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learning slide guitar


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Posted

how hard is slide to learn?

anybody know anywhere on the net that has any guides to or lesoons on learning slide guitar or anyone know good beginner slide songs to learn?

is there any of the open tunings that are easier to start off in?

 

thanks

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Posted

IMHO slide isn't much harder than any other guitar technique. That means it takes tons of practice to sound like a pro, and there is an almost magical quality to how good a pro makes slide stuff sound. I recommend you begin practicing immediately. The sooner the start the sooner you will improve.

Practically every slide song I know (which isn't many) is in open-G. I recommend trying that for a start...it's a common alternate tuning and easy to get into. That Zeppelin song 'in my time of dying' was the first slide song I learned. Not too bad, maybe give that one a shot if you like the song.

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Posted

Make sure you try a bunch of different slides made of different materials and of different weights.

Other than that, look at the sites listed above

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Posted

I have a book that will help you with slide guitar in regular/standard tuning, as well as several alternate tunings.

With the standard tuning, here's an easy little lick. From the 10th fret 1st string.......to the 11th fret 2nd string..............to the 12th fret 3rd string.

Mute by actually putting your index fingernail on the 1st string as you pick the 2nd string. Your pick will be held so the tip shows just a little. Fingers between the slide and the nut need to mute the strings to prevent rattle.

Standard tuning tip & trick: strings 1, 2, 3 at the 12th fret forms Em (just like a barre chord, only 3 strings) - movable, same as barre

Strings 2, 3, 4 at the 12th fret form the G chord (just like "A" moved on the neck) - so move it

With that info, try to actually play the chords that match your backing track with the slide. Soon you will find the 3 notes of each chord change will give you room for sliding from one string to another in the next chord change, or to play the stings that surround the chord you are on ..........

slidewith "E"tuning:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/9/theboogiemanandbren.htm

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Posted

I'm doing the same thing - i found putting the slide on my middle finger and just playing stones songs is a lot of fun, you get really interesting tones, and you can play rhythm and lead with your ring and pinky finger at the same time.

The hardest part for me is soloing, going fast and getting directly above the fret.

Also, look into open E tuning which is another slide tuning that more delta blues artists used than open g - it's e b e g# b e. It gives you an overall darker feel.

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Posted

Check out the "E" - tuning slide clip in my above post.
Ovation Balladeer
Washburn Bass
Alesis Percussion
Blues Harp (A)
Tascam Recorder

:cool: Nothin dark about "E" I can find

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Posted

Slide is easy! (At least for me)

I really can't think of what I listened to to get started on slide. Mostly Muddy Waters, old Delta blues, and later British guitarists (early Yardbirds stuff, especially) who tried to emulate that sound and did something new and different. Also harmonica players, because to me, the harmonica and slide guitar are intrinsically linked. Early on, I basically tried to phrase like a harmonica player, which can be pretty helpful.

So I'd say start out just listening to some Muddy Waters, Delta Blues, or any of that style of mostly rhythm slide. Try out Open G and Open E. Open G is good to start with, you can play some Stones-y stuff and Yardbirds stuff pretty easily just going I-III-V. Try out Rollin and Tumblin and some easy stuff like that, and soon you'll be sliding all over the place. Then switch over to Open E, you can basically play the same stuff (in a different key, of course), but it opens itself up to playing lead, and once you get the feel of it, you can get into some Allman Brothers-type stuff. Duane Allman mostly played in Open E, I think. Some tabs and playing along with the Allmans will get you playing slide lead easily.

As far as technique, I mainly play two or three ways. For the Delta Blues stuff, I just pop the slide (I use ceramic, it gives a really throaty tone that I like for the harmonica-like tones) on my ring finger, play with a pick, and don't damp any of the strings. For more complicated stuff, you can start fingerpicking. The claw technique is essential for slide fingerpicking. Not knowing the claw technique kept me from learning to solo on slide for a long time, so this is important.

With your picking hand, use your palm to damp (mute) the two lowest strings, and then assign one finger to each of the remaining strings (my pinky sucks, though, so I usually use my ring finger to play the high E string, also). This is helpful, because your slide is going to be sliding along all of the strings at once, but if you're playing slide solos, you don't want all the strings ringing out all the time. So you can just pick the notes you want and keep sliding around and then mute the note when you're done with it. This is essential for a lot of Allman Brothers slide stuff, and should give you a start, at least.

Hope this helps :)

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Posted

Originally posted by donnchaw

how hard is slide to learn?

 

 

The basics will take some time to get good at and before you do you will sound like crap. It can be discouraging but well worth the effort.

 

 

anyone know good beginner slide songs to learn?

 

 

Some opf the Tampe Red stuff is both good and pretty easy. It's also easy to hear what he's doing.

 

 

is there any of the open tunings that are easier to start off in?

 

 

Open E and open G are sort of close to the standard tuning so for that reason they might be easier. Open tunings are easier in the beginning cause it's not so important to dampen out unwanted strings.

 

My first suggston though would be to get a light weight glass slide to begin with. This will make things much easier until you understnad the basics. Then you'll probably want a bigger slide for a better tone.

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