hmm tips.....basically just dont press down on the string you just let it glide across. Play around with it...you can use lighters, bottles, knives, bullets anything for a slide...it is fun to expirament.
Gurny, The basics of slide are fairly easy to grasp. If you've been playing it at all you probably know what I'm about to tell you, but what the hell...right? In Open G the basic positions are open strings (no "fretting", no slide just strum it open) then 5th fret, 7th fret and 12th fret. Do a Google search for some open tuning tabs and play around with it. Even a fool like me can play enough slide to amuse myself LOL. I have never fooled around much with other open tunings, but from what I have messed around with, all the rudiments are pretty simple. Well...hope this helped a little. Oh yeah...there's a guy named Steve Bozeman who has a whole line of instructional books, cd's and DVD's. I have one that I learned quite a bit from. His materials are really good, if you wanna check those out. OK...I just wrote a short story...peace dude!!
I find slide almost repulsively easy to play, and am willing to use anything from a broken beer bottle to a pocketknife as a slide. Lately Ive been using a chrome slide, but have also used a variety of lighters, glass slides, brass slides, lead pipe, anything with a smooth side can be used to slide. If you intend to play slide, make sure you have a high action on the frets, or you will damage the ol fretboard. I can always tell when someone has been playing a guitar with a slide by the dents on the rosewood/maple. I prefer an open tuned guitar for slide, and often dedicate one to open tuning for live play. While a standard tune slide can be done well, it has a tendency to grate my nerves if not done well! Once you learn your open tunings, the slide playing part is the easy aspect of it all.
Not much I can add to that! Except perhaps to warn that it is DECEPTIVELY easy. As with standard guitar paying, it is the 'touch' that makes you really stand out. I know many guitarists who think they can play slide simply because their slide is in the right spot, BUT it is the PRECISE placing of the slide by ear and touch that sets the men apart from the boys. My choice is glass bottleneck - check out www.bluemoonbottleneck.co.uk - for a really cool site and info. This guy makes some really cool slides out of vintage bottles; I got a really beautiful blue one. Brass is ok in a emergency.......chrome and those awful straight glass tubes sold in most music shops just suck. But, hey, try them and see for yourself.
Deffo use an open tuning. If you don't wanna raise your action then put you slide on the fret wire to prevent damaging your fret board... As for me, I used a medicine bottle just like ol' Duane.
I play Open G tuning, and I use a piece of copper tubing, I had a Coricidin bottle, but my fingers is too pudgy.
the medicine coricidin is outta production, i think...but they still produce the bottles for slide guitarists...you can get them in muscians friend...and yeah, the guy above you is crazy...copper over a coricidin...whatever floats your boat.
differnt slides for differnt players i once knew a guy who played with a brass slide, dull and gritty it was. Depends on the sound one is looking for
Samson, old chap, does the band 'Southern Comfort Blues Band' have any resonance for you, per chance? Nice pic of the SG, by the by, in your gallery. Cannot get my pics on this goddam site, as I am quite hopeless!
Slide isn't all that hard, although I never played much in open tunings in front of people. Usually I'd switch between slide and regular guitar, switch things up, and it definitely made for variety. I just played all the notes I would with my fingers, but just move the slide around to the notes I was playing (obviously). Sounded great.
