WOW! What a great site. I stumbled across this place while doing a Google search for slide songs and wham-o, I find that there are others, like me, who after 20+ years of using fingertips now find refreshment in the slide. So, after reading posts for hours I decided to register. In my circle of musicians I'm the only one I know who plays slide. Nice to know there's more out there.
So, here's why I Googled, and later found this place:
I'm playing in a Blues/Rock band and would like to incorporate as much slide as I can. But I'm afraid that I'm running out influences. I'm hoping that I can get some suggestions from other slide players. Here's the current list that we're playing:
open E
Statesboro Blues, One Way Out - Allman bros
Rocky Mountain Way - Walsh
Curtis Lowe - Skynyrd
Just Got Paid - ZZ Top
Standard and/or G
Traveling Riverside Blues - Zeppelin
Like A Rock - Seger
Stuck in the Middle w/you - Steelers Wheel
If I had Possession over judgment day- Clapton
Any suggestions for some good blues/rock songs, other than Thorogood? (he's a little too cliche in my opinion)
Oh, my goodness! Anytime I turn on the "classic rock" station, I hear more slide guitar than I can shake a stick at!
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
If you have the chops, slide can fit in anywhere. (Maybe not Bach's "Mass in B minor," but further research will be necessary to prove it. Who knows?)
Derek Trucks might be the guy who proves my point. Ry Cooder has taken his style down a lot of dark alleys. Dave Lindley as well. Sonny Landreth seems to have locked into a style, but his technique shows the possibilities that slide brings to any number of genres.
There has been a tendency for guitar players to put a slide on for, like, one song a night. It's a special effect. I don't like that. I suggest you approach your whole set from a slide perspective, no matter where the tune came from or what it''s trying to say.
Influences? Trucks & Cooder covers the most territory with the best technique & taste. (Buena Vista Social Club shows Ry Cooder blending his slide style with musical styles COMPLETELY foreign to bottleneck slide, to killer effect.) Lowell George breaks open some exciting territory. George Harrison sneaked some great slide playing into the Beatles' works. The best slide playing IMHO is that which doesn't call attention to itself as slide playing.
This is an idiosyncratic area of guitar playing. There are no limits. Go for it, man!
"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
A friend just linked this up on Facebook: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWiVb1zhme0
I'd add anything by Foghat. Slow Ride is of course a classic, and their version of Terraplane Blues was the first I heard. Oh yeah, and I Just Want To Make Love To You!
Their slide player, Rod "The Bottle" Price, died tragically in a home fall at the age of 51. RIP.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
One of my favourite bands of the 70's - Nazareth - featured a guitarist called Manny Charlton who played a lot of slide guitar. In fact, it's hard to think of one of their hit singles that DIDN'T feature slide guitar. One of the highlights of their concerts was always a killer version of "Vigilante Man," in open G I think.
Another British guitarist - Chris Rea - played a mean slide guitar. You could do worse than check 'em out on youtube!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Vic, the first link I posted right above is to Nazareth.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Vic, the first link I posted right above is to Nazareth.
Well you've just gone even further up in my estimation, then! Didn't have time to check it out before - was trying to think of something for the SSG to write about this week. I'll go check it out now......
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Aaaah - "Bad Bad Boy." Nice one, Ric! That was their second hit single over here.....another concert staple! Great stuff! Their version of "This Flight Tonight" is well worth checking out, too..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vnOzs0vdlA
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
:D
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Vic, Chris Rea "played"? Although he "retired" a couple of years ago, he brought out a concept Album (last year? "The Return Of The Fabulous Hofner Blue Notes") and went out on tour. In Germany, his "Driving Home For Xmas" is almost as cult as Slade's Xmas ditty is in England.
Road To Hell
Fleetwood Mac (who can forget "Albatross"?)
The Allman Brothers
Eric Clapton - Layla (with Duane Allman)
Howling Wolf's Smokestack Lightning
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
Thanks for some great suggestions! Now I have to go back to the woodshed and learn more cool stuff to bring to band practice.
