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Slide guitar tunings


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I've decided to use one of my electric guitars for slide playing. What are some good (somewhat) all-purpose tunings for slide? Right now I have it tuned to open A, but I understand D and G are more common slide tunings.

 

Any other tips for a slide guitar novice?

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Cool, thanks for the info. I'll check out that website.

 

The chrome slide I bought won't fit on my ring finger, so I've had to use my pinky. I also have a glass slide, which I don't like as much as the chrome, but it does fit my ring finger. I'll probably get a larger chrome one as I feel I have much more control with my ring finger than my pinky.

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Cool, thanks for the info. I'll check out that website.

 

The chrome slide I bought won't fit on my ring finger, so I've had to use my pinky. I also have a glass slide, which I don't like as much as the chrome, but it does fit my ring finger. I'll probably get a larger chrome one as I feel I have much more control with my ring finger than my pinky.

I was in Best Buy the other day and I bought a chrome slide. I didn't like the glass slide either, I like the "rasp" the strings give from the chrome slide.

 

I look forward to learning a new technique.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I've decided to use one of my electric guitars for slide playing. What are some good (somewhat) all-purpose tunings for slide? Right now I have it tuned to open A, but I understand D and G are more common slide tunings.

 

Any other tips for a slide guitar novice?

 

have you thought about lifting the bridge and maybe getting one of these for the neck http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Extension-nut-riser-Slide-Guitar-Resonator-lifts-action-/140432980209?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item20b27538f1

so that you can practice lap steel style rather than blues bottleneck style. it just means that the strings are lifted equally away from the neck (when you play they shouldn't touch the neck) and so you can get a country sound etc... Maybe it wouldn't be any good, I don't know - just an idea.

i'm not very good at it, but when my brother plays his acoustic resonator - in a bluegrass/country style - he normally tunes to G. also, Keith Richards tended to tune to G, and Ry Cooder etc...

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have you thought about lifting the bridge and maybe getting one of these for the neck http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Extension-nut-riser-Slide-Guitar-Resonator-lifts-action-/140432980209?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item20b27538f1

so that you can practice lap steel style rather than blues bottleneck style. it just means that the strings are lifted equally away from the neck (when you play they shouldn't touch the neck) and so you can get a country sound etc... Maybe it wouldn't be any good, I don't know - just an idea.

i'm not very good at it, but when my brother plays his acoustic resonator - in a bluegrass/country style - he normally tunes to G. also, Keith Richards tended to tune to G, and Ry Cooder etc...

 

That's a good idea. I have considered raising the bridge and getting a new nut. That nut riser would obviously be a cheaper option than replacing the nut. The action on the guitar I'm using for slide is super low, so I need to get it set up properly.

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  • 1 month later...

For me, open G and D are the staples, although I'm partial to G. And actually, recently, I've been figuring out how to play all sorts of Wilco tunes using open G instead of standard tuning, and it's been a tremendous exercise. Helps you learn new chord voicings, fingerings - and you get some really awesome tones. And it has actually demonstrated, for me at least, that a lot of Jeff's songs are deceptively simple, yet require some good technique. It's amazing how many songs you can pull of with an opening tuning.

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