slides rule
There’s no such thing as the ‘best’ type of slide to use. It’s really is down to you — a combination of guitar, setup, which finger you use, size and what you want to hear. But here’s what you need to know about the major types of slide to get you started
Walk into any music shop, and you’ll see highly affordable ‘Pyrex’ glass slides in a variety of sizes along with thin, chromed metal slides. There’s nothing wrong with these, but they can be very light in weight and not always a good fit for your finger. Here’s where most of us start, though: expect to pay around £7 to £10.
The ‘pill bottle’, based on the Coricidin cold-cure bottle favoured by Duane Allman, among others, will always have its place, and there are numerous types out there. Our pictured ‘pill bottle’ [1] is from Dunlop’s huge slide range ; the ‘Blues Bottle’ (£13 to £25) series comes in different sizes and weights, and are typically a good ring/ little finger fit, less good for index finger. There’s also the Dunlop Derek Trucks signature slide, at £26. On stage they can get sweaty and slippery – this writer can attest to them flying off his lil’ finger! Diamond Bottlenecks , based in the UK, (www. diamondbottlenecks.com) has the Pill Bottle glass slide (£9.95), which, we’re told, are actually medical sample bottles into which they drill a ‘breather’ hole in the base, which stops the sweat problem. It’s our preferred choice for little finger use. Remember glass, whatever type, is brittle, and can break if dropped on a hard floor, but thicker glass wall slides seem to enhance the ‘liquidity’ of your tone. Again, Diamond Bottlenecks’ lead crystal ‘Ultimate’ range [2] is superb at £25.
Brass is another popular material that typically adds weight and mass for a little more sustain with a fuller tonality, but is relatively soft and will get marked and pitted [3], which can add a little more ‘grit’ to your sound. Expect to pay from around £10; more for a convex-shaped slide.
Stainless steel is harder, and seems to impart a little more of that liquid ‘pedal steel’ tonality. Dunlop’s stainless-steel slides [4] reflect this at £34; expect to pay more for flared-side slides, which can add a lot of comfort for more serious slide duties. Clay or porcelain ceramic slides certainly have their fans: Keb’ Mo’ and Joe Perry have signature Dunlop ceramic slides at £28.
Made in the UK, the Wolfram ‘Martin Simpson’ signature slide [5], made from a “high-density nickel tungsten carbide metal matrix” is the heaviest we’ve ever encountered, and this mass not only makes it easier to evoke a smooth sustaining tone, but it’s virtually impossible to mark because of its hardness. The downside to this weight, however, is that it’s harder to control – especially if used on your little finger. It’s also boutique-effect-pedalpriced at £250, but when was the best ever cheap? Astonishingly good.
If you play lap-style with a high action, then a tone bar is recommended. The basic bullet type, such as the Ernie Ball tone bar [6] (approx £25), has way more mass than a typical heavy brass slide, and it results in a really smooth liquid tone. It’s a completely different technique, of course, but for lapsteel, it’s superb; there are various shaped tone bars, too, which for many players are preferable (Shubb’s range is well respected, approx £25 to £30). Glass ‘Crystal ToneBars’ (£25, once again from Diamond Bottlenecks), are lighter in weight, but very evocative-sounding on acoustics, resonators and especially Weissenbornstyle guitars.
So if you’re learning slide, be prepared to amass quite a collection of penknives, bottlenecks, socket wrenches… They all add their own feel to your slide tone.