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Post subject: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playing?
Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 11:18 am
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I'm converting a guitar for use in Open G for slide. Doing the normal prep work and so far have blocked the trem, raised the nut and adjusted the truss rod. Plan to put 11 gauge strings.

My question are how are harmonics affected positively or negatively given what I have done with the trem block when it comes to slide? I would think a harmonic rich guitar is best for slide?

I was gonna put foam in the back cavity behind the springs to help dampen them...I just figure that would be a good idea...but am not sure if it's worth it.


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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 3:02 pm
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Derek Trucks is a decent slide player, and here are a few tips http://www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Fe ... rucks.aspx
He doesn't have that high an action in his setup, but he does have a light touch.

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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 5:54 pm
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Derek Trucks is also an SG player, which changes the equation quite a bit, mostly because of a larger (12") fretboard radius, but also the shorter scale meaning less pressure, and a difference in right hand style because of the much taller bridge.

For a Strat, you'd have to raise the action and use the slide harder to use the slide on as many simultaneous strings. Partially because of the smaller fretboard radius, and partially because of the longer scale.


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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 6:48 am
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I posted this comment on a different thread in the Telecaster section, but it applies here too:

I play more slide than "straight" (or whatever you call "regular" guitar playing)...and I do not have any of my guitars set up specifically for slide.

On all of my electrics, they're set up with extremely low action (as low as it will go without fret buzz) all the way up the neck. I put a set of (fairly light) 9-gauge Willy G's Mexican Lottery strings on all of them (except my G&L F-100, which prefers a 10-gauge set for some unknown reason, assumably based on construction technique). I do not raise the nut, and the saddles are set up in a normal fashion as well.

I don't use any different or specific effects, either--just the normal "always on" TS9 and "often on" MXR Micro Amp pedal for overdrive and boost, respectively.

When I "got serious" about playing slide, I started taking guitar lessons for the first time in my life. When I asked my instructor, Fort Worth bluesman Rollo Smith, about the "customary" adjustments people make on their guitars to play slide, he said,

"Do what you want to, but it will just make more work for you. You'll have to carry an extra guitar, you'll have a harder time playing slide on a borrowed guitar, and it'll make it harder to play 'regular' style guitar on your guitar set up for 'slide'...instead of jacking up a guitar just for slide, you need to adjust how you use your 'sliding' or 'fretting' hand."

I did just as he said, and developed a lighter touch with my left (sliding/fretting) hand...and I think I have become a very proficient, if not pretty decent, slide guitarist. There's a little flub at the end of this sloppy and rushed demo clip, but you get the point.

(Click in the picture for a video clip)

Image

That was recorded on a cheap guitar whose neck was waaaaaaay too small for my liking (the main reason I sold it); the action was very, very low, the strings were 9's...also, I was using a thick-walled Dunlop Pyrex slide; I usually use a (heavier) T-Bird Jones Socket Slide (a deep-wall socket with the clunky drive end cut off).

Adjust your playing technique, and you can play slide on any guitar.

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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 7:06 am
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Tone for days there mate.
I like a little higher an action, not impossible for fretted or slide. Sort of between both.
Guess I should practice on lower action a bit.

Love that sound, really nice

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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 7:33 am
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nikininja wrote:
Tone for days there mate...Love that sound, really nice

Thank you, Sir Ninja...I admire your playing and appreciate your opinion, so that means a lot.

nikininja wrote:
I like a little higher an action, not impossible for fretted or slide. Sort of between both.
Guess I should practice on lower action a bit.

I don't think there's a "right" or "wrong" way, as long as it sounds good and works good for the individual player. I found what works for me...I just think too many people assume they have to set up their guitar almost like a lap steel just to play slide, and it's just not necessary to do so.

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Last edited by Screamin Armadillo on Wed Apr 27, 2016 9:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 8:44 am
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Too kind sir

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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Wed May 04, 2016 12:15 pm
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warmachine wrote:
I'm converting a guitar for use in Open G for slide. Doing the normal prep work and so far have blocked the trem, raised the nut and adjusted the truss rod. Plan to put 11 gauge strings.

My question are how are harmonics affected positively or negatively given what I have done with the trem block when it comes to slide? I would think a harmonic rich guitar is best for slide?

I was gonna put foam in the back cavity behind the springs to help dampen them...I just figure that would be a good idea...but am not sure if it's worth it.


I never had good results with a slide strat, possibly me, possibly all the bottles of matteus I had to drink before I could cut that neck off and that's some seriously bad wine, but then again SRV got booed off a baseball field for trying it too. In his defense a bunch of hot dog and lone star fueled 'mericans might have just been a little testy that afternoon when they laid into him.
When I had my LP that thing was very happy with the slide, my SG; sure, my ASAT with the right strings not too bad, my strat...
Here's SRV's experience with it if you never sawed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnyvPZSvLW8

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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Wed May 04, 2016 2:36 pm
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StratDragon wrote:
I never had good results with a slide strat

Bonnie Raitt and Sonny Landreth (for two) would disagree...
But I understand what you mean--some instruments seem to lend themselves to certain techniques moreso than others.

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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Wed May 04, 2016 4:37 pm
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StratDragon wrote:
Here's SRV's experience with it if you never sawed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnyvPZSvLW8


Ughhh. Yeah that rotary speaker just doesnt make as much sense as what a little reverb does with slide.


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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 4:59 am
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Just my $.02 worth here...

Ok, right off the bat let me say that I don't do a lot of slide work, so on that issue alone, please take my comments here with a large dose of the proverbial salt. That said, the little bit I do, typically in the style of folks like Billy Gibbons, George Thorogood, etc., yea, I use one of my regular Strats with nothing done specifically to the setup...I don't even screw around with open tuning or anything. On the other hand, I also think it tends to depend a lot on the specific sound you're trying to achieve. For example, a lot of folks seem to like teles because they feel that bridge pickup really lends itself to slide playing....personally, like my experience with Tele's in general, I thought the sound was -way- to harsh. One of my Strats using the bridge pickup seems to produce the sound that works best for the work I do.

Now I will say that I don't think that "setup" really contributes that much to the sound...at least in terms of having a higher action. Any factor regarding sound there is really going to be determined by your pickups in any case. A higher action may help if your rather heavy-handed with the slide, but that's more about technique than it is about the mechanics of the guitar. While I'm sure this is really subjective, I've always gotten the impression that part of that whole high action thing was simply people trying to put guitars with bowed necks back into use, LOL! I used to have a 1938 Kay acoustic that didn't have a truss rod and yea...the neck was pretty much a banana, so everyone thought it would be great for slide use. I've seen an old National or two like this as well. That said however, I really wouldn't go out of my way to jack up the action on an instrument either. On that issue alone, if you're planning to play "regular" guitar as well, then I would second Armadillo's advice about just using a standard setup and learning to use a lighter tough...saves a lot of time and fuss.

Interestingly enough, perhaps the single greatest thing that I've found personally that effects my slide tone is simply the slide itself. I've got a few different slides down in the ol' tool box ranging from the el' cheapo nickle plated Dunlaps, to a couple of nice glass slides and a few home made. Each and every different slide I have seems to produce a somewhat different tone...the Dunlap tends to be rather harsh (as is my cut piece of copper pipe), where as the thinner glass seems to produce a pretty nice "bluesy" tone (although I've broken a couple of those over the years). When I'm on stage however, more often than not...err....I usually use a Bic lighter. With a tune like "Get a Hair Cut" for example (one of our signature tunes, LOL), I only do slide on the lead, so it's easiest for me to simply leave my cig lighter on a stand or chair next to me or even in my back pocket and just grab it when I need it...and oddly enough, it produces a pretty decent sound.

Ultimately I don't think there's really any right or wrong way to play slide...I think it's mostly about taste and preference more than anything. That said, as I'm getting older, yea...I'm getting to be a lazy bugger too, so I tend to lean towards what ever is easiest to work with, but still produces the results I need. You -can- do slide on a Strat or a Tele...lots of people have proven this. You may simply need to feel your way a bit until you get where you need to go.


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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 6:56 am
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Screamin Armadillo wrote:
StratDragon wrote:
I never had good results with a slide strat

Bonnie Raitt and Sonny Landreth (for two) would disagree...
But I understand what you mean--some instruments seem to lend themselves to certain techniques moreso than others.


Well, yeah, I would disagree with me too if it was them. I do want to know if they modded those strats a lot to make them more for slide action and less for chord fingering, and if so how much?

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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 8:55 am
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StratDragon wrote:
Screamin Armadillo wrote:
StratDragon wrote:
I never had good results with a slide strat

Bonnie Raitt and Sonny Landreth (for two) would disagree...
But I understand what you mean--some instruments seem to lend themselves to certain techniques moreso than others.


Well, yeah, I would disagree with me too if it was them.

Lol...that's funny. :lol:
StratDragon wrote:
I do want to know if they modded those strats a lot to make them more for slide action and less for chord fingering, and if so how much?

I've never seen Landreth live, only on video; at least one of his Strats is very uniquely appointed, especially with that Telecaster bridge...I don't know what else he has done to the guitar, to be honest.

From the front row of a Bonnie Raitt concert, I can tell you that the action didn't seem extremely high on her Strat...the strings did look a little heavier than 9's, but she also played a lot of acoustic that night (and from what I've heard, she does that regularly in concert) and most acoustic strings are heavier as well, so she may be trying to get closer in gauge for the three different guitars she played the night we saw her.

La Familia de Armadillo with some redheaded lady, circa 2012 or so...

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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 4:40 pm
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Screamin Armadillo wrote:
I don't use any different or specific effects, either--just the normal "always on" TS9 and "often on" MXR Micro Amp pedal for overdrive and boost, respectively.


(Click in the picture for a video clip)

Image


Very cool playing! It will be an eye opener to see if I can learn to navigate my fingers to pick as I always use a regular plectrum. Im going on 2 weeks now letting my nails grow to see what results I'll get ;)


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Post subject: Re: How to get the best tone out your guitar for slide playi
Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 10:38 pm
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Screamin Armadillo wrote:


La Familia de Armadillo with some redheaded lady, circa 2012 or so...

Image

My, oh my ....
Aren't you the lucky bass turd?
Beautiful family and a shot with the queen of slide.

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