Many people have
debated over the origin of slide guitar but like most things history books
are based on what facts are known and not all the facts. There are countless
inventions and creations that happen in parallel around the world and slide
is certainly bound to be one of those discoveries. I found slide guitar when
I was just a young boy by sliding flashlight cells and other hard objects
across the strings.. It was just a natural discovery almost any guitarist
would stumble across eventually. Does this mean I invented slide guitar? The
best thing to do is read all the writings on slide and then focus on the
playing aspects and less about the history. Write your own history.
There's little doubt
the various styles of slide playing were spread by people coming to Hawaii
but be certain there were also people in Africa, America, India and other
places that have discovered and developed slide playing in one form or
another. Many black American sharecroppers would attach a tightly
stretched wire from two nails vertically down the doorway of a cabin or
shanty and tune it by sliding a small wooden wedge up and down one end. Then
they would pluck the wire and slide a glass or metal object up and down to
make crude but effective slide music using the entire cabin as a single
string acoustic instrument. This certainly reminds me of primitive single
string African instruments. Some of the most fantastic slide playing I've
ever seen was in India and I highly recommend searching for all these
listening sources.
I've always assumed the
invention and marketing of 78 rpm recordings in the 1920s was the main
reason slide guitar began reaching so many people and became so popular.
Southern blues players could suddenly hear and learn Hawaiian styles and
visa versa. Many guitar builders during the 1930s began marketing
guitars made especially for the Hawaiian style of bottleneck slide. Many of
those guitars were converted back to standard play and others can still be
found today. They typically have heavier bracing and a beefed up neck and
heel or a wider nut and some have square necks like a National or Dobro
guitars. In any case we are here to discover some various slides but I'll
provide you with some good links to slide history for your reading pleasure.
Just don't believe every factoid you ever read about blues and slide.
Sometimes total crap becomes fact after enough people repeat it.
Slide
Guitar - Wikipedia Encyclopedia
History of Slide -
Guitar Noise website
Slide History Paper -
Ga Southern Edu
India History of Guitar and Slide
- World Music Central Org
SLIDE
REVIEWS
Diamond
Bottleneck Slides -
Absolutely the best quality glass slides I've ever
owned and they are still an amazing value. Made in the UK by a small
outfit that hand blows the glass and crafts the slides to an amazing
quality level and variety. The
Redhouse
is my personal favorite as a medium weight ultra smooth slide experience
that won't weigh you down like most
heavier
slides but still has the comparable tone and sustain. The slightly heavier
Ultimate slide is another favorite of mine when
I need more mass but dont want the weight and bulk of the massive metal
slides. The glass is hand blown lead crystal and they are as much a work
of art as they are a functional tool. They offer the tapered lip
feature too. They even have a slide called the
Evolution that is a glass and metal slide combined into one hybrid
slide. Whether you order one of their custom models or an off the shelf
design they will fit the slide to your exact specs and once you order they
can keep your specs on file for future orders. They are sometimes a little
delayed when custom glass needs to be hand blown for your order but the
customer service is outstanding. I recommend most players starting off
with a Redhouse. Shipping to the US was inexpensive and fast for my
orders.
The
Rock Slide - This is another top quality slide that may in fact be
used by many pro electric players but makes a great acoustic
slide as well. They come in three sizes and are computer lathed from a
solid piece of brass and not cut from tubes. They are finished in gold
plate but sometimes available in special edition nickel plate. I use the
medium size on my pinky and was not able to even use the smaller size and
returned
it. I
wouldn't recommend it unless you have a tiny finger and want a shorter
slide. The large one can also be used on the pinky or ring finger but is a
heavy little bugger and I have some trouble with heavier slides when I run
past a note or cause more slide and fretboard noise. These have the
patented full cutout on one end that makes closing your hand much easier
in some cases. It also has a flat spot machined into one side making a
place for the next finger to rest on the slide and support it. They are
also tapered on the inside to fit your finger better. This is the most
high quality metal slide I've found and an excellent value too. The
surface is smooth so the tone is not as raspy or raunchy as many brass
slides. It produces a smooth yet solid slide tone.
Jim Dunlop Slides - Dunlop has a wide variety of slides you can
investigate and the main advantage is availability in USA dealers
and the pricing is sometimes a little less than the high end slides made
by the previously mentioned. The Dunlop medium brass slide is one of my
all time favorites due to the tone it gives me on acoustic guitars when I
need an authentic slightly raspy sound like Son House or a number of Delta
players. The
Dunlop 222 show to the left costs about 6-8 dollars in most stores and
would last a lifetime and has a slightly rough surface which produces a
little bit of a violin bow rubbing
effect when I play. This
sound is not always the one I need for a specific guitar or song but at
times nothing can be better. It makes some of my old acoustics such as my
Stella 12 string nail the authentic sounds I'm after. It fits on my pinky
and is long enough to span all 6 strings which comes in handy playing open
D at times. The
Dunlop 215 is another longer slide made of tempered glass that I
demonstrated in the video above. It's not one I use a lot but is an
excellent option. They also carry a number of signature slides
including the
Keb Mo signature ceramic slide. These all produce amounts of sustain
and playing qualities that may appeal to different players. There's no way
I can predict which slides will feel good to you but remember that if the
tone is not being produced for the listener no amount of comfort or
features is important. Tone rules the game and when you play a solo you
want to be heard.
Blooze Bottle Slides
- Here's a guy I've bought a few slides from and a he's good supplier
of medicine bottles you wont find everywhere else. Most of them are
bottles from medicine and other products. I'm not a huge fan of these thin
bottle slides on
acoustics due to the thinner more hollow sounding tone they help produce
and the fact my finger gets too hot and sweaty but these are a classic
type of slide used by legendary players. I tend to think they sound much
better to my ear in the Duane Allman electric styles of slide guitar where
the amp and distortion make up for any loss of sustain or fatness to the
tone. One great thing about medicine bottle slides is the light weight and
ability to zip around quickly without the slide slapping the guitar.
BigHeart Slides
- I found this one on a popular online dealer and paid nearly 20.00
including shipping and very disappointed in the
quality. These
are made from salvaged wine bottles then flame melted on the ends. They
have a seam in them like any home made wine bottle and the inconsistencies
you may get with the cheapest bottles but honestly why not just make one
yourself if you plan on buying one of these. I use it as a spare but the
tone is not as good as my Diamond Bottlenecks which did not cost much
more. This is not a slide that I would highly recommend but you can find
these pretty easily in some of the larger music stores. Even in the photo
you can see how sloppy they are. I demo one of these in the video posted
here.
Rocky
Mountain Slides - Another company offering a variety of ceramic slides
designed for acoustic or electric.
I'm not a huge fan of uneven surfaces but I admit many of these slides
look cool and appealing. I just don't think they measure up for the style
of playing I do. The sound is not solid enough for me but everytime I've
tried one I put it right back down and grabbed one of my glass slides.
These are very light though but just not my cup of tea. Thank goodness for
all the great choices. We are not all alike and neither are our slides.
Other Types
of Slides
The ToneBar -
Just a little reminder that slide playing on a square neck or lap style
guitar uses a
completely different kind of slide called a tonebar as seen here. They
sell many different kinds but you may be most familiar from watching
country music's pedal steel or dobro players using them. They are much
heavier devices and are held long ways in the fingers and pressed down on
the strings. This is not what you want to buy for round neck slide
guitar playing unless you plan on laying the guitar down in your lap which
is a technique some people love to experiment with on regular round neck
guitars.
The Shubb
Axys - This is a slide that fits on your finger and easily
reverses while you are playing so you can have slide when you
want
it and then rotate the device and continue playing with the slide
completely out of the way. Schubb is a maker that always produces the
highest possible quality and clever products. This product was not one
that I needed or fit into my style but I thought it was an excellent idea
and something many players might need.
