Slide soloing
In this modern blues-rock bottleneck extravaganza Phil Capone reveals everything you ever wanted to know about slide guitar, from the 1960s till now!
This is a look at modern blues-rock slide so doesn’t feature legends like Elmore James who obviously influenced them all. But whether you love the sound of slide but don’t know where to begin, or want to take your playing to the next level, this feature is for you, as we’re analysing eight celebrated exponents of the art, from the 1960s on.
Duane Allman. Legend has it that, following an arm injury in 1968 Allman picked up a bottle of Coricidin pills that he’d been given to ease the pain and instantly started jamming along to a Taj Mahal album. He played in open E tuning with a glass slide on his third finger. George Harrison. After the Beatles, Harrison’s slide technique literally soared. His instantly recognisable style was characterised by perfect intonation, melodic approach, a lack of blues clichés and overdubbed harmony parts. He played in standard tuning with a glass slide on his fourth finger. Ry Cooder. A true legend of slide guitar and the man credited with turning Keith Richards on to open G tuning, Cooder himself
bonnie ra itt is ‘the best damn sl ide play er working today ’ sa id bb king of her emotive and melodic styl e
plays in many different tunings. He has been known to use drop D, open D, open G and open E tunings; he uses a glass slide worn on his fourth finger when playing electric.
Bonnie Raitt. BB King once said that Raitt was the ‘best damn slide player working today”, and her emotive, melodic style is testament to this. Bonnie plays with a glass slide on her second finger, this enables her to switch effortlessly between rhythm and slide. She plays mainly in open A tuning, uses a capo to switch keys.
Sonny Landreth. It’s not easy to find radical new ways to play slide guitar, but Landreth figured out that what was going on behind the slide was just as important as the stuff in front of it. Sonny plays in open E tuning using a glass slide on his fourth finger; this enables him to use the bottleneck and simultaneously fret notes behind it.
Rory Gallagher. Even Jimi Hendrix reputedly retorted, “ask Rory Gallagher” when quizzed what it felt like to be the greatest guitar player in the world. He preferred open G tuning and used a glass slide on his third finger. Wide vibrato and fast, fiery licks are a feature of Rory’s signature style.
Jeff Beck. Like Landreth, Jeff Beck is a slide pioneer. He plays in regular tuning, preferring a glass slide worn on his second finger. But he also holds the slide like a pen in his right hand, tapping it on the strings to create high, soaring notes past the end of the fretboard. This requires extreme accuracy.
Derek Trucks. Mr Trucks has become one of the most respected of all slide players. Many regard him as the man who keeps the spirit of Duane Allman alive, so he is the perfect player with whom to end our feature. He plays in open E with a glass slide on his third finger.
The glass slide is de rigueur for playing electric guitar (metal sounds best on acoustic). It can also be worn on either the second, third or fourth finger; each has advantages and disadvantages so experiment to find out which works best for you.