What’s the Best Guitar Slide for Me? |
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Since the shape, size, and material of a slide has a big influence over the sound and playing feel, there are many different kinds of guitar slides to choose from. So you can figure out which one would best suit your style, we’ve put together this Guide to explain the difference between various slides and to offer some tips on how to use them. If you can’t find the answer to your question here, feel free to contact us! What is it? | How Does it Work? | Length | Weight/Diameter | Materials | Genre | Tuning | Set-Up | More 1. What’s a Guitar Slide?A guitar slide is a cylindrical hollow pipe that’s placed over a finger and passed over the strings of an electric or acoustic guitar in a gliding motion to produce an incredibly expressive sound. Using a slide, you’re not so restricted to the fixed distance between the frets of the guitar so you can make flowing transitions from note to note, create unique vibratos, or find the notes that sit just beneath or above the fixed notes. Slides are often used to play blues and rock, but their distinct effect can be heard in many different genres. Resonator guitars are often played with a slide, and the special lap-steel guitar is always played with a slide. Way back when, guitarists simply used the neck of a broken bottle as a slide (hence the alternative name, ‘bottleneck’), or a cigarette lighter. But these days there are hundreds of different kinds of slides available, all in different shapes, sizes, and made from different materials. Guitar Slides
2. How Do You Play the Guitar with a Slide?The difference between playing with a slide and without one, is that the slide must rest on the string directly above the fret but without pressing on the string. Normally, you would press a string down between two frets, but with a slide, this isn’t necessary. The slide kind of serves as a replacement for the frets, so you use it to determine the length of the string (and therefore the pitch) just like the frets normally do. So, you could see a slide as a kind of floating fret. Most guitarists place the slide on their little finger. This leaves your longer fingers free to grab notes and chords. Some guitarists prefer to put the slide on their ring finger. For further information about tunings, see Question 7.
3. How Long Should the Slide Be?The correct size of a slide depends on the finger you prefer to place it on. There’s no standard way to hold a slide, and while most tend to put it on their little finger, not every guitarist will wear their slide on the same finger (see Question 2). Also see Question 4.
4. How Thick Should My Slide Be?That depends on what you mean by ‘thick’:
5. What Difference Do the Materials Make when it Comes to Slides?A good rule of thumb is: the harder the material, the more powerful and full the sound. Slides made from harder materials like chrome and steel are often used to play steel-string guitars, but due to their weight, can cause string buzz when playing an acoustic guitar. At the other end of the spectrum, we find slides made of lighter materials, like glass. These slides produce a distinctly brighter sound with a little less sustain (so the notes don’t ring out for quite as long).
6. Which Slide Should Be Used for Which Genre?
7. What Tuning Should I Use When Playing with a Slide?Depending on your playing style and the genres you want to play, you can simply use the standard guitar tuning, or use a so-called open tuning like ‘open E’, or ‘open G’. The benefit of using an open tuning is that all of the major chords can be played by simply placing the slide over all of the strings at the correct fret. By shifting the slide up or down, you can easily move from one major chord to the next. Other chords can also be played by adding an extra one or two fingers. Also, when using an open tuning, you can use a capo to quickly change the key. To help you start, plenty of open tuning slide-chord tutorials can be found online.
8. Does My Guitar Need to be Set Up Differently So I Can Play with a Slide?Playing with a slide works best when playing a guitar with a higher action (also known as the string height). The set up that will work best for you will depend on your playing style, the type of slide you’re using, and the tuning. If you want more specific advice about this, you can reach out to our Helpdesk who will put you in touch with one of our guitar specialists.
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