The Jet Slide

Now this little thing fits into the “where has this been all my life” category. I’ve always loved playing the slide guitar, but the problem is that putting on a slide and taking it off when you’re done simply takes time. There’s no avoiding it. Therefore I’ve always refrained from using one on stage or in practice. I’d only play one at home, mostly when I’d be fooling around. I always thought it was a pity I couldn’t use it more often.

Now I can. No. Now I do! The jetslide is a fabulous innovation one that, in just a few weeks, has completely changed the way I look at the guitar. You see, the Jet Slide is a thin slide which you put on your ring finger with a ring. Once on your finger, it stays behind your ring finger and pinky, completely out of the way so that you can play your guitar normally without having to worry about it. It has an angle to make part of it go on the top of your hand so that it doesn’t twist around your ring finger.

When you’re ready to use it, it has a tab by your pinky. Just bring your pinky behind the tab and push in: The Jet Slide is now in front of your fingers, between the ring finger and pinky (you use both these fingers to control it). Now you can slide to your hearts content!

When you want to stop sliding, just move your pinky away from the tab and the Jet Slide pulls back behind your fingers. Ingenious!!!

As I said, it fits around your finger with a ring. Comfortable? Think of wearing a wide, yet light ring. Very comfortable and it takes minutes to get used to it.

Jetslide

The first time you put it on, you have to look at the illustrations to figure it out. Once you have it on your finger you wonder why this hasn’t been around forever.

The very first time I tried it, it took me about a half a second to go from normal playing to sliding; that’s how fast it is. At first. Sending it back takes such a small fraction of a second that it’s not even worth mentioning.

After about three days, that half-second to get it into action was cut about in two. Not bad! However, the tab can be adjusted with a pair of pliers: Do Not apply them directly on the tab, use a piece of leather or several layers of thick paper between the tab and the pliers. Adjust it to your own comfort. But don’t do it right away, take the time to get used to the Jet Slide in order to find out exactly where your comfort zone is. I waited almost three weeks before doing this.

Remember that half-second I’d cut in two? Doesn’t take nearly as long now to get it into action.

So, you say you don’t particularly like a slide, so why should you get one? You know those little finger slides you do? Like second string, 2nd fret, sliding your finger to the 5th? Try doing this with the Jet Slide. The sound it gives! You’ll never want to play without it again. And the thing is that once you have this thing on your finger, you’ll be finding all sorts of uses for it. Even if it’s just hitting a few string at the same fret (more or less) that one time, applying the Jet Slide to the strings gives a whole new colour to what you’re doing.

Or tapping; the difference this thing makes…

One thing that does take a bit of getting used to, although very little time, is having it hanging there when you’re playing. Just two or three practice sessions and you won’t notice it anymore. Get used to putting it on every time you practice for your whole practice session. As I said, just by having it there, you’ll find a whole bunch of new uses for it anyway.

Is it solidly built? Absolutely. It comes in two models: Stainless Steel and Brass. The ring and tab (one piece) on both are made of stainless. Nice and thick; there’s no way you can bend this without a pair of pliers and a whole lot of pressure. Because of this, you have to order it to the size of your finger (if you don’t know your standard ring size, there’s a way of measuring your finger on Jet Slide’s website). That’s pretty neat as you know that if someone steals it from you, they’ll have to bring it back as it probably won’t fit…

The slide itself, either stainless or brass, is welded onto this part. And it’s a good, strong welding job: there’s no way this will ever fall apart. The makers of the Jet Slide claim it will last you your whole life: I have absolutely no problem believing this.

So, for $19.95 + $5.00 S&H or $44.95 for the set (includes S&H), it’s quite worth its price. I wouldn’t have a problem paying even more for it.

As for which sounds better, the stainless steel or the brass; I’ve personally opted for the brass one: wonderful sustain and brilliance. But that’s my personal taste. It depends on what kind of music your playing. Because with the Jet Slide, sliding isn’t just for country music anymore, it’s for rock, heavy metal, pop, classical and what-not.

Once you have one, you’ll never want to play without it. I know that they’ll have to cut off my finger to get mine. And I mean that. I stand by this product and I don’t see what could possibly change my mind.