Anybody here play slide?

rickbarclay

Inspired
Hi, all. I just bought a course called Slide Guitar Secrets by a guy named Rob Ashe. I think he can help me get
started. But just for kicks I thought I'd ask a couple of simple questions here. First off, what strings are best suited to
slide playing? I use 9.5 pure nickel wound, but I'm going to move up to tens for this. Are nickel strings good, or should I use
steel or brass strings? Also, I'm going to to upgrade an old cheap guitar I have for practice, so what kind of pick-ups
would you guys recommend for a good slide tone? I'll be using single coils unless my mechanic can route out enough room
for buckers. Eager to hear from all you pros out there. Thanks a bunch for your help.
 
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Based on my limited experience, heavier strings give better "tone" and alternate tunings (eg: Open G) can make playing easier. I have never changed pickups, and I only play slide on songs that need it - like Little Texas - God Blessed Texas or ZZ Top - Tush (yes, that is slide on there).

I play on my regular guitars (set up with nickel 10's), but I find damping and control harder on the upper frets/strings due to the action, so "buzz" control is a must with the slide.
 
I'm hardly a slide player, but my sweetie is an excellent slide player, to the the point of having started a resophonic guitar festival that lasted a few years in our area. For her, a guitar with 10's would be worthless. She typically plays guitars tuned to open D or open G and has at least 13 on top, sometimes 14. She gets an enormous amp crunching sound, particularly on the bottom end where she's somewhere in the high 50s.

There's a lot of different ways to go and it really depends on what kind of sound you're after. Derek Trucks plays 11-46, but he tunes to open E, so strings 3-5 have greater tension than normal. I think Ry Cooder uses 12-52, but he has a gazillion guitars, so that may change.

As in the rest of playing, humbuckers will whack the amp harder, single coils will be more detailed with typically less gain. Bonnie Raitt, Lowell George...single coil. Duane Allman, Derek Trucks humbucker. Ry Cooder...his own particular thing.

If you do choose to use 10s, you'll probably want a relatively light slide as controlling it and keeping it from whacking frets will likely be harder with a heavier slide and light strings.
 
I have a 76' Firebird I set up for slide ( A La Johnny Winter ) . I even raised up the action a bit and put some makeshift shims under the nut. Tuned to open D play some Highway 61 - let her rip. Man I havent played that guitar in ages , now you got me thinking on pulling it out , depends on how far back in the closet it is ...
 
I've found that a heavier string allows for a lower action, which is important to me as I also do a lot of fretting on my open-tuned guitars as well as slide playing. Have to be careful with that, tho, because the added tension will wreak havoc on a less-than-sturdy guitar (I have to replace a caved-in bridge on my Les Paul every few years). Also, the type of slide you choose has a huge effect on your sound. Glass is smoother and rounder than steel, with less "scritchy" noise, while steel is brighter with more sustain (and the heavier the steel, the more the sustain but harder to control). I use glass with single coils and steel with humbuckers.

One piece of advice looms much larger than all the rest, however: whenever you pick up the slide, you must put down the pick!
 
I play slide all the time, normally in standard tuning since I don't have time to carry or change multiple guitars. I use a ceramic slide that seems to fit in between steel and glass (although I have multiples of each.)

I use 9's on my guitars, so it does require a light touch to avoid fretting out. Heavier strings will alleviate some of that as well as give you more output the higher you get up the neck on the high E string. I also have an old Univox Les Paul copy that does have heavier strings and higher action which I generally have in an open tuning (usually E for Joe Walsh type stuff.)

Light distortion, lots of compression and volume -- easy to get great slide tone with the AxeFX.

TT
 
Thanks for the advice, all. Really liked that video--and the Cardinal guitar. Guess I'll stick to my plan: start with a cheap guitar, 10's,
and Axe FX for tone, and pay somebody to set it up. One thing I've learned learning guitar--patience. It don't happen overnight.
 
Was lucky enough to talk to Sonny Landreth at a guitar seminar 6-7 years ago. He uses a D'Addario EJ22 set which is .13 - .56. He also uses a standard setup instead of raising the bridge which allows him to fret notes behind the slide.

Killer slide techniques with Sonny Landreth | Killer slide techniques with Sonny Landreth | Guitar Lessons | MusicRadar

His website Sonny Landreth - Official Site

Advanced but killer instructional video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ3zFj7-mT8&feature=youtu.be
 
Thanks for the links (mmmm...sausage), faulty. I have more than a dozen of those Truefire courses, but not that one. I'll check it out if
I get some improvement in my slide playing. I find all the Truefire courses very challenging. They're also very affordable and mostlly
well done professionally.
 
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