blues scales will give you a feel for things, as you'll discover how to hand mute certain strings and dampen over-ringing tones.

[Kristy]

And you'll be playing like Sonny in no time!

[Diamondjimi]

[indeedido]

Get in an open tuning, open E or open G, just about anything you slide around on in open tunings sounds like you are from the Delta

[VanHalenFan5150]

What next? Put the slide on your finger and pick some notes, pretending like you know how to play slide! Just kidding. I never really experimented with slide. I have one just in case, though. Me and my dad made one out of copper pipe, and sanded down the edges.

Fun to fart around on when i'm bored, but nothing too fancy ever came out of it. I mean, it's not like i've written songs with them. It just doesn't fit my style of playing...

[chefcraig]

I have one just in case, though. Me and my dad made one out of copper pipe, and sanded down the edges.

If anyone wants a good slide for cheap, go out to the garage and look in the toolbox. Dig around on the bottom for the lawn mower's spark plug socket. Clean it out with some WD 40, then wrap some paper towels around your middle finger to make it fit snugly. Ta-da!

[indeedido]

I made my first slide. I cut off the end of a long neck beer bottle and filed down the end. Worked great until I dropped it one day and it broke.

[chefcraig]

I made my first slide. I cut off the end of a long neck beer bottle and filed down the end. Worked great until I dropped it one day and it broke.

Yeah, it's a shame that drug companies make medicine bottles out of plastic these days, as the old glass ones were absolutely perfect. They were about the width of a guitar neck in length, and were free whenever you bought aspirin.

[jhale667]

Yeah, it's a shame that drug companies make medicine bottles out of plastic these days, as the old glass ones were absolutely perfect. They were about the width of a guitar neck in length, and were free whenever you bought aspirin.

Dunlop makes the old-school Coricidan bottle reissue slides, I have one, they're pretty cool . Slightly larger than the ones pictured, but the same vibe. I also find myself using a regular ol' Dunlop #215...


DJ already posted an excellent example in Trucks, he's probably one of the best young slide players out there at the moment; also dive back into Jeff Beck, Duane Allman, Ry Cooder - anything like that you can get your hands on, really. DJ's given me pointers on slide technique (dude is a burner) and one of the best bits of advice he gave me is to listen more for the pitch you're shooting for rather than looking to see if you're directly over the correct fret (since obviously the pitch you're shooting for ISN'T going to be between the frets as if you were depressing the string to sound the note manually).

First tune I ever taught myself the slide solo to - was Zeppelin's "What Is and What Should Never Be"....classic, artful shit! It wasn't easy, and becoming a GOOD slide player isn't easy I'm finding...gotta say the piece that still gives me fits is Jeff Beck's "Nadia".

[Nitro Express]

Playing slide kind of reminds me of finger banging a chick.

[Diamondjimi]

DJ's given me pointers on slide technique (dude is a burner) and one of the best bits of advice he gave me is to listen more for the pitch you're shooting for rather than looking to see if you're directly over the correct fret (since obviously the pitch you're shooting for ISN'T going to be between the frets as if you were depressing the string to sound the note manually).

Thanks brutha! I think the most important thing to get under your belt is understanding the techniques of slide playing. String control though palm or finger muting will help in isolating the notes you want to play, beit single or multiple in a chord like fashion. Striking notes: pick or fingers. I'm flexable, but nothing feels more natural and connected to slide playing than fingers (right hand).
I tried on and off, over the years, to get a handle on playing slide. I'd always get frustrated and forget about it for a while. It wasn't until witnessing Warren Haynes up close at a Govt. Mule show 16 years ago that I "got it". From that point on it was easy and effortless once I understood the technique.
I'd dabbled with open tuning, and I do enjoy it, but I found it a bit limiting in some ways. But standard tuning is way to go, (for me). That said, it's good to play and feel comfortable in both methods of tuning....

[Diamondjimi]

Another thing is what finger to use the slide on. I prefer using my 3rd (ring) finger. Dunno why, it just seems natural. I guess it's from playing the 5 all the time. Using the 3rd finger does have it's disadvantages though when it comes to switching back to playing rhythm doing certain fingerings. In that case the middle finger for slide leaves your 3rd & 4th free for fretting rhythm's..
My motto is, what ever feel best and natural for ya...

[Hardrock69]

Yeah, some guys put it on their pinky, some on their third. I prefer it on my 3rd. Though I only have played it on one song I ever recorded, where the intro was a time-honored cliche...trying to sound like an old drunk bline blues man sitting on the porch in 1930, only to have it transition to a modern metal tune. I just tuned it to open E. Easiest way for me to sound like I know what I am doing with a slide.

I have one of the original glass Coricidin bottles that everyone used back in the 70s (Coricidin was some kind of cold medicine or some shit). Somewhere along the line they switched to plastic bottles. But the glass ones are the perfect fit.

[Nitro Express]

I wear mine on my third finger and it feels like the wedding ring from hell.

[chefcraig]

I've always worn mine on my middle finger, as it still allows me to play barre chords and maintain some maneuverability. I hated taking the damned thing on and off, particularly when playing in a 3-piece situation. As has been said, the key is your own personal comfort with this (and any) device.

[Seshmeister]

I recommend headphones when you first start out if you don't live alone.

It can sound like a cat trapped in a spring factory.

[VAiN]

Thanks a lot for all of the input guys, I do appreciate it!

[Hardrock69]

Fucking Derek Trucks is a badass slide player as well.

[chefcraig]

Dunlop makes the old-school Coricidan bottle reissue slides, I have one, they're pretty cool . Slightly larger than the ones pictured, but the same vibe. I also find myself using a regular ol' Dunlop #215...

That's it, Coricidan bottles. I recall as a kid reading in CREEM magazine that was what Rory Gallagher used exclusively, and promptly raiding the medicine cabinet for something similar. I wound up using the same one for roughly twenty years, until it was lost during one of dozens of moves or gigs.

[Seshmeister]

Playing slide kind of reminds me of finger banging a chick.

That poor girl...

[ThrillsNSpills]

plenty of Youtube lessons too VAiN.

You have to sift through to find the good ones.