Setting up a guitar for slide?

[beggar_guitar]

I just feel like tackling slide playing. So is there anything I need to do to set up a guitar for Slide?

The guitar I will be using is my first guitar. A Peavey T-15. It's a 23 1/2 scale length (if that makes any difference for ya).

I know a lot of slide guitarists use a higher action, but just How high are we talking?

And what tuning would you recommend? I really like Joe Bonamassa... What tunings does he use?

Thanks!

 

[Pierre]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

I play slide in open E.

You'd have to raise the nut, almost certainly. Flatten the string radius at the bridge and raise the string height. A straight neck, heavier strings (at least 11s, I'd advise 12s or heavier) and you're set to go.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

Raise the action enough that you can dig in with the slide without banging into the fretboard. There's really no "right" setting.

Here's some info on Joe from an '04 issue of GP:

Guitars: ’63 and ’65 Fender Stratocasters, ’54 Fender Esquire, ’59 Gibson ES-345, ’62 Gibson ES-335, ’56 Gibson Les Paul, ’36 Gibson L-Century, ’60 Gibson Korina lap steel, Chandler Electro Slide, custom Gigliotti, ’62 Martin 0-16NY.
Amps: Line 6 Flextone, ’58 Fender Harvard, ’64 Fender Princeton Reverb, ’65 Fender Dual Showman, ’68 Marshall 50-watt plexi “small box,” Marshall 100-watt Silver Jubilee.
FX: Boss DD3 delay, Fulltone Ultimate Octave, Korg G4 rotary speaker simulator, Lehle A/B/C switcher, Prescription Electronics Vibe Unit, T.C. Electronics Stereo Chorus.
Slide: Jim Dunlop metal.
Strings: Dean Markley Nickel Steel, gauged .011-.052.
Tuning: Standard, standard down a half-step, open-E, open-G, and a pedal steel-derived tuning with two major thirds.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

You'd have to raise the nut, almost certainly. Flatten the string radius at the bridge and raise the string height. A straight neck, heavier strings (at least 11s, I'd advise 12s or heavier) and you're set to go.

Derek Trucks and I disagree He's stated that his action is not really all that high, the nut is not raised, and his strings aren't that heavy (11,14,17,26,36,46). Warren Haynes doesn't use all that high of action or heavy strings, either. He calls his action "too high for standard, too low for slide" and strings with 10s in standard or 11s in Eb.

It's all about touch.

 

[beggar_guitar]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

Ok. Thanks for the tips so far. Any links to some useful online guides for Playing?

One flaw I know I have is I dig in too much for my action. My touch is either way too gentle or far too much.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

They make nut extenders, so you don't need to do any permanent modifications.

I got a old Pencrest steel string from my uncle when I was 18. The action on it was horrible, so I used it for slide. I put a single coil I had removed from my strat in the sound hole and ran the wires out the strap button. It was the best ****ed early electric blues sound I had ever heard! It also did the crappy sounding Nirvana acoustic sound to a T.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

Ok. Thanks for the tips so far. Any links to some useful online guides for Playing?

Try to find the old copy of GP from the late 90's with Duane Allman on the cover. Actually, GP has cool slide stuff quite often.

One flaw I know I have is I dig in too much for my action. My touch is either way too gentle or far too much.

Easy fix.... raise the action a bit. What kind of bridge is on the guitar?

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

You could do like Gary Rossington did on his SG for slide. He just jabbed a big fat screwdriver under the strings near the nut. Redneck engineering baby!!...lol

 

[Blue_Fingers_Jay]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

Here's what a like in a slide guitar:
- High action - Keep in mind that you don't fret notes, you don't want your slide to touch the fretboard.
- Heavy gauge strings - I like the tone better, plus IMO slide and flabby strings don't mix.

Like JB said there's no right action, raise it enough so you don't hit the fretboard or the frets when sliding but you might want to leave it with an action that you can still fret notes with your other fingers.

As for the tuning personally i use:
- Standard - 'nuff said
- Open G - Actually great if your starting, you just can't go wrong with a G chord can you? Don't forget you're tuning down, you'll want heavier strings for this.
- Open E - Duane Allman anyone?

Some people like open A I really don't like it, but you should try it, keep in mind you're tuning up with this one, .012 will be alot of tension on the neck.

You didn't ask this but i'll bug you with it anyway:
Slides - I use both glass and brass, in some guitars one sounds better than the other, the only thing that I agree in both types is the thicker and heavier the more i like it.
You can get go to a store and buy them, but blues "ain't" for fancy folks that go to stores and buy shiny new things.
My glass slides come from the bottle necks, wine bottles with straight thick necks, as a bonus you get free wine with every slide!!!
The brass slide i really have no idea what it's, I think it's a store bought one because of the shape, but i never saw one so heavy at a store, it's in a crappy shape, looks like you could catch some pretty rare deseases just playing with it. Before I found it I played with a long socket from a socket wrench, fit snuggly in my pinky.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

I have always thought one of those backpacker guitars, with a lipstick tube pickup in the sound hole, would make a cool lap steel.

 

[Pierre]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

Derek Trucks and I disagree He's stated that his action is not really all that high, the nut is not raised, and his strings aren't that heavy (11,14,17,26,36,46). Warren Haynes doesn't use all that high of action or heavy strings, either. He calls his action "too high for standard, too low for slide" and strings with 10s in standard or 11s in Eb.

It's all about touch.

It depends on how you play as well. I setup my guitars myself for fretted before I set them up for slide (I mean I got them before I played slide) so the nut is always too low: the strings hit the frets. Raising the nut helps with slide on the lower registers, at the bridge prevents it from happening at the higher frets.

I also use lighter strings But I find it easier with heavier gauges.

I play in standard with a medium action and it's still too low for slide with light strings. Heavier strings will rattle less against the frets.

I also like to fret behind the slide so I don't go VERY high. Unfortunately... I do want a guitar set for slide. I'm thinking of a Dano pro or '59

I have a light touch and with 11s and a medium action I get the higher and lower strings hitting the frets pretty easily. It also makes it a bit harder to fret behind the slide without the string rattling against the slide.

 

[Gunny47]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

I play with high action anyway so switching to the slide was no big deal after my Derek Trucks revalation (after I saw Clapton live). My goldtop is my main slide guitar because it just sounds like a beast! High action, 12 gauge strings on that one. I play hybrid when I do slide, I play freted notes a lot, switch between slide and fretted licks. Mainly in standard tuning, but I know the neck very well in open E and play in that tuning a ton as well.

 

[beggar_guitar]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

Easy fix.... raise the action a bit. What kind of bridge is on the guitar?

Here's a pic of the guitars bridge.

You raise and lower the overall action by the two points on the bass and treble sides.

They make nut extenders, so you don't need to do any permanent modifications.

I think I have seen those in a local shop. I may check one out.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

Ok, so it's easy to adjust. I forgot to mention this.... put your pick away. Start off entirely fingerstyle, so you can use all 5 fingers to mute the strings. I use a pick with slide sometimes, but I'll think about Duane or Derek, feel like a goof, and go back to fingers

BTW, that's a cool guitar.

 

[beggar_guitar]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

Ok, so it's easy to adjust. I forgot to mention this.... put your pick away. Start off entirely fingerstyle, so you can use all 5 fingers to mute the strings. I use a pick with slide sometimes, but I'll think about Duane or Derek, feel like a goof, and go back to fingers

BTW, that's a cool guitar.

Fingerstyle is cool with me. I've started doing away with my pick lately anyway. I really like the control I am getting w/ my fingers.
Will I need to do any truss rod adjusment? Or is just a bridge adjustment, and maybe one of those nut extenders all that I need?

Thanks btw... It's a cool piece. It's my first and I would really like her to get some use rather than hanging on my wall.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

All good responses here. I don't know much about peavy guitars but you ultimately want a guitar that has good enough string spacing to get your finger in between the strings (picking hand). Slide is all about touch and controlling the strings you don't want to sound. Here are some things I do.

1. Raise the action to a comfortable level so your slide won't hit the fretboard, yet still low enough to fret with your fingers. I play with slide and fingers.

2. The most common tunings used for slide are open G, A, D and E.

OPEN G: 6 (D) 5 (G) 4 (D) 3 (G) 2 (B) 1 (D)

Open D: 6 (D) 5 (A) 4 (D) 3 (F#) 2 (A) 1 (D)

TO tune to open A or E just take these tunings and raise them a whole step. IF you don't want to use heavier strings initially tune the strings up, it will help deal with the string tension better. Heavier strings will sound better and won't flop around as much when dropping the tunings.

3. Slides. This is very subjective, but I would recommend starting with a glass slide that has a heavy wall thickness. This will make it sustain better. I use a standard Dunlop Pyrex slide with some velcro inside to make it fit my finger better. The key is to experiment and find the slide that works best for you. With acoustic I prefer the Dunlop mudslides. They are heavier and have a much better tone quality.

Picking: IMHO the best way to play slide is to learn to pick with your fingers. I use a technique that uses my thumb, index and middle finger to pick and mute at the same time. I do most picking with my index finger and I use the thumb and middle to mute the strings on either side of the string I plan to pick. This allows me to get single note to ring clear and clean without the slide interfering with other unwanted notes. Another aspect of this is which finger you wear the slide on. This also is somewhat subjective. Most people prefer to wear the slide on the pinky finger. This frees up the other fingers to play with and to mute behind the slide. I actually prefer the slide on my ring finger, but as I said you need to play around and see what works for you. There are a few great places on the web to learn about slide. Warren Haynes videos are excellent, anything by Ry Cooder would be great to listen to to see its great possibilities, Derek Trucks, etc, etc.

http://www.kirklorange.com/
http://www.bottleneckguitar.com/

These 2 sites are loaded with very usable information. Kirk plays almost entirely in dropped D tuning. He is a real slide master.

If you can find a local player that plays slide well take a few lessons. Its amazing what it can do for your playing if you start the right way

hers in Kirk in action
http://youtube.com/watch?v=OmFIVWIYNgw

 

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Setting up a guitar for slide?

http://www.fenderplayersclub.com/pdfs/artist_lessons/duane_allman.pdf

This has helped me out a bunch.