ACOUSTIC SLIDE GUITAR - GENERAL TECHNIQUE AND TIPS

What do I use for a slide?
There have been many objects used to achieve the slide sound. Knives, bottle necks,
tubes of all kinds of metals and glass, spark plug sockets, lighters, stone, marble,
plastic ----- anything!
At sometime or other I've used them all but to keep things simple and effective, I use a
real bottle neck or metal tube, cut long enough to be slightly longer than the pinkie.
Glass or metal?
Glass is great for smooth, long sustain - Paris Texas type stuff. The heavier glass, the
better. Avoid manufactured glass slides as they tend to lack sustain and brightness -
use real bottle glass. Ry Cooder is said to use a Fighting Cock Kentucky Bourbon bottle!
Metal - good for more attack, especially electric. Experiment with heavy or light metal
- both produce different sounds. Think Muddy Waters, light. Lowell George (Little Feat)
heavy.
For both glass and metal, think:
Heavy - better for sustain, more accuracy, good for long slow notes
Light - Thin sound, but faster, harder to keep accurate, less volume and sustain
Which finger?
This is a personal choice, as with most aspects of slide playing. Many
well known players have used different combinations. I've always
found the slide best suited to the pinkie. This allows me more
opportunity to finger chords, and play regular fretted notes as well as
play the slide. Anyway, if it is good enough for Robert Johnson or Ry
Cooder its good enough for me.
ACOUSTIC SLIDE GUITAR - GENERAL TECHNIQUE AND TIPS
How do I stop all that scratching and buzzing?
Sometimes the extraneous noises can be used to great effect - listen to Blind Willie
Johnson. For the purpose of improving technique, try and play cleanly and smoothly.
Lose all those noises by dampening the strings behind the slide. Practice all the
exercises in the following sections, by dragging the third finger along the strings as use
the slide. Or, alternatively use the first finger of the slide hand to damp down the
unwanted buzzes. The more you dampen, the tighter and smoother the sound. When
you release the fingers behind the slide - notice the difference.
ACTION
Use a guitar set up with slightly higher action, so there is less chance of the slide
banging against the frets. It helps to minimise those extraneous noises we talked about
earlier. However, if the action is too high, it will be harder to finger the chords when
needed.
STRINGS
A personal choice again, but I believe the best sound is achieved by using the thickest
you can manage - at least a 0013 on the top. Bob Brozman once told me that he used a
0017 on his National - now, there's a real slide man for you!
WHAT ABOUT GUITARS
Acoustic or electric, who cares. I like the rootsy flavour of an acoustic for instant feel.
My favourites are small bodied acoustics and resonators. I love all those junk shop
guitars with bowed necks and impossible action. Check them out. Slide players can
pick up some real winners. In fact all the exercises were recorded with an old, small
body Hofner, that I found in Denmark for 20 pounds.
For electric players, the fenders have great natural sustain. Check out that early Ry
ACOUSTIC SLIDE GUITAR - GENERAL TECHNIQUE AND TIPS
Cooder sound. With added compression, like the old purple pecker, or rack effects, the
slide sounds great. On his later albums, Ry used the pick up from an old lap steel, for
that real slide sound and sustain. The trick is don't be afraid to experiment.
VIBRATO
This is a crucial aspect of slide playing. There are two main reasons for this:
1. Think of the slide (bottleneck, or whatever you decide to use) as a moving fret
which by careful handling will maintain the pitch of the note you are trying to play. If
you are new to slide playing you will fast realise how difficult this is. Vibrato with the
slide means you play a compromise between an in and out of tune note - somewhere in
the middle is the correct pitch. To keep good pitch, keep the slide at right angles to
the fret at all times.
A violinist uses the same effect on the fretboard ( fretless of course ) to maintain
steady pitch. Witness the intense movement of the fingers as they ensure the right
notes are achieved.
This is especially so for the slide, when reaching the end of a phrase or riff, as the final
note sounds dull or sharp or flat unless vibrato is used
There are many different styles of vibrato. Listen to the intense movement of the slide
on Blind Willie Johnsons – “Dark Was The Night”, or the almost non existent vibrato on
Tampa Red's Denver Blues. This leads me to my next main point.
ACOUSTIC SLIDE GUITAR - GENERAL TECHNIQUE AND TIPS
2. Vibrato gives your slide playing a personal touch which can reflect the intensity of
your mood or your feeling for the blues. Once you feel comfortable with the slide,
experiment with different amounts of vibrato - light or heavy. Listen to as many
players as you can and gauge the amount used which distinguishes their playing.
The slide can be held tight against a finger to produce a very controlled movement or
loose for a more carefree result. Careful though, as they tend to fly off your finger!
I've noticed that some players use lack of vibrato to produce quarter tones, which are
carefully placed, and give an eerie effect against the proper pitched note. Once again,
listen to Blind Willie Johnson or Ry Cooder (“Vigilante Man”) to hear these notes. More
about these mysterious quarter tones later!
The Acoustic Guitar Workshop’s Acoustic Slide 10 lesson course, written by Rick
Payne is available exclusively from truefire.com and includes a raft of exercises,
tips, licks and tunes to get you playing like a regular Ry Cooder in no time. Video
lessons from this popular course will be available around February 2004.
Bluesingly yours
By Rick Payne