Homespun.com Forum / Homespun.com Forums / All archived posts / [Rick]: Playing with a Slide / Latest Posts

[Rick]: Playing with a Slide

Admin — Sun, 03 Mar 2002 14:14:28 GMT

Hi, I was hoping someone could help.

I would like to begin learning slide guitar but am not sure if my low action guitarwill be right for the job.

Thanks!!

[Rick]: re:Playing with a Slide

Admin — Sun, 03 Mar 2002 14:14:28 GMT

Thanks!! Now I have a great excuse to pick up a Bob Brozman tape and "twist my arm" to buy a new guitar. I will most likely fool around with what I have and see how I take to it (i.e. if I get the usual disease of the brain called unrelenting enthusiasm!). Rick

[Paul Maccabee]: re:Playing with a Slide

Admin — Sun, 03 Mar 2002 13:49:43 GMT

As a National Steel bottleneck player, I've got to agree with Happy -- although you'll often alternate between fretting with fingers and bottleneck, a relative high action is essential for good tone. Bob Brozman, he of Homespun's 3 "Learn to Play Bottleneck Blues" tapes and an excellent book/CD bottleneck guitar package, is an evangelist for tone and a crusader against unnecessary buzz -- you'll find his insights, particularly about proper damping of strings, to be helpful. In short, the answer is -- have a guitar devoted to slide.

Paul Maccabee, Minneapolis

[Homespun Tapes]: RE: Playing with a Slide

Admin — Sun, 03 Mar 2002 05:49:34 GMT

Many slide players will have a separate guitar for playing slide, with the action raised up so they can play cleanly. However, it depends on the sound you are going for. A lot of the blues guitarists like a certain amount of fret rattle and other percussive noise when they play slide. Often, you will be fretting and using the slide at the same time (see Roy Rogers' video for a great explanation of this), so the action can't be too high.

If your guitar is set up for delicate fingerpicking it probably won't work for slide playing, but you can experiment and see how it sounds. If you don't have a second instrument you might have to make some compromises and raise your nut a little. Any other ideas?

Good luck,
Happy

	Slide Guitar For Rock And Blues Taught By Roy Rogers. 90-min. video, Includes music + tab book
	Roy Rogers' teaches how to create the fiery solos and powerhouse rhythms that drive the best rock and blues bands.