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Here is a list of some starters to get you going. 1. 1 Get yourself some recordings by Ry Cooder, Sonny Landreth, and George Thoroughgood and LISTEN. 2. 2 Have a guitar set up ONLY for slide. 3. 3 Use heavy strings with high action. 4. 4 Use a heavy slide. 5. 5 S. . . L. . . I. . . D. . . E the notes. now here is some explanation for the above. 1 You didn't express what type of music you are interested in so I am giving you the guys that tugged my ear. Ry Cooder - Little Village (by Little Village), Get Rhythm, Bring the Family (John Hiatt) Ry has a VERY special touch. He does far more than simply slide chords (which is cool, see George Thoroughgood). Sonny Landreth - South of I-10, Outward Bound, Slow Turning (John Hiatt) Sonny has a real in your face slide style. Like Ry he doesn't move chords but he remains VERY articulate. George Thoroughgood - Anything of George's is pretty typical of the simplest form of Slide Guitar. 2 Trying to learn Slide without dedicating a guitar to it is a recipe for disaster (IMHO). Everyone that I know (Including myself) has had the hardest time learning slide while trying to do it on a guitar that still was to be played with #9 strings and low action in open tunings. There is more to it than just the tuning. Getting a used Strat or old Ibanez like mine is a great starting point for this. There are a bunch of guitars that are given as gifts to people every year that after a dozen lessons they are left in a closet. Check out the flea markets and garage sales first. Then look at the used guitars at your local music store or pawn shop. Keep in mind that with slide, poor action, worn frets, even warped necks (to a degree) are NOT a problem. Also if this is your beginning slide guitar, it can become a great source of experimenting with changing pickups and wiring. 3 Start with heavy strings (I use nickel wound or bronze wound 13s on my Ibanez Roadstar) helps give some resistance to the desire to push against the strings with the slide. It also gives you a thick meaty tone. Having the action (distance between the strings and the frets) set higher than normal allows you to reduce the sound of the slide hitting frets or the strings buzzing against the frets while you are playing. 4 For my taste a heavy slide works best. I like a thick tone. A heavy slide helps keep the tone thick. There are a tone of slides that are available. Try them ALL!!!. I still buy slides and simply try them for different songs to see if the sound is different. My favs are a heavy Brass, a Moonshine Slide which is ceramic, and a Dunlop HEAVY wall glass slide. Using a thin slide gives you a thinner tone. I also like a heavy slide because it adds some momentum when you are trying learning vibrato. A thinner slide has no inertia to speak of. As far as which finger to place the slide on goes. I prefer the pinky. It keeps my other fingers free for fret work or fretting notes behind the slide to create a minor chord for instance. 5 You are playing Slide guitar so S L I D E the notes!. The funest thing about playing slide is getting the in-between notes that just aren't accessible with the frets. Slide from one note to the next. Slide right off the finger board!!! (that's the only reason I ever use the bridge pick up in my Ibanez!!) I also have found that these points hold true for acoustic as well as electric guitars. With either guitar type you have to be careful about the strings breaking the nut. The nut my not be wide enough to handle the heavy strings which goes back to #2 and having a dedicated guitar for slide. Give yourself time to be BAD!!!!!! Slide is like playing violin. It takes a while to get the sound you want. Just put on your favorite record, stick a slide on your finger and grab your axe. (By the way drag your index finger on the strings BEHIND the slide to cut the harmonics you get off of the strings.)
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