Anybody play slide guitar? Any pointers?

by avishai 14 Replies latest jw friends

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  avishai

  I'm learning to play guitar, and have mostly been goofing off w/ the slide, in open tunings. Any pointers?
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  Surreptitious

  Yeah, make sure your slide fits your finger.
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  Tuesday

  Odd numbered frets sound best together just as even numbered frets sound best together though all that changes once you get up to the 12th fret, then it's kinda a hit or miss kind of thing. Don't go to fast either then people don't hear the sliding, that's about all. Good luck it's alot of fun. I play guitar alot but I'm mostly in a drop D tuning or at least a half step lower.
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  heathen

  The best advice I think and I should follow this myself is to buy an instructional video . Slide can be fun but until you get the feel for it sounds horrible so be patient . Also the notes are played over the fret dividers and not on the fret you would normally use a finger .

  heathen of the rocknroll wanna be class .
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  hillary_step

  There is no better way of learning any style guitar, once of course you have taped the rudiments of reading conventional and tab music, than by listening closely to other players.
  

  Software is available and very cheap that slows down music to half its speed without changing the pitch, you are probably already aware of this. It allows looping of sections which is very useful, especially if you are trying to follow Kenny Burrell -:) These programs are invaluable and can teach you more about slide and scales than any book.As good a start as any is to listen to John Fahey. His work is very crisp and though rather complex in structure and tuning at times, it is easy to follow. Another very good slide player if you can track down his work is Joel Tepp.

  Here is a link to tabs for Fahey's music. 'John Henry' is a good starting point. http://www.johnfahey.com/Tablatures.htm

  Slide guitar is to music as impressionism is to art. It is best though of in terms of sheets of sound rather than detail.

  Best regards and good luck - HS
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  DanTheMan

  I highly recommend the slow-it-down-but-keep-the-pitch software, I was able to learn a ton of stuff using it, back when I used to play the guitar that is.
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  avishai

  Thanks guys. I'll defintely check all that out!
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  heathen

  Wow that's cool I didn't know about software to slow stuff down . Personally I'm am working on writing my own stuff as other peoples stuff never made anyone millions .
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  hillary_step

  Wow that's cool I didn't know about software to slow stuff down . Personally I'm am working on writing my own stuff as other peoples stuff never made anyone millions .

  That is why Frank Sinatra died poor...lol?

  HS
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  heathen

  Ok, well you got me on the frank sinatra thing but I'm talking todays rock players and getting recording contracts vs. a big band and a swooner in the 50's that could get away with it .