Grateful Dead Music Forum

anyone know where or how i can learn how to play with a slide. i bought one to try little red rooster and i sound even worse than bob did when he first got his. when i play strings ring that i didnt even pick but i cant keep my slide off those strings . any help would be greatly appreciated

Well I play slide sometimes, with distortion. You probably play on clean to recreate bobby's Little Red Rooster sound (I can’t get it to make a good sound on clean).


But some things I do are:

-put the slide barely to the left of the fret to get the perfect note

-capo's are good to use if your playing in A or B or whatever isn’t G, so u can easily do a slide pull off from the third fret from the capo.

-take advantage of the slide, go beyond what you can do just with your fingers.

-put it on your pinky if you’re planning on doing finger stuff too. If not put it on your middle finger to really concentrate.

-I have a Fender Strat, and when I’m playing songs that require slide I put it on the tuning peg when I'm not using it (might not work on every guitar)

good luck

Sound worse than Bobby? Don't be so hard on yourself. Playing slide clean can be awfully unforgiving. Good tips from Warren's post...

I play a lot of slide. I have been studying derek trucks forever, trying to see what he is doing. Also Duane Allman. To get really good at slide you have to practice a lot, at least to make it sound good. Just listen to to other slide players and try to figure out their tricks. good luck
-Space

GP123, I don't know if you had a look at any old posts, but I asked for some help on slide a while back and got some good feedback from the fella here. Here's the link:

http://community.rukind.org/viewtopic.p ... ight=slide

one of the tips applies to your question. Dancing Mantis made this recommendation:

6. Another tip – when you first start playing slide it is hard to avoid all kinds of unwanted sounds from strings other than the one(s) you are playing. The trick is to mute the unplayed strings. There are several ways to do this, but the most basic one is to rest one or more of your fingers without the slide on all the strings behind the slide as you are playing.

hope this helps, and good luck.

Check out this cat.
Hes got a an album (live)called Grant St.Its wailing.If yer into slide ya gotta be into Sonny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oNFRWXD ... re=related

it's all about muting and patience. you don't want to rush to your note or over use your vibrato, your looking for a nice clean slow tone.
I use my slide on my ring finger, and use my middle finger behind it to lightly mute the strings. The full muting is right handed. the only finger I don't use when finger-picking or muting is my pinky, I'll problaly use it more one day, but for now I lack pinky control.
Derek trucks gets does alot of thumb muting, he uses a three finger pluck also, but he positions his hand more like a bass player would, if you've been playing for a long time it's easier to study someone elses technique as Dereks is very strange when compared to strandard picking techniques

If you have been playing slide in standard tuning on your everyday guitar with a pick then try using a guitar with high action and heavy gauge strings in open tuning. Also try fingerpicking instead of using a pick. You get much better feel and also can use your right palm to mute strings.

As far a slide players, if you have not seen him, this guy is the real deal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAlVchj4q1I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu136rUA ... re=related

There is nothing like seeing Mooney playing at the Maple Leaf

Whoa- that guy is wailing.
Any idea what kind of guitar hes using in the 2nd vid?
Thanks for the hook up.
Hey about the action on a guitar for slide - anyone I've met that has played slide decent had their guitar set up for slide with higher action and bigger strings.
Maybe this was Bobs problem ?
But then again Jerry played some decent slide on his gits - and I dont think his git is set up for slide.
Cool vids !

If you have been playing slide in standard tuning on your everyday guitar with a pick then try using a guitar with high action and heavy gauge strings in open tuning. Also try fingerpicking instead of using a pick. You get much better feel and also can use your right palm to mute strings

Great statement!!!
Definitely fingerpick to begin with. A lot of the players i know who are into the slide say to start in open tunings, as its easier, and not so frustrating.