Want to try my hand at slide. It's harder than it looks unfortunately...

Xandoor

Hi all
I've recently wanted to have a crack at some slide guitar but oh boy, I was in for a bit of a surprise. I went in expecting it not to be much different from just normal scales etc but it all sounded wrong. Is it just practice on the same scales i know and love or is there something I'm missing? There is a high chance of me just being spectacularly dumb but it's worth seeing if I am missing something.

Cheers
Gabe

Bridgehouse

Just in case...  you are trying it on an open tuning, right?

Xandoor

Had a go on standard (electric) and open C (acoustic) but a lot of the slide solos I'm looking at (Bonamassa etc) seem to be in standard. Even in open C I was never happy although it seemed closer. 

dindude

Just remember the golden slide rule, it's not strictly out of tune until you reach the end.

Bridgehouse

Are you trying on something with a decently high action and making sure the slide is directly over the frets?

Xandoor

The action on the telecaster thinline i'me borrowing is alright, no real buzzing, but i can never place the pitch perfectly; it's very different to what I'm used to and the melodies aren't coming nearly as easily. It's just a slidey mess of sound really.

Bridgehouse

I'd ask you what sort of slide you are using but it will just herald 500 posts of violent disagreement over whether metal/glass/light/heavy etc etc

Xandoor

I'm using glass. idk where my true allegiances lie, but the glass one was on sale.

oskal682

I always tuned to open D and it sounded ok. Are you using glass, steel or brass slide?

Bridgehouse

oskal682 said:

I always tuned to open D and it sounded ok. Are you using glass, steel or brass slide?

More importantly, which finger are you using?

Frizer

I find Open G for major and Open D for minor makes most sense for me. Easier without a pick also.

Xandoor

My problem isn't tone. it's actually forming a melody. Is there some kind of way to know where and when to use the slide? It's just very different to my usual kind of playing and I'm quite lost when I use one.

richardhomer

Xandoor said:

The action on the telecaster thinline i'me borrowing is alright, no real buzzing, but i can never place the pitch perfectly; it's very different to what I'm used to and the melodies aren't coming nearly as easily. It's just a slidey mess of sound really.

The 'messy' bit suggests a lack of damping. I play slide using fingers instead of a pick, which makes damping unused strings particularly easy.

And FWIW, a heavy slide (glass is my preference) tends to be more controllable - and definitely sounds better - than a light one.

Open G (DGDGBD low to high) is probably the easiest open tuning to get to grips with.

Xandoor

I have it on my pinky finger, so i can use the others for non slide and try to incorporate both methods for some cool bluseyness. 

mgaw

start by learning a very simple tune you know well on a single string.  that way you will get a result and learn how to use the slide

Plectrum

Once you've understood the basic technique it's all down to practice, practice, practice.

Jez6345789

There are some good tutorials online. It sounds more of a muting problem.

rather than try and cop jo bo from the outset. Try something like three blind mice or something else equally banal that way you can concentrate on getting the note rather than stuff like vibrato and glideinto notes with jo bo stuff just keep doing simple tunes so your intonation is where you want it sweet or sour. Once you have it accurate then try playing it with a slow vibrato and keep on building

Sassafras

Make sure your damping the strings behind the slide with whichever finger isn't holding the slide.

olafgarten

If you want some relatively easy slide tunes to learn, look at some White Stripes stuff. From the top of my head, in order of difficulty, there is:

• Seven Nation Army (Open A) 
• Stop Breaking Down (Open E)
• Red Rain (Open A)
• Death Letter (Open G)
• Catch Hell Blues (Open A)

There are a few more but I can't remember which ones have slide.

stimpsonslostson

I love playing slide, so much so that I bought a lapsteel. 
I prefer open D DADF#AD
for the lapsteel I obviously use a tone bar, for slide guitar I favour a ceramic slide- it doesn't get sweaty and has great tone. 
Damping strings is essential. 
I echo what Jez say, start off with a simple melody. I used amazing grace on the top two strings. 

For inspiration I love Derek Trucks, he's incredible whether playing blues or his more lyrical style with Tedeschi Trucks. 

JDE

You are trying to play fretted and slide all at once. Can you imagine how hard it would be to learn chords and leads at the same time if you'd never played guitar before? You need to just play straight slide for a bit, get used to hitting pitch, get used to damping with both hands and getting used to where the "patterns" fall. You can't just play box phrases/licks with slide, there are too many string changes at first, it will sound noisy and out of tune. I recommend learning slide basics with the slide on your ring finger and if you want to incorporate fretted playing later, either move it to your little finger, or work around it being on your ring.