Howdy ya’ll!
I can’t quite remember the first time I heard a slide guitar, but no matter how often you hear a slide there is something incandescent, other worldly and richly evocative if it’s played with panache, fire, character and with a mystical light burning in the back of eyes.
The early torchbearers of this blues subgenre, such as the raggedy bare-bone beat driven tones of Son House produced idiosyncratically gnarly and fiercely character driven sounds – the slide is an elemental way to approach your guitar. But also a versatile one too:
A quick listen to Sonny Landreth or Ry Cooders sublime Paris Texas album illustrates just how smooth and evocative the slide can be when played by a msater.
When I was 13 I dug up old Victorian bottles from edges of the stream at the edge of the farm…when a suitably thick walled beast emerged like a dinosaur from the muddy banks I broke its neck and filed the edges down with an equine rasp. It was bulbous, massively tapered, heavy, prehistoric and almost impossible to use – it did however sound like the devil himself was living in that ol` glass finger – yesiree.
Later on I moved onto brass conduit, plastic, shower rails, glass tubes and more…cigarette lighters…knives…I’ve never managed to get hold of one I really truly love but right now I’m using a narrow guage blue coloured tube that formed the inner sleeve of a bmx bike bottom bracket – from the Mankind bmx brand!
Luckily these days the marvels of modern science mean you don’t need a shovel, a bottle dump and a wild Indian stallion to get by in the world of slide guitar. It’s well worth remembering that part of the enjoyment in your life as a guitarist is not the destination but the journey….it may take you years to find exactly the right piece of tube but so what…or you can check out these fellers – what you are looking for is
1. comfort
2. sustain
3. tone.
You may like to listen to a range of slide players to gain some insight into the styles, sounds and techniques and here are a few players to look out for:
Sonny Landreth, Ry Cooder, Bukka White, Son House, Johnny Winter and Johnny Winter. Did I mention John Dawson Winter the Third?
Oh and Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers – majestic – that’s him playing slide on Layla but you’ll find his best work on Allman Brothers albums. If you’d like to proceed to the next slide guitar post, it’s here.
Well, That’s all folks,
Cheers…
