Members twotimingpete Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 And I can safely say I don't {censored}in get it. I can't seem to do all the cool {censored} other people do. What's the secret? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members photon9 Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 1. Open tunings2. Practice3. ?4. Profit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MyNameIsMok... Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 Palm muting Raised action (giraffe balls high action) Alternate tunings Practice Experimenting with different slides (way harder than finding the right pick) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MyNameIsMok... Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 1. Open tunings 2. Practice 3. ? 4. Profit! lol, and we both like Zappa too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members prolog Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 Open tunings, practice, learn to mute behind the slide, practice, learn to mute with your picking hand, and practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members photon9 Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 lol, and we both like Zappa too. Kewl! I don't like Zappa. I love him lol! Drives my GF crazy too sooo, even better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr.Grumpy Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 Slide stops directly over the fret...not in between where you press your finger down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orourke Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 Play over the frets not between them like when your playing regular. The first position A chord shape is your friend if you are playing in standard tuning. Don't give up too easily. Watch some youtube vids, there's got to be tons of 'em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BryanMichael Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 Slide stops directly over the fret...not in between where you press your finger down. This made me chuckle a little bit because I thought it must be "common sense" - but I was a bass player by trade; upright, electric, and fretless electric, so that always made sense to me. I had to step back to see that guitar players just don't think that way in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vintage clubber Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 I've played slide on just as many guitars with low action as high action. It's more about developing a light touch with the slide. I use a heavy glass slide made by Dunlop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kayd_mon Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 I really suck with a slide. One of these days, I'll learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pine Apple Slim Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 I prefer my sliding high action lap style. Its much easier to deal with when you cant fret. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted February 16, 2012 Author Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 thanks for the tips. I guess my problem is it seems to be difficult to make notes ring out rather than be a sloppy mess. considering how easy some people make it appear, I was surprised at how difficult it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NinjaModder Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 Oddly enough I just practiced slide guitar for the first time in a long while tonight. I have messed with it here and there. My favorite slide is Ernie Ball's metal pinky slide. Its a bit harsh sounding compared to the glass slides but I think it offers the best versatility. I like to play in standard tuning and play normally but have it handy for solos or a certain sound. Open tuning is fun but I just feel really limited while I play it. It is really fun and everything sounds good, but I can't play and solo like I can in standard tuning. Now, in standard tuning I am still not that great, but I am more familiar with scales and such. Just mess around with it, that is all you can do. Another fun thing I like to do is to tune down the 1st string to D and then use my slide (pinky slide mostly) on the bottom few strings and then play normally with my fingers on the rest. Its kind of a middle ground between standard tuning and open tuning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bubbluz Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 Palm mutingRaised action (giraffe balls high action)Alternate tuningsPracticeExperimenting with different slides (way harder than finding the right pick) 1/5 ...try harder , Muting behind the slide not so much palm .Light touch instead of high action .Standard tuning is fine for slide if you don't want to go open tunings(but they are fun too)The type of slide doesn't really affect technique..just sound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor49 Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 practice touch on normal action, play with fingers so you can mute easily with the free fingers on the picking hand, play open and standard tunings (it will serve you well later), watch Warren Haynes, Sonny Landreth, Derek Trucks, (Doyle Bramhall III not so much since he plays upside down and backwards) a lot esp if you can find a vid of them talking about it. OR tune to open E, get a slide and bash like Elmore James. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 Lots of good advice in this thread. I agree on light touch and relatively normal string height, it's why I made the switch to glass slides for electrics. Many of the famous slide players use compression to balance everything out. Either from a compressor pedal or from amp compression (there is a reason so many famous slide players, from Lowell George to Bonnie Raitt to David Lindley use overdriven Dumbles and hi-gain amps). As noted, you "fret" a note over the fret itself. Almost slide up to a note (often that means sliding a half-step below the note and then up); and always vibrato the note sharp. Don't let the slide slip behind the fret during vibrato. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members =JL= Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 On acoustic guitar, muting behind the slide is important, on electric less so. The pickups can't "hear" what's going on back there anyway. Good palm muting is essential, and try rolling the tone knob down from your normal sound. It helps clean up some of the mess and metal slides tend to add a little top end.Practice a simple three note phrase over and over until it sounds really good, avoiding fast, wobbly "beginners" vibrato. Try starting a little lower than the note and bring it to pitch fairly slowly.Forget being a virtuoso for the time being, tasteful, simple phrases sound really effective with a slide, and there often isn't room in a song for slide heroics.Trust me, once you get "the sound" (and it doesn't take long) non-musicians in the audience love a bit of simple bottleneck used sparingly and tastefully.Think "Paris, Texas" rather than Derek Trucks, he's just unfathomable for a novice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr Songwriter Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 thanks for the tips. I guess my problem is it seems to be difficult to make notes ring out rather than be a sloppy mess. considering how easy some people make it appear, I was surprised at how difficult it was. I think that's one of the main reasons people use Open chord tunings when they're playing slide - it doesn't sound as bad if you set an adjacent string ringing, also bear in mind that with the scale notes you would normally bend (b3, b5 etc) you can slide slightly past the fret to get the same effect as those bends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Flatspotter Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 I've been trying to learn slide, too, without much luck. I think I just need to put my mind to it. And who's this Zappa guy everyone's talking about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members theManfromAlabam Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 I'm going to practice slide more. My fave Frank riff. [video=youtube;c6fKl-huexE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cbh5150 Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 Like anything else: practice. I haven't tried slide in a LONG time, but it's a lot more difficult to nail down than it looks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mistersully Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 i play differently depending on the guitar i'm using and the sound/feel i'm going for... i also use the slide on different fingers... somtimes i have a light touch... other times i want to rip right in and for it to sound as raw as possible the cool thing is that really simple slide stuff can sound good... so i'd suggest just getting a few simple riffs to sound how you want by practicing them a lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members danswon Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 high action is a VERY big help when you first start on slide. i'm still a total beginner at it but i couldn't even make a slightly cool attempt at slide without at least a medium action. beyond that, just play around and practice it. it might be cool to practice playing slide over a relatively simple bluesy rock album like ACDC's "back in black". in fact, that's a great idea, i'm gonna do that now!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretless Posted February 16, 2012 Members Share Posted February 16, 2012 I'm a total hack but what works for me is open tunings and the Stew mac slide nut on my Dano played lap steel stylehttp://www.stewmac.com/shop/Nuts,_saddles/Resonator_nuts,_saddles/Slide_Guitar_Extension_Nut.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=3668 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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