Before You Start
Your slide:
There are two main types of slide - glass and metal. Glass gives you a warmer tone
than metal and is lighter, however it can break if it is dropped. Metal has a brighter
tone than glass and is heavier, but is practically indestructible. Keep in mind that
there are different types of metals used for slides and each type will give a different
tone. As well, the thickness of the sides of the slide affects your tone--thicker sides
give you a bigger tone and vice versa. There are also various lengths of slides and
different diameters for the inside. Yes, there are many variables but slides aren't
very expensive (generally they range from about ($5--$25 USD) and you should
just experiment with different kinds until you find what you like. Also don't rule out
different materials like ceramic, plastic, or bone--I just have only used glass and
metal and don't want to write about something I don't know much about. (BTW if
anyone cares I'm currently using a medium length Dunlop glass slide with thick
sides)
Your Guitar
Got a guitar with crappy intonation and strings a mile off the fretboard? Or a few
bum frets? No problem! This guitar will work fine for slide because you don't really
use the fretboard for slide (unless of you'r fretting notes behind the slide--more on
that later). In fact a great use for a guitar that is hard to play normally is to make it a
designated slide guitar. Just watch out for crappy tuners if you're gonna be using a
bunch of different tunings. This works fine if you just want to dabble in slide but if
you're gonna be playing it seriously you should get a good guitar to set up just for
slide
Your set-up
You will have a much easier time playing slide if your guitar is set up properly.
Because you don't want your slide to touch the frets you want heavy strings (12s or
13s) and high action. However if your gonna fret notes behind the slide (more on
that later) you don't want too high action and heavy strings make it hard to play
normally. I play a Fender Telecaster with 10s and medium high action. If I had
another guitar I'd probably put on heavier strings and raise the action a bit. However
I don't have too much trouble on what I have as long as I don't tune down (ie. put it
in Open G or D or a tuning where some of the strings have their pitch lowered)
because that will give me less to support the slide.
Tuning:
Slide can be played in just about any tuning. Open D (low-to-high D, A, D, F#, A,D)
,G (D, G, B, G, B, D), A (open G up a whole step), and E (open D up a whole step) are
common but you can even play in standard. Personally I recommend using open E
which has been used by such legends as Sonny Landreth and Duane Allman, but it is
important to know a variety of tunings and when to use them.
Picking
You can use a pick for slide but I'd recommend trying fingerpicking either with your
bare fingers or using fingerpicks. Not only does this give you more tonal options
but it also allows you to mute with your fingers (more on that later).
Tone
I don't want to talk about this too much because I know that tone is subjective but
something I'd recommend is having your tone all the way down (the least trebly
possible). The reason for this is that slides normally will brighten up your tone and
if you have your tone high up you'll get a really bright screechy tone. With your tone
down you can get a really nice warm tone. I want to stress that this is just
something that works for me and there is no reason why you'd need to do it.
However, if you're having trouble with your tone I'd recommend you give it a try.
Another thing, don't overdo it on the distortion.
Now you're ready to start playing!!!
