Hey guys. I just got a new slide for some blues playing.

Can anyone tell me the recommended action for slide guitar?

Thanks.

-The Screamin' J

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CURRENT RIG:
2008 Squier bullet stratocaster modified with Rumpelstiltskin pickups -> Dunlop GCB-95 Original Crybaby -> Fender Vibro Champ XD

"Could you take the stain from this pair of pants, and put in on this pair of pants?"

I prefer fairly high action anyway, so playing slide on my guitars isn't a problem. If your slide presses the strings all the way down to the fretboard, which causes buzzing and nastiness, then you'll need to raise the action. If not, then you don't have to worry about changing anything.

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I dedicated a strat to slide for a while. I set up the action higher and went to heavier strings. I used G tuning, like Lowell George...OK not like Lowell George, but he used the same tuning.

Yes, I was going to recommend alternate tunings, as well.
Other great slide players to check out: Ry Cooder & Bonnie Raitt.

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Like TGS I play with kinda high action too so i don't adjust for slide.

basically you want it high enough that you don't whack the fretboard or frets with the slide. depending on your slide style you may want to rise your action a bit.

Must listen material includes and Duane Allman, and for newer stuff The Derek Trucks Band, In my opinion he is light years away from almost anyone else in slide right now.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

You'll want a higher (than normal) action for slide, especially if you're going to live on the aggressive side with the slide.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I would add... listen to some of the slide work on Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti album as well.

So... a question in this slide thread.

I have the largest slide I could get because I have fingers like "sausages" as my son so bluntly puts it. The slide I got is quite thick so it has a pretty large outside diameter. Would I be better served by thinner walls on the slide? Or, in other words... does the outside diameter matter that much?

Right now it is no more than a toy for me, as I've said before, I am still a beginner.

Thanks.

It doesn't matter. I have seen people who were pretty good at playing slide with a beer bottle. Lowell George used a long Craftsman socket that is very heavy.

When I was working with disabled kids I used to make great slides from the frames of condemned wheelchairs,they worked great as the metal was heavy and the chrome coating was extra thick,regretably I only have one left.If you ever come across a scrapped wheelchair you'll have a lifetime source of slides and a chance to make a few bucks by selling what you don't need.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Even a zippo will suffice in times of need.

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No no and no

I've been using a Mudslide. It's like a fired porcelain on the outside and the inside has a little texture and wicks moisture away from your finger. They come in different sizes and sound great to me. It's a cross between glass and metal. I also use Craftsman deep sockets and they sound nice too. For glass I use my tile saw to cut the necks off any bottle that looks interesting.

For setup, like everybody's said, depends on your touch. I have a couple guitars dedicated to slide with higher action.

I leave the action on all my guitars (I have, at one time or another, played slide on all of them) fairly low. I use various tunings for slide (mostly open G or open D, but also my own "South Side China" tuning, and a couple of other hybrid tunings as well). I quit trying to wrestle the high-action issues several years ago. People are also shocked that I use such low action and light gauge strings (.009s) on my guitars, (even with slide)...with the exception of .010s on my G&L F-100 (just because it feels better with heavier strings for some reason; maybe because of the slightly longer scale? ).

It took some adjustment to my left hand (slide hand) technique, and a lighter touch, but it works fine for me...there's really no need to raise the action, just quit banging your slide against the fretboard!

As far as thickness of the slide itself goes, I find that you do get a thicker tone from a heavier/thicker walled slide...I use a thick-walled Dunlop Pyrex (that I placed some sticky-back felt inside it to absorb sweat and make a tighter fit) and an old Craftsman deep wall socket (I cut off the heavy end to make the "light touch" easier and did the sticky-back-felt trick to it as well).

However, you can use whatever material or device you want (back in my drinking days, a bottle of cheap vodka sometimes made an appearance), and it will make some kind of noise...you just have to find the noise you're looking for!

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

at one AC/DC show i got to VERY early, angus was doing his own sound check and started doing that..... it was pretty sick..... later that night i learned part of stormy may day using the chrome-ish part of my cell phone as a slide

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Favorite bands:

Melvins
The Jesus Lizard
Cows
Big Business
R***man
Minutemen
Flight
Minor Threat
Big Black
Shellac
Karp
Scratch Acid
Wipers
Pixies

For my money.... Sonny Landreth is head and shoulders above ANYONE out there on slide guitar - you have to check him out. He will blow your mind !!! Some of the usual suspects to check out - Duane Allman, Johnny Winter, Jeff Beck, Al Wilson ( Canned Heat ) and of course Rory Gallagher. If you have never heard Rory's second solo album called appropriately " Deuce" and you are REALLY interested in hearing some awesome slide playing, listen to the #10 track called Crest of a Wave. In my opinion, this is one of the greatest,if not the greatest, slide guitar solo ever - and I've heard just about all the great ones. Listen ONE time to the album - not any live version on you tube - they are nowhere near as good as on "Deuce" ....one time !!!!!!!

Ever see Gatton do the beer bottle slide thing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfBF4rr7FiA

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!