These days, I use two guitars 99% of the time – a Telecaster and an SPT acoustic. But if you’re out somewhere jamming with friends and someone shouts out “Stuck In The Middle” or “Happy” or even “let’s do a 12-bar blues in A,” it’s not really practical to re-tune between songs, especially if you’re tuning by ear. It’s not very practical, either, to take numerous guitars everywhere. So I decided, as an experiment, to try playing slide in standard tuning.

To begin with, let’s look at a map of the fretboard:

Then let’s look at one of the most popular open tunings, Open G, and compare it, from low to high strings, to standard tuning:

Standard Tuning:      E A D G B E
Open G Tuning:          D G D G B D

Notice the D, G and B strings are exactly the same in both tunings. How convenient. What’s even more convenient is that these three strings are a G major triad – the notes G (root) B (third) and D (fifth) make up a G major chord.

In fact, just looking at the open strings, you’ll see there are plenty of combinations of notes. And it only takes three notes to make a chord, or even two (the root and the fifth) to make up a power chord. Let’s group the strings together in sets and look at the chords we can form. We’ll stick to the most basic chords because you’ll see in the very first example we can name all sorts of chords with four notes, so imagine how many possibilities there are with three or two notes! Here we go:

Four String Sets:

Using the first four strings (again, from low to high),D G B E, gives you G6 OR Em7

Three String Sets:

The three highest strings are G, B and E  - that can be Em or part of G6, Cmaj7 and even A9 (or Am9) or Fmaj9 if you’d like.

The second through fourth strings are D G B which is an inversion of the G chord or could be part of Em7 and numerous other chord

Other groupings would include:

E A D Asus4 (inv) OR Dsus2 (inv)
A D G Dsus4 (inv) OR Gsus2 (inv)
A B E Esus4 (inv) OR Asus2

Two String Sets:

E A A5 powerchord (inv)
A D D5 powerchord (inv)
D G G5 powerchord (inv)

All well and good so far, but how does this fit in with playing slide? Well, those chords give us plenty of scope for rhythm guitar, and of course we can slide them up and down the fretboard – they’re all movable shapes.

Before we actually move on to the mechanics of playing slide guitar, I’d like to introduce a couple more very useful chord shapes, again just using the D G and B strings. Think of those strings as the HOME position, or 0 0 0. Now add one finger to the B string, one fret higher than the home position, and another finger to the D string two frets higher than the home position. You’re now playing E G and C, which is a C major triad. Slide that shape up two frets and it becomes a D major triad – F#, A and D.

D G B

0 0 0 – G triad
2 0 1 – C triad
4 2 3 – D triad

(NOTE – the fingers you use here will depend on which finger you wear a slide on. Some people prefer the ring finger, others like the pinky. If the slide’s on your ring finger (like me) you’ll use your middle finger on the B string and your pinky on the D string; if the slide’s on your pinky you’ll use the middle finger on the B string and the ring finger on the D string. It’ll take a bit of practise to get used to, but believe me, it’s well worth the effort.)

That’s a quick and easy way to play a I – IV – V progression, and you can do it in any key – just think of the D G and B strings as “HOME,” and you can play those shapes anywhere. E, A and B? The “HOME” position would be the 9th fret, meaning 9 9 9 would be an E major triad, 11 9 10 would be A, and 13 11 12 would be B. To add the vi (or the relative minor of I, which some would call “VIm”) to your I – IV – V progression, you’d simply drop back down to the home position and play 0 0 0 on the G B and E strings. You can use the I – IV – V and vi chords in literally hundreds of songs. Think G, C, D and Em…..

Another very useful chord is shaped very similarly to this last one you learned, but instead of using your ring or pinky on the D string, add it to G string in the same position, ie 0 2 1. Instead of, say, D G and B, we’ve now got D A and C. I usually think of this shape as a 6/9 shape – with C as the root, A would be the 6th and D the 9th in that scale. Here’s a little experiment – try playing 0 0 0 (on the D G and B strings, of course) then 0 2 1 then 2 0 1 then 0 0 0 again. Ring any musical bells? It’s actually the chorus progression for “Happy” by the Rolling Stones, a song which is played in open G tuning by Keith. Although Keef uses a capo on the fourth fret for this particular song, so the song’s in the key of B, and the chorus chords are played around the 9th fret making them variations on an E chord.

One last point before moving on – don’t forget your E- and A-shaped powerchords. The A-shaped powerchords are especially useful, if you play the root with your index finger and the fifth with your ring finger or pinky, you’ll find your slide is ready to use near the “HOME” position for that key.

So, onto the dynamics of soloing with your slide. Remember to think of the D G and B strings as “HOME.”

Quite simply, this diagram shows the relationship between the notes played to the root note of whatever key you’re playing in. Obviously, it won’t work if you’re playing in G or Ab, unless you’re up at the 12th or 13th frets – but for any other key, it’ll work fine. You can see that the whole scale is available to you within a three-fret stretch of the home strings. Once you’ve learned the relationships of the various notes, you’ll find it fairly easy to put a solo together. As with any other genre or method of guitar playing, the main thing is to experiment – try various combinations of strings, remember what sounds good, remember what doesn’t sound so good. For instance, there’s a nice double stop on the B and E strings three frets up from the home position, where the fifth and root are repeated, but an octave higher than on the D and G strings.

This is by no means an exhaustive guide to playing slide in standard tuning; these are just a few tips and pointers to get you started. I haven’t delved into the actual mechanics of playing slide guitar because, for the most part, the techniques are pretty much the same as for playing slide in any tuning. I’ve found that, more and more these days, playing slide in standard is my default setting, especially for playing the blues. I’ve also found that writing this article has helped me immensely – instead of playing by feel, I’ve actually had to sit down and THINK about what I’ve been doing for the last few years. I’ve actually learned something, and hopefully you might gain something too. Perhaps you may be tempted to explore the further possibilities of playing slide in standard – in which case there’s a gentleman called Kirk Lorange who’s well known to us all at Guitarnoise as an excellent slide guitarist, especially in Standard and Drop-D tunings, who comes highly recommended. You can read a review of his teaching methods here.

And finally, a couple of examples of my own playing. The first one, “Mother Carey’s Chickens,” is slide guitar played in standard tuning over a pre-recorded backing track in the key of E.

The second one’s a Guitar Noise collaboration – five of us jamming over another pre-recorded backing track. My part’s the last section – from 4:10 to the end.

I don’t consider myself much of a lead guitarist – I think I’m a lot happier on rhythm. Sometimes, though, it’s nice to spread your wings and fly a little. Playing slide gives me a little more freedom in my playing – and playing slide in standard means I don’t have to retune every time I pick up a guitar!

Playing Slide Guitar in Standard Tuning was written by Vic Lewis for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

It should be easy to understand that, for a beginner (not to mention for a teacher), “I just do it” is more than mildly frustrating. How does one go about learning if one can’t get instruction?

The purpose of this lesson, a look at Seven Nation Army, from the White Stripes 2003 major label debut album, Elephant, is twofold – first we want to look at the interesting rhythmic pattern that serves as the song’s signature hook. We’re also going to take the song apart as we normally do in these lessons, but for the purpose of latter creating a single acoustic guitar arrangement of this song. That will be in an upcoming lesson. Today, we’re all electric!

Structurally, Seven Nation Army is about as simple as song come. There are three verses, four if you count the guitar solo between the second and third verse as verse. These verses are essentially made up of two parts, one that repeats itself over and over even though it may be played by just the bass guitar at some points and by a dense, multi-layered recording of guitars the next. This part also serves as the introduction, the outro and as a musical interlude between the verses. There is also a second two-measure pattern that “formally” ends each verse and also pops up during the solo and at the end of the interlude between the first and second verse.

It’s this first part that contains the interesting rhythm we want to look at and analyze. Here is the bass guitar part, a line of single notes, which I’ve written out for guitar:

The first two notes, the E notes located at the second fret of the D string, are harmless enough. The first is a dotted quarter note and lasts for a beat and a half in length, while the second is an eighth note and is a half beat in length. And this would probably be a great place to point out that while I’ve written out to play these notes at the second fret of the D string, you can also play them elsewhere on the neck of your guitar, such as the seventh fret of the A string or the twelfth fret of the low E (sixth) string, if you prefer.

I thought it would be good to have them all within easy fingering of one another.

The last three notes, at first glance, are quarter notes, which would be problematic in that we would be looking at a total of five beats in the first measure, a measure that is clearly marked in “4/4″ time so it should have only four beats in it. Looking closer, though, you should see a little bracket over these three quarter notes and a number “3″ imbedded in that bracket. This indicates that these three notes make up a quarter note triplet, which means that these three notes are supposed to be evenly spread out among these last two beats of the measure.

That may sound simple enough (although I’m certain to many of you it doesn’t sound simple in the least), but how do we go about making this happen? Counting out a triplet over two beats isn’t at all easy, even for seasoned players. So we’re going to “cheat” for a moment and make it simpler to count by pretending the song was written in 2/4 time, like this:

To do this, we’re cutting all the note values in half – half notes become quarter notes, quarter notes become eighth notes and eighth notes become sixteenth notes. A triplet over two beats will become a triplet over a single beat.

The purpose for doing this is to make it easier to count and to get the rhythm into your head. Most people count sixteenth notes like this: “One, ee, and, ah, two, ee, and, ah…” and triplets are counted “one and ah two and ah…” So we’re going to combine these two and make this measure of two beats go “One, ee, and, ah, two and ah.”

The most important part of this is to make the triplet a triplet, spreading the three notes evenly across the beat, and not turning it into a set of three sixteenth notes with a sixteenth note rest attached. If you’ve listened to the first third of Guitar Noise Podcast 3, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

You can help yourself here by tapping out the beats with your foot, slow and steady. When you are comfortable, pick a four syllable word and say it evenly across the beat. “Alligator” works nicely if you’re stuck for one! Say that for a few beats and then start saying a three syllable word (“elephant” might be appropriate, given the song in question), again making sure that the three syllables are evenly spaced in the beat.

When you’re good with the counting, you can put it all back together, first in 2/4 and then back in 4/4, as done in this example:

Download mp3 (Right-click and “Save as”)

You’ll notice that when going back to 4/4 timing, I draw out the triplet on the third beat when counting it aloud. It’s not at all easy to count out even beats while playing quarter note triplets, so I think you may find this method a little easier. And, since this rhythm figure is very much the heartbeat of Seven Nation Army, it goes without saying that you want to work it into your head and fingers so that you can play it effortlessly. Don’t skimp on the practice and, whatever way you choose to count out the beats and rhythms, don’t be shy about counting out loud. It can, and does, help quite a bit.

And once you’re good with this snippet of rhythm, the rest of the song is going to be a breeze! The second part, which we’ll conveniently call “Example 2,” is two measures of power chords (G5 and A5) played in straight eighth notes, like this:

Download mp3 (Right-click and “Save as”)

There are, of course, many ways to play this. On the original recording, there are at least two different guitars playing the part, one using two string power chords and one using two-string power chords for the G5 and then switching to the open position A chord (the A chord shown in the “Alternate” example here). In these examples, I’m using three-string power chords instead of two-string power chords simply because I like the fuller sound. After all, I’m using one guitar instead of overdubbing a second one. You should try out different variations of these chords and see which you like best.

The next section of Seven Nation Army is actually a repeat of the first section, only it’s fleshed out with full chords, using the single note bass line as the root notes for the chords. Again, on the original recording there are at least two different guitar parts. One guitar plays Root 5 position three-string power chords, like this (this example isn’t played in the MP3 files, by the way):

In case you don’t know what “Root 5 Power Chords” or simply what “Power Chords” are, you can address that by taking a quick look at two of our lessons here at Guitar Noise. The first, The Power of Three, shows you how the four basic types of chords (major, minor, augmented and diminished) are formed. The second, Building Additions (and Suspensions) goes on to detail the creation of other chords, with power chords being the first example in the lesson.

“Root 5″ power chords are simply power chords whose root note is played on the fifth (A) string. And you can see that all the power chords in this example have their root note on the A string.

There is another guitar playing full major chords on the D, G and B strings. This guitar is also being played with a slide. I decided not to use a slide for the MP3 in order to keep things simple:

Download mp3 (Right-click and “Save as”)

Hopefully, one of the reasons for using the open position A chord in Example 2 becomes clear here. Your fingers are already in this shape and now you can just slide them up and down the neck of your guitar at will. If you’re careful about your strumming and can avoiding hitting the first (high E string), then you can use a single finger to barre across the second fret for the open position A and then be about your merry way for Example 3.

Another thing to point out here is that in the original recording, the slide guitar uses a single quarter note of the final B chord (which I have here as a half note) and follows that up with a quarter note of A (X0222X). Either way works fine.

When you’re comfortable moving around on Example 3, the only thing left to do is to be able to switch between the sections, from Example 1 to Example 2 to Example 3 and then back again from Example 3 to Example 2 to Example 1, as demonstrated in this MP3:

Download mp3 (Right-click and “Save as”)

That’s essential the whole song, once you put it all together. Feeling very much at ease with this particular rhythm is going to be essential if you’re going to sing and play it at the same time, so be sure to practice it as much as you may have to. Then practice it even more!

Here’s a lay out of how the song goes:

As I mentioned, there is a guitar solo between the second and third verses. It’s done on slide, but can be easily done without it as well and still sound okay. Well, you might want to make a few alterations and we’ll discuss that in a moment.

The solo itself is fairly simple, using just single notes taken, for the most part, from the E minor pentatonic scale in the following positions:

I’ve taken the liberty of adding the two notes taken from outside of the Em pentatonic scale (C at the thirteenth fret of the B string and F# at the fourteenth fret of the high E (first) string) in parenthesis so that you can add them to your practice warm up of the scale.

The solo is played over four repetitions of “Example 3″ and ends by going back to “Example 2.” Since you’re up that high on the neck for the solo, you’ll probably find it easier to play the G5 in the same three-string manner that the slide guitar uses, that is laying your finger across the twelfth fret (X X 12 12 12 X) and playing just the D, G and B strings, as indicated. For the A5, just slide it up two frets (X X 14 14 14 X).

Okay, then, here’s the solo. You will note that there are three places in the first half (the first eight measures) where there’s a double stop on the seventh fret of the D and A strings. These notes are A and E, respectively, so you’re basically playing an inversion of A5 in the solo while the rhythm is playing an E chord. It will sound slightly dissonant. That’s what goes on in the original recording, most probably from using the slide.

Download mp3 (Right-click and “Save as”)

Also, this is not exactly “note for note,” but it’s certainly close enough for anyone but the nittiest of nitpickers.

Anyway, I also hope that you had fun with this song. We’ll be coming back to it later this fall and examining how to turn it into a single acoustic guitar arrangement. That should prove fairly interesting, no?

As always, please feel free to post your questions and suggestions on the Guitar Noise Forum’s “Guitar Noise Lessons” page or email me directly at dhodgeguitar@aol.com.

Until our next lesson…

Peace

Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes was written by David Hodge for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

For at least a while. Then reality hits. Hard. Because, whether you’ve barely completed your first run up the pentatonic scale or are a certified scorcher who has scuttle-butted his way to fret board freedom, its undeniable that at some point every – every - guitarist has felt restricted by their ability to move around the neck of the guitar within a solo. You’re trapped in those once-lovable box positions, you’re up to your eyeballs with those same old licks, and, worst of all, you have no idea how to really fix things.

Well, aside from regular practice methods, one of the best ways to break free from the confines of scale patterns is by using a slide. The reason for this is simple: it forces you to, effectively, use a single finger to solo. In turn, the lateral motion necessary will cause you to think across the neck, not up and down it. Soon, you’ll have learned to recognize scale intervals across the neck, allowing you to break free from those confounded box patterns. Yes, it is that simple. Well, sort of. Like all things musical, it takes time.

So, while slide guitar is a sure-fire way to break out of the box, it also tackles other extremely important aspects of your playing. Two, specifically, but they are related. First, it forces you to slow down and think about how you want to approach a solo in terms of individual phrases; remember, you’re effectively playing with one finger, so you won’t be able to cruise around like before, firing off licks in an uninterrupted stream; Consequently, you’ll develop an increased sense of timing and melody (master slide guitarist Sonny Landreth said in the June 2005 issue of Guitar One thathe eventually learned to approach slide guitar like he did the trumpet, thinking in terms of “breaths” or the spaces between notes, not just the notes themselves, which in turn fleshed out his regular playing).

Second, it forces your ear to develop, since if you land on the wrong note, you and everyone listening will be quite certain that it is indeed the wrong note. One of the biggest things that has held me back and probably holds a lot of beginners back in their soloing is that after really spending a lot of time on my pentatonic and blues chops, I tended to try to play fast when I soloed. In a moderate blues, for example, I’d strive for that SRV “stream of consciousness” flow of notes. It didn’t always happen (ok, it rarely happened) but that’s how I played, and still play a fair amount of the time. The downside in all this is that you tend to use a lot of “outside” notes and/or passing tones, which is fine as long as you don’t pause on one for too long

With slide, all bets are off; if you rest on a passing tone or outside note, its going to sound odd. Not necessarily bad, but definitely different. Sometimes, it will sound bad. Of course, that’s the beauty of it; you’ll have no choice but you learn your chord tones and arpeggios inside out to be able to maneuver efficiently. So you see, the slide approach to guitar, while a beautiful sound in and of itself, can also double as a laziness detector, which is something I have found quite useful as I try to improve my playing.

Enough chat, lets play something! For a quick rundown of basic slide techniques such as choice of materials and how to position and execute slide notes, I recommend Rick Payne’s great article, Acoustic Slide Guitar, on this website. That’ll get you going on the what’s what in slide playing. Note: Be sure to crank up the action a bit, so you can mute and play more easily and aggressively. But before we start…

These files are the author’s own work and represent his interpretation of this song. They are intended solely for private study, scholarship or research.

Basic Slide Accompaniment

I’m going to attempt to cover variety of approaches which you can take to playing slide. The first is as a complement to a standard blues vamp a la Robert Johnson. Johnson often used a hybrid of blues chords, licks and slide moves to construct his songs, and they can be very, very difficult play. Ramblin’ On My Mind is one of the more “basic” ones, and uses the slide to create a “call and response” motif with the basic blues shuffle; the shuffle is the call, and the slide lick is the response. The following is based off of that idea, but it’s not the original lick. But first, tune your guitar to Open E (low to high: EBEG#BE). You can also tune to Open D (DADF#AD) and place a capo on the second fret:

The toughest part about this little groove is switching from the shuffle to slide bit while staying in tempo and keeping everything clean. Remember to position the slide directly over the frets, not behind them as when fretting normally. Also remember to dampen with strings with your fret hand by “dragging” the fingers which are not occupied by the slide (slide players usually place the slide on the ring finger in order to have the middle and index fingers ready for “dragging duty,” but the pinky finger is also common). This is where the high action comes in; if your action is just a bit higher than normal on an acoustic, you’ll be able to mute and vibrato much more easily without the strings fretting out. An electric might require a bit more adjustment.

This sort of slide playing is a good introduction to the style since it is not too specific in exactly how the notes are played; the groove is what rules the roost here. My example is one approach, but the slide riff in this song can (and has) been played using countless approaches, as is the case for many blues standards (for a great version of this tune, pick up Eric Clapton’s Sessions for Robert Johnson DVD/CD). Don’t be afraid to be a bit aggressive when attempting the above lick. Use wide, singing vibratos, and add a note here and there. In other words, experiment with things. Even try using the slide to fret notes; you’ll get an odd, scratchy sound which can be very flavorful when used correctly, especially in a blues setting. Other times it can completely ruin everything, but, hey, its fun! That’s one of the best things about slide, especially unplugged; a sloppy approach (within reason) can in fact yield pleasant results. Play around with it.

All Slide All The Time

While the slide is a great tool for adding additional color to an acoustic or electric blues (or any piece of music, for the matter), it can also be used as the sole foundation for a song. Led Zeppelin’s “In My Time of Dying,” a tune which uses the slide almost exclusively throughout the eleven-minute track, is a good example of that. The second part of the opening riff (0:27 on the recording) is transcribed below. I took the liberty of adding some wide vibratos at the end of some the phrases to further embellish the slide sound. Note: The recorded version uses open A tuning, but standard will do just fine, since the intervals on the D, G, and B strings (the only ones we are using for this riff) are the same as in open A tuning: E , A, C#. The song will sound a whole step lower, but the transcription can still be followed as shown. To follow the recording, slap a capo on the second fret and there you go – instant open A.

This time around we have a little bit more going on in terms of melodic variety. Again, there is a call and response theme present, but it is quite different from the shuffle pattern in Figure #1. Bars one and three form the call, two and four the response. In addition, the final slide lick seems to be a response to the original response in bar two; the b3 note at the end of the fourth measure causes everything to remain “hanging,” whereas the original response lick in bar two resolved back to the root. This resulting tension, which is relieved when the phrases in the first two bars are repeated before a “lead-in” to the verse starting in bar 7 (not shown), is what gives this little melody its character. This character is sweetened up nicely by the use of the slide; try playing the riff normally and see how it sounds. To my ears, its rather bland compared to the original, especially without the vibratos.

Harmonizing Two Guitars With The Slide

Of course, the use of a slide is not at all limited to blues-based material, although it tends to work quite nicely in that setting. In both rock and pop rock, slide guitar is often used to harmonize a free standing guitar part, such as a chord progression. This is similar to the first example, but two guitars are required. Quite easily the most famous and readily accessible example of this motif is none other than everyone’s favorite southern rock hit, Freebird! Either have a friend play the chords for you, or record them on a cassette deck or loop program, then try the following slide theme (the chords to be played, as well as the approximate time intervals, are written in between the tab and notation for the slide part.

Yeah, ok, so everyone knows Freebird and it’s a cliché to use it as an example, blah, blah, blah. I chose it anyway because its also great for a reason. It’s a solid example of complementing a chord progression in a melodic way that fit’s the music perfectly. Why do you think it sold fifty zillion records? In terms of the music, one aspect which is particularly significant to our little study is the slide part uses the entire fretboard. This is a prime example of breaking out of those pentatonic patterns that can seem so restricting at times. Most of the melody is played on the G string alone!

While present in Freebird, direct harmonization of individual notes is more easily illustrated in another example. This one, with the second guitar arranged for slide, is from a Black Crowes tune entitled By Your Side:

Here, the slide guitar part harmonizes the second part of the riff, primarily by the use of fourths. Although traditional harmonization uses thirds, the fourth intervals present here, in conjunction with the phrasing and the slide, lend a kind of “down-home” vibe to the riff (if you want, harmonize the top lick using thirds as a comparison. It gives a noticeably different sound). The original recording uses two standard guitars and a different fingering of the notes, but I substituted a slide on a single string here for the purposes of illustration. Also, this example again reiterates the variety which can be had on even a single string

A Simultaneous Approach

While two guitars can create some great interplay, wouldn’t it be cool of you could add the slide to come of your own playing without constantly switching motifs and phrases? Well, the slide can also be used to spice up an individual chord voicing by using it to sound one of the notes forming a given chord. This is especially useful in open tunings, but you can accomplish this on some of your standard tuning chords and licks as well. Although this can be tricky to get the hang of, it can really add new life to old motifs. For example, lets take a standard blues turnaround in G, with the seventh descending to the fifth. Keep the slide on the G and D notes on the 3rd fret throughout the first bar, then use it to ascend the chords that finish the turnaround:

Notice a change in the sound versus if you fret the strings normally? This sort of playing has been developed into an art form by some slide players, including the above mentioned Sonny Landreth, who frets behind the slide as well as picking both in front of and behind it. I won’t try to give you an example of his work, since its quite hard and I can’t come close to using it, but I highly suggest you check out his site www.sonnylandreth.com. In the above mentioned Guitar One issue, he also gives a lesson displaying some of these techniques.

I hope you enjoyed this little presentation on slide guitar and the many benefits it can have toward different aspects of your playing. Even if you only use it as a learning tool rather than a musical one, the slide can help anyone reach a new level of playing and, most importantly, ear training. All that time you spend slowing down and focusing on the notes versus bpm, as hard as this is to do (and believe me, I know how hard it is!), will help make you a better player.

Some Slide References:
Sonny Landreth
Son House
Hound Dog Taylor
Eric Clapton
John Lee Hooker
Led Zeppelin
Robert Johnson
The Black Crowes

About the Author

Matt Desenberg is a guitarist living in southern Maine. He recently graduated with a degree in English and is currently working as a freelance writer. Music is his main love however, with a main focus (for now) on classic rock and blues rock. He is currently a student of virtuoso Tom Hess.

The Benefits of Slide Guitar was written by Special to Guitar Noise for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Throughout the world musicians have created sounds by dragging objects across stringed instruments, for either effect or as an integral part of its sound. An example of this was discovered in W.Africa in the form of a musical bow. Still used today, this one stringed instrument was attached to a gourd resonator and held to the abdomen, while the player plucked the string and used a bone or metal to vary the pitch.

Investigators into the popular form of slide playing associated with the blues, determined that this was probably why a more contemporary version of the bow called the Jitterbug came to be used by the Negro musicians around the southern states of America at the turn of the century. With the influx of slaves, years before, came a rich culture of music, and although the slaves were bereft of possessions, a musical bow would be a simple instrument to make. The Jitterbug, like the bow, had one string, but this time simply attached to the floor or side of a shack. When plucked, an object would be dragged along the string to accompany simple songs. The sound, which could wail and moan like the human voice, became an ideal backing to the early blues and perhaps forerunner to the guitar’s role in the slide style.

But why the guitar?

In the early part of the 20th century, the guitar was becoming increasingly popular, as a cheaper alternative to the piano. Along with the banjo, it was more portable and could be ordered by catalog in the many rural backwaters. It is a safe bet to say, that knives, bones and glass, would have been used on the guitar as an extension to the Jitterbug. The guitar became more widely used with the slide, after a young Hawaiian guitarist called Joseph Kekeku made a recording using this style. It was a flashy, eerie kind of tune, that became popular in the U.S, and gave the already established Negro style more impetus.

The Hawaiian influence on slide playing cannot be overlooked. The speed at which the music spread into the American culture at the turn of the century was evident in the increased production of guitars and lap steels. All the main makers were turning them out: National, Rickenbacker and Gibson. In fact, the Hawaiian style lap steel, far out sold Spanish style guitars. Since the early Kekeku recordings, the use of the slide began to seep into all styles of music, from the early blues, right into the mountain Hillbilly music of early folk and country.

The Hawaiians have always laid claim to the invention of the slide guitar, but it is fairer to say, that it was a development rather than an invention. Anyway, the young J.K could easily have got the idea by listening to an American Negro sailor, whose ship had docked in Honolulu!

Whatever the worldly origins of the slide guitar, this form of playing is best known for it’s partnership with the blues. The slide playing of Robert Johnson, Son House, Blind Willie Johnson, to name a few, has reached almost classical status. It is a style that has captivated, amazed and baffled guitarists of all kinds, and to my mind has become the most enchanting.

About the author:

Rick Payne has also written Acoustic Slide Guitar – Technique and tips and Origins of the Pentatonic and Relevance to the Blues

History and Origin of the Slide Guitar in the Blues was written by Special to Guitar Noise for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

There have been many objects used to achieve the slide sound. Knives, bottle necks, tubes of all kinds of metals and glass, spark plug sockets, lighters, stone, marble, plastic… anything! At sometime or other I’ve used them all but to keep things simple and effective, I use a real bottle neck or metal tube, cut long enough to be slightly longer than the pinkie.

Glass or metal?

Glass is great for smooth, long sustain – Paris Texas type stuff. The heavier glass the better. Avoid manufactured glass slides as they tend to lack sustain and brightness – use real bottle glass. Ry Cooder is said to use a Fighting Cock Kentucky Bourbon bottle!

Metal is good for more attack, especially electric. Experiment with heavy or light metal – both produce different sounds. Think Muddy Waters, light. Lowell George( Little Feat ) heavy.

For both glass and metal, think:

Heavy – better for sustain, more accuracy, good for long slow notes

Light – Thin sound, but faster, harder to keep accurate, less volume and sustain

Which finger?

This is a personal choice, as with most aspects of slide playing. Many well known players have used different combinations. I’ve always found the slide best suited to the pinkie. This allows me more opportunity to finger chords, and play regular fretted notes as well as play the slide. Anyway, if it’s good enough for Robert Johnson or Ry Cooder it’s good enough for me.

How do I stop all that scratching and buzzing?

Sometimes the extraneous noises can be used to great effect – listen to Blind Willie Johnson. For the purpose of improving technique, try and play cleanly and smoothly. Lose all those noises by dampening the strings behind the slide. When you release the fingers behind the slide – notice the difference.

Action and set-up

Use a guitar set-up with a slightly higher action, so there is less chance of the slide banging against the frets. It helps to minimise those extraneous noises we talked about earlier. However, if the action is too high, it will be harder to finger the chords when needed.

Strings

A personal choice again, but I believe the best sound is achieved by using the thickest you can manage – at least a 0013 on the top. Bob Brozman once told me that he used a 0017 on his National – now, there’s a real slide man for you!

What about guitars?

Acoustic or electric, who cares. I like the rootsy flavor of an acoustic for instant feel. My favorites are small bodied acoustics and resonators. I love all those junk shop guitars with bowed necks and impossible actions. Check them out. Slide players can pick up some real winners. In fact all the exercises in the Acoustic Guitar Workshop’s slide course were recorded with an old, small body Hofner, that I found in Denmark for 20 pounds.

For electric players, the fenders have great natural sustain. Check out that early Ry Cooder sound. With added compression, like the old purple pecker, or rack effects, the slide sounds great. On his later albums, Ry used the pick up from an old lap steel, for that real slide sound and phenomenal sustain. The trick is don’t be afraid to experiment.

Vibrato – the soul of slide

This is a crucial aspect of slide playing.

There are two main reasons for this:

1. Think of the slide ( bottleneck, or whatever you decide to use ) as a moving fret which by careful handling will maintain the pitch of the note you are trying to play. If you are new to slide playing you will fast realise how difficult this is. Vibrato with the slide means you play a compromise between an in and out of tune note – somewhere in the middle is the correct pitch. To keep good pitch, keep the slide at right angles to the fret at all times.

A violinist uses the same effect on the fretboard ( fretless of course ) to maintain steady pitch. Witness the intense movement of the fingers as they ensure the right notes are achieved.

This is especially so for the slide, when reaching the end of a phrase or riff; the final note sounds dull or sharp or flat unless vibrato is used. There are many different styles of vibrato. Listen to the intense movement of the slide on Blind Willie Johnson’s Dark Was The Night, or the almost non existent vibrato on Tampa Red’s Denver Blues. This leads me to my next main point.

2. Vibrato gives your slide playing a personal touch which can reflect the intensity of your mood or your feeling for the blues. Once you feel comfortable with the slide, experiment with different amounts of vibrato – light or heavy. Listen to as many players as you can and gauge the amount used which distinguishes their playing.

The slide can be held tight against a finger to produce a very controlled movement or loose for a more carefree result.

Careful though, as they tend to fly off your finger!

I’ve noticed that some players use lack of vibrato to produce quarter tones, which are carefully placed, and give an eerie effect against the proper pitched note. Once again, listen to Blind Willie Johnson or Ry Cooder ( Vigilante Man is a good example ) to hear these notes. More about these mysterious quarter tones elsewhere in the Acoustic Guitar Workshop slide course.

About the author:

Rick Payne has also written Origins of the Pentatonic and Relevance to the Blues and History and Origin of the Slide Guitar in the Blues

Acoustic Slide Guitar – Technique and tips was written by Special to Guitar Noise for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise