different slide

It's one of several approaches to the slide/no slide combination. Turn it so the "closed" side's down to slide. Turn it to the "open" side for more flexibility to fret with that finger. There are several slightly different looking slides built on the same principle, with one side cut away.

Another approach is the Jetslide, which I've played with. Works well on light strings, not so well with really heavy ones IMO.

The purpose of slides like this is for folks who primarily play fretted stuff in standard tuning to be able to quickly switch to playing a slide solo and back. Downsides to all of them are having to learn how to operate them for the switch, having a single narrow surface contacting the strings in the sliding position so that any damage occuring to that area messes up the slide (on a full surface slide you can just turn the rough spot away from the strings and keep playing), and reduced slide mass that you may not like when playing on heavy strings.

Slides with a little round cutaway on the underside have that same drawback of being vulnerable to damage or wear on their single narrow strip of playing surface. I prefer a plain old round symmetrical tube. Three free fingers to fret with are normally enough for me.

Yep, I have the "Hoolahan" slide. Had my local guitar store special order one for me a few months ago. I like it. They do come in 3 sizes though, small, medium, and large, I think. Can't remember the diamiters though. I had the meduim ordered, and it fits pretty good. I do wish I could have tried the other sizes too though. It does take a little getting used to at first when you flip it around to play without the slide. All in all, I'm happy with it.

dntalb are you able to change it from slide to fretting within the same song ? or just between songs ?

how do you swing between the two positions.

thanks for your replies.

Ric I understand you think this is redundant accesory ?

Hi Itziks,

Yes, you can change from slide to fretting within the same song. You can flip it around easy enough by using your thumb. Flipping it back to use the slide requires more practice, as when the slide is on top, you don't have much to grab with your thumb. Might take a few seconds to use your thumb & pinky to flip it back, or just grab it with your picking hand & spin it back. I do this when playing Led Zeppeilin's "In My Time Of Dying".
As far as sizes, this is what I found off of zZounds.com:

Hoolahan Small 17 x 19 x 55mm, fits ring size 6

Hoolahan Medium 20 x 22 x 61mm, fits ring size 9.5

Hoolahan Large 23 x 25 x 63mm, fits ring size 13

I ordered the medium, which is the "282". (281 is small, & 283 is large). It's just a bit loose for me when I keep it in the middle part of my finger, (not over the knuckle), which is a bit hard to control when the slide is on top, as it wants to flop around, (still controllable though), but it's too tight for me to push it over my knuckle & play. (It will fit, but when I bend my finger to play, it gets jammed it there & stuck pretty good!) I didn't see this size chart before ordering, so maybe it'll help you out more. I hope my explanation helps. I'd recomend it. As far as Ric's response, I'm sure he'll tell you you can never have enough slides! :wink: I'm looking at getting a glass or a bone slide next. Happy slidin' :D

Dan

Sure, you can never have enough slides! Or at least, never too many! SAS is a less severe malady than GAS, slides don't take up much space.

It's not something I'd use a lot, because of the style of music I play. I slide a lot, fret some. I'm not fretting complex chords that I need all four fingers for. I don't ever want or need the slide to "go away." For somebody who's playing stuff in standard tuning, fretting most of the time, and would like to be able to pop in with a slide solo now and then, a slide like this could be the greatest thing since sliced bread!

I mentioned the Jet Slide above. I've used it, and it does exactly what it's supposed to. Sounds good on electric guitars, which are relatively lightly strung. Not enough slide mass to work well with the very heavy strings on my reso. Check it out: http://www.jetslide.com/ I do know people who use this as their main slide, and think I'm full of beans about it not working on heavy acoustic strings. At any rate, it's easy to flip this thing down into sliding position with the pinky on the tab, and when you want to quit using it, basically you just let go of the tab and it gets out of the way. It causes very little interference with your other fingers when not using it.

There's another style of part-time slide that's basically a long tubular slide, cut away on one side so there's only a ring remaining. You rotate it to the solid side to play slide, and to the ring side when you want it out of the way. Can't remember who makes it.

My favorite slides are still a Craftsman deep socket, and a big old brass Dunlop #224.
:D

Thanks for the link for the "jetslide" Ricochet. I think I feel a case of SAS coming on! :lol: The brass one looks interesting. 8)

Mine's stainless. The quality of the MIG welding on it's superb, if you're into that sort of thing.