Slide playing

[rspst14]

Hey guys, I stopped at the new Guitar Center today to pick up a glass slide...seeing as how the salesman said "I've been playing for a few months, so I know what I'm talking about," a slide was all I bought from him.

Anyway, I've been wanting to learn to play slide for a while now, I was hoping someone could answer a few questions. I decided I wanted a glass slide, I ended up with a thick Dunlop slide. They had them in three thicknesses, but the medium slides were out of stock. So I bought the thicker one, which is a little heavier but it supposedly gives you a thicker tone with better sustain. Was this a good choice, or would I be better off with the medium thickness model for better mobility?

Second, what tuning should I use for learning slide, and what string gauge would I use for slide if I'm used to playing 10-46 in standard tuning? Finally, I'm going to set one of my two guitars up for slide playing. I have a Hamer Studio with two humbuckers, and a Warmoth Strat with three single coils. Which works better for slide, singles or humbuckers? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Ryan

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: Slide playing

The thinner the slide the easier it is to control. but if it feels right don't
worry. It may be a Lil' akward at 1st. But don't give up! I like to use a
bridge Humbucker for slide, But single's work good aswell. (depends what
sound your going for) I like to use .011s for slide and raise the action.
the main thing is to practice your string damping(that is keeping the notes
you don't want from ringing out) As far as tunings go open E and G are
most popular. If you drop your G string down a step you can get a faux
E tuning. I play mostly in STD. so I use these Lil' tricks to get a open
tuning on the fly.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Slide playing

agreed with kmc, except I like a really thick glass slide so it is a matter of taste- You do want to raise action adn go with heavest strings you can get away with-

It's true that many have had very good Sc sounds with slide, but I've only had luck with hums- The question I would ask is can you dedicate the gtr to slide alone? If so which one could you give up? The reason I say that is some can play slide and regular on 1 ggtr, but I've raised my action too far to finger anything.

As far as tunnings, everyone expereiments with open tunings, but I really beleive it's worth learning damping to the point that you can play standard tuning- It's much more 'real' than sliding chords up and down and Duane Almond couldn't be wrong

Good luck and let us know how it goes

 

[philthis]

Re: Slide playing

there are 2 uses for slides. those for electric and those for acoustic. eather way the thicker the slide the more sustian you will get. becouse electric strings are so easy to press down it is much easier to play a light weight thick slide on an electric guitar. dunlop makes several of those but 2 stand out in my mind. they make a brown "mud slide" and another blue slide-cant remember what its called but its texture is not quite as gritty and there for is just a little more smooth and clear sounding than the "mud slide" wich has a harsher gritty darker tone. if you want a real clear smooth tone get a thick glass slide but to me they lack bite so i went with the thick blue ceramic dunlop slide cuz it was somwhat clear but still had a nice bite to the tone.
For accoustic alot of players will use a thick metal or realy thick brass or glass bottle type slide cuz the strings press is greater and usually requires a realy heavy slide to move tone out of the guitar. playing a thin slide on an accoustic tends to sound thin and weak just as playing a thick heavy metal slide on an electric tends to have to much weight on the lighter electric strings and forces them down on the frets way to easily. however, you will find the occasional guitar gonzo who uses a thick heavy metal slide on an electric guitar neck but has mastered the way to use it. I dont like to do it as I found the thick ceramic dunlop slides sound realy good on an electric and dont way the strings down. to me, finding the tone between the thick dunlop ceramic slide models is realy the biggest issue-which one will have the tone you prefere. you will have to experiment on this one. thank heaven they are not to expensive-good luck :beerchug:

 

[skh515]

Re: Slide playing

The size and thickness of the slide is just a matter of preference IMO.
My favorite open tunings are D and G. (Elmore James played in open D. Lowell George played in open G, just as examples).
Personally I like Humbuckers for slide work, but some of the greats, like Lowell George, play/played on Strats and Teles.

I like to use 11s, but you might need to use heavier strings.

If I was just learning, I would definitely use open tunings. It is much easier to learn that way. Later if you want to switch to standard tuning slide it will be a lot easier. But there are some things you just can't do with a slide in standard tuning.

Duane Allman played a lot in open E, but also played in G, A, and D. "Dreams" is the only song I know of that Duane played slide in standard tuning on.

Here is an older thread with some good slide info:
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=23203