Members Happy_Thom Posted June 27, 2006 Members Share Posted June 27, 2006 Ok so I just got one of these for my birthday but I've got no idea what to do with it!! What tunings do you recommend or techniques or whatever. Any really good sites? Obviously I'm familiar with how it's sposed to sound but ive got no idea how to do it..... Obviously I'm having a scour myself but it's still pretty new to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mumford Posted June 27, 2006 Members Share Posted June 27, 2006 The three best pieces of advice to me were: Play with your fingers and use them to mute the strings you aren't playing. Lightly bar across the strings behind the slide (don't press, just mute them) to keep nasty ringing from happening. Don't be afraid to be sloppier than you would normally want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BLacktocomm Posted June 27, 2006 Members Share Posted June 27, 2006 Open E and open D and open g are the most popular tunings, my favorite is open E. You should just toy around a bit, but look at some other slide players and learn a couple of their riffs at first so you can start to get a hang of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members arexjay Posted June 27, 2006 Members Share Posted June 27, 2006 Listen to Derek Trucks Band. That guy is a genius when it comes to slide. He's also in Gov't Mule and The Allman Brothers. Great slide playing going on there, listen to that for inspiration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CS Posted June 27, 2006 Members Share Posted June 27, 2006 Put the slide on your little finger. Yes it's harder that way but you can damp behind the strings (as mumford suggested) a lot easier. When you get more confident you can even fret behind the slide to get minor chords in open tuning. Which leads me nicely onto open tunings. Conventional wisdom says to tune to G first (fat to thin strings) D G D G B D. However I didn't like it and use D. This is (fat to thin) D A D F# A D. The best way to imagine it is if the guitar is playing an E shape but two tones down. Strum it that's your D chord. Put the slide at 12th fret and that's your solo spot. Alternate open chords and picking with slide work around the 3rd fret. Add 5th fret and 7th fret work and that's yer 12 bar blues (I VI V) sorted. Your biggest problem with be intonation. The frets are now guides and not training wheels. Play slightly flat and slide into the pitch. Add a little vibrato (wobble) and here you go. I sometimes play slide in standard pitch for solos. The D G and B strings are IMHO the best place to start (as they are 'in line'-look at the G tuning, these strings are the same). Damping behind the strings is more important in standard. You can hear my slide work on http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=283447 UK Suburban Blues is D and the solo to LIe to Me in in standard. Please note these are songwriting demos done on a 4track nothing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Happy_Thom Posted June 27, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 27, 2006 does it matter what finger i have it on? should it be loose or tight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CS Posted June 27, 2006 Members Share Posted June 27, 2006 I use little, many use the ring finger. I have a piece of conduit which is tight and a metal slide which is loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wilbo26 Posted June 27, 2006 Members Share Posted June 27, 2006 I think I have better control of what I'm playing when I use the slide on my ring finger, but having it on your pinky lets you use your other three fingers more asily to fret notes while you aren't playing with the slide. In the end, you really just have to expiriment and if possible watch videos of slide players to pick up on the techniques they use. My favorite tunings for slide are Open G and Open E. I could be wrong but I think open D is pretty much the same as open E but in a different key? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Happy_Thom Posted June 27, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 27, 2006 how are you sposed to fret with other fingers if the slide is covering the strings? mine is a long one by the way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members angus_old Posted June 27, 2006 Members Share Posted June 27, 2006 Originally posted by Happy_Thom how are you sposed to fret with other fingers if the slide is covering the strings?mine is a long one by the way... when you fret a string, you push it down, ie out of contact with the slide. having a high action helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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