I'll be watching this group from the shadows
I'll have a go....... but it's all very personal so what works for me might not work for you.Originally Posted by timmyo
Muting the strings behing the slide by resting your "pre-slide" fingers flat on the strings (assuming you're not using your index finger) not only gets rid of all those unwanted harmonics but also provides a useful bit of 'drag' to slow down the slippery movement of the slide on the strings. That helps a good deal with control. Alternatively, use a heavier slide (although that would probably require either a more delicate amount of downward pressure on the strings or a higher action with heavier strings).
As for which finger - that's all about personal preference and different approaches have different benefits and drawbacks. The pinky, for example, gives you a higher reach on the neck and also leaves more fingers free for fretting chords - but is harder to control especially with a heavy slide (which many people think sound better). I use the ring finger, because I can lock a heavy slide in between my pinky and middle finger for good control, and have two fingers on one side of the slide and one finger on the other side free for normal fretting - the downside is it can be tricky to get the slide out of the way when it's sitting in the middle of a chord fingering.
Hope I'm not gatecrashing this thread...
Stands up.
My name is Brendan and I'm a very bad slide player.
Sits down, all the better for saying that.
Actually Jules is a regular on the forum and a monster slide player. (Well a monster player generally.) I'm sure that some of his posts contain some sagely advice (and he does look a lot more sagely with the beard).
That's a great bit of playing. I love slide when it's taken out of the usual blues style (which I also like). Jeff Beck, Richie Blackmore and The Edge are all players that I've liked who have used the slide in an interesting "non 12-bar" context.
Personally, I'd love to be able to play slide. I've decided to stick with standard tuning as listening to what Warren Haynes (Gov't Mule/Allman Brothers) does in this tuning, I'm convinced that this is the way to go. My early attempts have been mixed:
Positives:
Right hand muting is pretty good and I love playing without a plectrum. I use my ring finger with a dunlop pyrex slide and find that the sound is OK.
Negatives:
As Noisepolluter mentioned - falling apart under pressure. Also, I'm shocked at how uninventive my "core" playing is. As playing slide takes all the standard string bends and "ernie" licks out of the equation, I am left with very little other than bad pentatonic noodling.
Goals:
More inventive playing (OK, so it's a biggie).
Try and get a decent version of the Allman Brothers' version of Statesboro Blues off pat in standard tuning (some licks just don't seem to translate from Duane's open E parts)
Study my Warren Haynes book/CD and DVD lessons and try an apply 0.05% of his technique, feel and attitude into my playing.
The first rule of slide club is...
Lewy / Bezz - ta for that. Did you start out using your normal electric setup or is it necessary/advisable to have a slide setup ? I'm thinking it may be better to try on my Aria Dread which has a fair old action on it ? . . .
Red ones are better.
If your Aria'll take it I'd chuck .13's on. Makes a huge difference.
Whosoever steppeth upon a distortion pedal in my sight shall make a sound that is unclean.
It can be done, but the tricky bit is alternating strings and sliding down or up a semitone at the same time to simulate how all notes would be on the same fret in open E. If you get the hang of that, then you can definitely play the first solo of statesboro blues by alternating betweeb two positions - in the key of D, the positions would be 10th fret for strings 1,2 & 6, and 7th fret for strings 3, 4 & 5.
That's basically the crux of the difference in playing lead in open or standard tunings - you just have to move around a hell of a lot more in standard.
I did have an mp3 of me playing that very solo in standard, but I think I deleted it.......
One little thing I do know about slide is that really to get the best out of your playing you need to have one guitar that you set up specifically for slide playing. Otherwise you are always having to compromise
This doesn't work if you want to do both in one piece of music though... which of course I always do...
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Started on a resonator with .017's on it :shock: (which I haven't played for ages as it's still fubar'd).
I think you can learn the rudiments on any set up to be honest, but I think if you really get bitten by the bug you'll want something dedicated. Slapping some heavy strings on your aria will get you there.
Upped my reso guage to .16s last night - big difference! Having clean, zingy strings was pleasant too.
Sorry to hear your reso is still out of action - have you had a quote for repair, and will the repair be strong to use .17s on it afterwards?
Whosoever steppeth upon a distortion pedal in my sight shall make a sound that is unclean.
I likes to have a dabble too
Good points:
Intonation and muting (ok ish)
Some fretted chord shapes in open D
Finger picking
Bad points
Everything always sounds the same
Slide in standard tuning
Alternating bass line with thumb
You can listen to / mock my slide playing on the "Exile from Tokyo" soundclick in my sig, track called "lofty blooze" (its in open G, capoed up to A if you want to play along :wink: :lol: )
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