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FDP Forum / The Chop Shop / Slide playing questions
(This message was last edited by sjerome at 09:52 AM, May 23rd, 2012)
(This message was last edited by cisco at 10:37 AM, May 23rd, 2012)
(This message was last edited by Ryder at 10:42 AM, May 23rd, 2012)
(This message was last edited by cisco at 09:22 AM, May 24th, 2012)
FDP Forum / The Chop Shop / Slide playing questions
Next 20 Messages
Ryder
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Northwest Missouri
Butterscotch BluesMay 23rd, 2012 08:51 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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Ok, I bought a slide. Now what? ;)
I know it has to be directly over the fret. I'm starting with it on my ring finger.
I've watched a few videos but my main question is...do you use it like you would your fingers? Know what I mean?
Any other tips would be appreciated.
Do I have to play in a different tuning? I don't want to if you say yes.
sjerome
Contributing Member
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Upstate NY, USA
Musical accident waiting to happenMay 23rd, 2012 08:59 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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I'm only a dabbler in slide. I use it on my pinkie finger so as to have the other three available for fretting.
"Know what I mean?" No. Re-phrase?
You can do a fair amount in standard tuning, but for a lot of stuff, yes, you want an open tuning. G is an easy one in which to get some practice and start sounding decent; open E is also useful.
Lots of practice needed to develop the ability to land on the note, not sharp or flat. Unless you have excellent relative pitch, I would no more attempt it than I would the violin.
amphead4
Cincinnati, USAMay 23rd, 2012 09:04 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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Open E and listen to Jackson Browne's Redneck Friend. Actually that one has David Lindley playing a lap steel but it's the same, only differet. He tilts the bar to get that C#minor.
I think the real trick to nice slide playing is damping the strings you aren't playing to cut out the racket. You can do this with your picking hand.
Ryder
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Northwest Missouri
Butterscotch BluesMay 23rd, 2012 09:06 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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Hmmm, if you put your first finger on a fret and then you move your third finger two frets up or down....with a slide you go to the same places, correct? I mean, that sounds like a stupid question I guess.
And since I haven't played in other tunings...how do you know what key you are in if you are in G for instance?
Ryder
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Northwest Missouri
Butterscotch BluesMay 23rd, 2012 09:07 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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"I think the real trick to nice slide playing is damping the strings you aren't playing to cut out the racket. You can do this with your picking hand."
Yes, I understand that part. Getting my fingers in the correct position to do this...I'm just starting.
sjerome
Contributing Member
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Upstate NY, USA
Musical accident waiting to happenMay 23rd, 2012 09:14 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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"And since I haven't played in other tunings...how do you know what key you are in if you are in G for instance?"
The reason both G and E are easy is that you're playing the same chords whose locations you already know by the fretted shapes. IOW:
In G, you're essentially replicating the "A" barre chord shape (open and 12th fret = G chord, 5th fret = C chord, etc.); in E, it's like fretting an E barre shape all the way up the neck. Pretty easy to get the hang of.
Ryder
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Northwest Missouri
Butterscotch BluesMay 23rd, 2012 09:31 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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"In G, you're essentially replicating the "A" barre chord shape (open and 12th fret = G chord, 5th fret = D chord, etc.)"
In G your replicating the A barre chord shape....where? At the normal G position?
sjerome
Contributing Member
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Upstate NY, USA
Musical accident waiting to happenMay 23rd, 2012 09:57 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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Working your way up the frets:
Open = G chord
fret 2 = A chord
fret 4 = B chord
fret 5 = C chord
fret 7 = D chord
etc.,
Picturing that barre shape (index finger barres all 6 strings, third finger barres DGB strings two frets higher than index finger), the slide is the equivalent of your third finger.
Rigby1027
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USA, Lubbock
Anybody got a band-aid?May 23rd, 2012 10:04 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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I found an "oh that's how" moment when I moved the slide to my ring finger. I could never dampen with my pinkie. I just use my pinkie as a fretter now.
I am not very good though. I actually find it easier to play lead slide in standard tuning, but it is easier to hold an entire tune "solo acoustic" in an open tuning.
cisco
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Tucson, Arizona USA
Bottom SuckerMay 23rd, 2012 10:06 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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I have learned a lot of slide from this website and his DVDs are excellent!
Ryder
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Northwest Missouri
Butterscotch BluesMay 23rd, 2012 10:32 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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Thanks you guys. I play in a church band and every once in a while there is need for a slide. Three guitar players and none play slide. Figured this would be a late, but good time to start learning.
"the slide is the equivalent of your third finger"...so, I'm using my first finger for a note, and then sliding when I use the third finger on a note higher or lower?
"I am not very good though. I actually find it easier to play lead slide in standard tuning, but it is easier to hold an entire tune "solo acoustic" in an open tuning. "
I won't be doing an entire tune soloing any time in my lifetime, I'm sure.
Rigby1027
Contributing Member
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USA, Lubbock
Anybody got a band-aid?May 23rd, 2012 10:42 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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Another thing is to think about bending when trying to get it to sound right. You are bending a half step, whole step, etc.
sjerome
Contributing Member
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Upstate NY, USA
Musical accident waiting to happenMay 23rd, 2012 11:41 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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Just tune to an open G and fool around with it. As a bonus, you can work on your Keith Richards licks.
:-)
Ryder
Contributing Member
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Northwest Missouri
Butterscotch BluesMay 23rd, 2012 11:59 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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Oh yeah, don't some players keep a guitar dedicated to slide?
And is the action higher than you would normally play with? Why is that?
amphead4
Cincinnati, USAMay 23rd, 2012 01:30 PM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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"And is the action higher than you would normally play with? Why is that?"
Yes and heavier strings too to keep the slide up off the frets. My lap steel is strung with 13s and the strings are up about 1/2" above the board.
cisco
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Tucson, Arizona USA
Bottom SuckerMay 23rd, 2012 02:04 PM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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I have 4 guitars dedicated to different tunings for slide. I use 11's on all of them and yes the action is higher than normal. As you get better playing slide with a lighter touch you can start lowering the action so that you can still easily play chords etc with your left hand. One important factor when raising the action for slide is that you'll have to also raise the string height at the nut also, just ever so slightly.
You also have to learn to mute strings with both hands at the same time.
Stratotron
USAMay 23rd, 2012 03:29 PM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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Something that hasn't been addressed, I dont think...In standard guitar tuning, you can get a G triad (chord) on the 2nd-B 3rd-G and 4th-D strings, and an E minor triad chord on the 1st-E 2nd- B and 3rd- G strings. You can get a lot of mileage out of those 2 triads.
Ryder
Contributing Member
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Northwest Missouri
Butterscotch BluesMay 23rd, 2012 07:15 PM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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"One important factor when raising the action for slide is that you'll have to also raise the string height at the nut also, just ever so slightly."
New nut? How do you know, beforehand, how high the strings will need to be at the nut?
sjerome
Contributing Member
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Upstate NY, USA
Musical accident waiting to happenMay 23rd, 2012 07:39 PM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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I really don't think the average, casual slide player needs to worry about that a whole lot. I have a couple guitars on which I had the action at the nut dropped as low as practically possible (compensating for arthritis), and I can use them for slide if I'm careful.
Am I going to get the same results as I would with a guitar specifically set up for slide? No, but in that case you're looking at dedicated guitars anyway, as per cisco.
The only dedicating I do is via tuning and a little raising of the string heights at the bridge. I keep one guitar dedicated to open tunings (G or E) and retune as needed between sets (we do very few songs on which I use slide).
Ryder
Contributing Member
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Northwest Missouri
Butterscotch BluesMay 23rd, 2012 08:09 PM Edit Profile Print Topic Search
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I might have to dedicate a guitar to slide just so I don't keep tuning back and forth.
And I also will do very few. Just last week we played a song that could have used a slide. It's a favorite song of a church leader leaving for another job so we are playing it again this week. It's fairly bluesy so I like it...I was practicing a little with it last week but knew I didn't have it enough to play it in front of people. Most wouldn't notice anyway. I'll try some more but it usually takes me forever to pick up stuff.
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