Hi guys, anyone play slide here? ( :lol: )
Anyway, I'm really into the George Thorogood/Johnny Winter sound. Blues/Southern rock and roll with a bit of a hard edge. Like George's playing here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7VsoxT_FUY I think it's standard tuning but I'm not sure.
I have an SG wth EMG pickups and a Casino with P90's in it. I could use my acoustic/electric too I guess, and I generally play through an Epi Valve Junior.
Any advice for me? Like I said I haven't done much slide and I haven't gotten a feel for it yet. I'd appreciate anything you guys can offer as far as what keys and tunings I should be trying. Any specific scales I should draw from?
Slide is amazing to me, it's like starting all over again and I'd like to be able to play it well.
Ewan McGregor: I said, "Eve, I want you to look after my wedding ring while I'm away," and she started to cry and I said, "Eve. Eve, I can't wear my ring or I won't get laid on the trip!"
open tunings are a slide man's gift from the godz.
try an open E tuning. this way you have Emajor when you strum the strings without fretting.
then when you lay a slide across the fretboard you have another chord, depending on where you fret.
open E is a good tuning to start with , as the chord spacings on the neck are the same. pure power chords in a way.
there are many tunings to explore, but I advise to pick one and play it to death.
I know have several instruments with designated tunings. I play lap steel and resonator as well as regular guitar.
my tunings are:
GBDGBD on one lap steel and the resonator
C6 on one lapsteel
open G ( Keith Richards style) on my telecaster.
by tuning the lower G string up to A, I have Neil Young's double drop D tuning. (Cinnamon Girl).
Thanks Dogbite, I played in Open E a bit earlier and it sounds great. I think I'm just gonna play in this one for a while until I actually get a feel for slide.
Ewan McGregor: I said, "Eve, I want you to look after my wedding ring while I'm away," and she started to cry and I said, "Eve. Eve, I can't wear my ring or I won't get laid on the trip!"
Hi there, I concur with dogbite, open E tuning is brilliant for starters, you need to remember to hold your slide directly over the frets (a high string action is needed too) - when teaching my students, I tell them the "hot spots" are- 5th 7th, 9th and 12th frets others being 3rd and 10th for passing tones when playing blues...A good playing technique is to pick a lower E,A or D string, slide up 2 frets (3rd to 5th is a good one) then play a higher string.... Also remember to keep the slide constantly moving about 1/4 of a fret distance above and below the fret line to keep the notes resounding...Have fun
What are you using for a slide? I have found that heavier slides (and heavier strings) make slide playing more satisfying. I try to set up .012s so that I can slide or fret at will -- on electrics & acoustics alike. Open tunings RULE on slide, but I can see the utility of playing slide in standard tuning, too... although I don't think I would ever do it. :P
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
