jmacomber68w Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 so ive been playing for over a year now, and I recently got a glass slide to mess around with but now I want to get more serious, does anyone know of a real good book or website out there to get started with? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WaronWar Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 You could do the book thing or look at websites and I have done both in my past playing experiences; however, I have always found that the best experience that benefits me the most is to listen to records that I like and to try and figure out why what is what or how do they do that. For example, if you want to get better at slide playing, listen to old delta blues records. You know: try and figure out what Robert Johnson is doing and how he gets the sound he does. It's hard, but it makes you that much better musically. If that makes any sense, I guess. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Saut Crapaud Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 You could do the book thing or look at websites and I have done both in my past playing experiences; however, I have always found that the best experience that benefits me the most is to listen to records that I like and to try and figure out why what is what or how do they do that. For example, if you want to get better at slide playing, listen to old delta blues records. You know: try and figure out what Robert Johnson is doing and how he gets the sound he does. It's hard, but it makes you that much better musically. If that makes any sense, I guess. I play slide, not as well as I would like, but better than I did when I started. I think listening to pre-war slide players is a great idea. If you will immerse yourself in that music you certainly begin to get a feel for how the slide augments what the guitar player is trying to express. That only applies if what you are wanting out of your slide playing is from that era. I confess that I have a terrible "ear" for music. I try and try in vain to copy what Tommy Johnson or Blind Wille McTell are doing but just can't pull it off. There is more to it than just listening to the recordings and then attempting to recreate that sound (tunings, intonation, etc). When I started out, I was lucky enough to have a friend that was a great slide player. I needed the visual aid as well as the one on one feedback that provides. Bob Brozeman makes some decent instructional guides but the key to slide playing, in my opinion, is achieving the right intonation via correct mechanics (damping, vibrato, slide pressure). By the way, if you are truly interested in delta/hill country slide playing you can't go wrong with everything mississippi fred mcdowell did. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jmacomber68w Posted March 4, 2008 Author Share Posted March 4, 2008 practice is my current plan, but i will check out all the artists recomended for sure, ive listend to a lot of RJ but thats really it for any old slide guys Quote Link to post Share on other sites
littlebitlater Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 i've been playing with slide for the last 3-4 years now and have settled on glass. i am not much for books, but in my opinion, the most important aspect of slide playing is keeping strings muted with both your left and right hands. unless you are playing chords in an open tuning, playing single notes in standard tuning really requires a lot of muting discipline to keep buzzing and rattling down. i put the slide on my left pinky and mute the strings behind the slide with my other fingers, putting the slide on my pinky lets me play a variation of every chord i would need; on the right i cradle the pick with my middle finger and play with my index while the thumb and others mute the strings i'm not playing. i'm not the best player in the world but i have fun and it works for my gigs and recording. best of luck... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
leftarmtan Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I would suggest picking a key and focusing on it for a while. G and D tuning are great tunings to get started. You can quickly develop your own techniques that can add a lot of dimension to your shows or just allow you to have more fun messing around. Did you raise the action on your guitar and go to heavier guage strings? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jmacomber68w Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 I would suggest picking a key and focusing on it for a while. G and D tuning are great tunings to get started. You can quickly develop your own techniques that can add a lot of dimension to your shows or just allow you to have more fun messing around. Did you raise the action on your guitar and go to heavier guage strings? no, but im considering picking up a cheap acoustic and get it set up nice for slide Quote Link to post Share on other sites
In a little rowboat Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 I would suggest picking a key and focusing on it for a while. G and D tuning are great tunings to get started. You can quickly develop your own techniques that can add a lot of dimension to your shows or just allow you to have more fun messing around. Did you raise the action on your guitar and go to heavier guage strings? open tunings are the way to go for starters...and vary between major and minor tunings... however, the further along you get, youll want to go back to standard...the runs are more interesting and youll be more versitile without having to retune after every song Favorite slide player here=George Harrison (standard tuning, and some d modal) j Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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