Standard tuning slide? Or open E.

[Pierre]

I'm REALLY wanting to improve my slide work... what are some slide songs in standard tuning? Or open E is good enough too...
Something not too hard obviously... My intonation is ok but my vibrato is uneven and obviously I don't have a great technique... Thanks a lot if you can help!

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Standard tuning slide? Or open E.

It is easier to play in open tuning because you have an open chord to work with.

I play in standard tuning, because I don't have a guitar that can be strictly tuned for slide.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Standard tuning slide? Or open E.

I mess with the tuning as I go. I'll often start in standard, go to drop D, then drop the high E to D, and often end up in DADDAD, DDDAAD, or some modal sounding thing along those lines.

That type of tuning really lends itself to soundscapey, droney, arabic sounding stuff, which is always fun to mix slide and fretted work with.

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: Standard tuning slide? Or open E.

DADAAD is a tuning that Ben Harper often employs. Open E seems to be hugely popular (Derek Trucks for one *ONLY* plays in Open E).

You gotta find the tuning that works for you. Some people can't do standard because it involves too much dampening to do some really fast runs in which you have to change which string you're playing on.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Standard tuning slide? Or open E.

i play slide almost exclusivly in standard tuning and like our clarksdale friend said, doing fast runs changing strings can be tricky. i find more trouble with keeping the intonation correct when moving that fast rather than errant string noise but my damping is pretty good.

moving from string to string quickly means that the slide needs to be dead parallel to the fret or some notes will not be in tune

 

[ErikH]

Re: Standard tuning slide? Or open E.

I've been working in standard tuning. The one song I've been playing along with to sharpen my slide skills is "Rocky Mountain Way". Some people play it in open E, some in standard. I like it in standard.

 

[tehorix789]

Re: Standard tuning slide? Or open E.

Warren Haynes has a slide book out for like 12 bucks on amazon. I've heard good things about it and am about to buy it myself.

http://www.amazon.com/Warren-Haynes-Guide-Slide-Guitar/dp/1575605244

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Standard tuning slide? Or open E.

In homage to Derek Trucks, I got out my '62 LP/SG, raised the action to medium-ish, got out my slide, and have been annoying the family all morning I'm using double dropped D tuning right now (DADGBD), and it's working quite well.

DADAAD is a tuning that Ben Harper often employs.

Oh, cool. That makes me feel special, since I started using it way before I heard him :laugh2: Stone Gossard from Pearl Jam said he used a similar tuning, but whenever he has unison strings, he tunes them slightly off of each other, so you get a neat natural chorusing when played together. It almost sounds like constant vibrato when you use a slide, too.

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: Standard tuning slide? Or open E.

You people are gonna throw buckets of poo at me now, but being a metal guy my favorite slide is Mick Mars's playing the standard tuning with a slide in his pinky, always wanted to learn how to do that, but every time I tried it was so horrible that admitted to myself that some thing might not meant to be ....

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Standard tuning slide? Or open E.

^ FWIW, awful is about how it sounds when anybody plays slide for awhile. It's especially bad if you're playing a guitar setup like a metal guy likes it. String up one of them kinda heavy and set the action kinda high. That makes it WAY easier.