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You can play slide on just about any guitar, but some instruments are definitely more suitable for the purpose.
Acoustic guitars:
For acoustic slide playing, the instrument of choice is the resonator guitar (see more about these on my "Resonators" page). These instruments, commonly known by the trade name of Dobro (First patented by R. Dopyera in 1929), where originally manufactured during the 1920's by two companies, Dobro and National. They are distinctive for their metallic, haunting, tone. This unique sound is the result of having a metal cone (sometimes more than one) inside the body of the guitar which was originally designed to increase the volume of the guitar. This is usually concealed by a round metallic plate on the front of the guitar. Dobro and National guitars are produced both with timber and metal bodies. The wooden-bodied models generally have a warmer tone. These guitars, both vintage and new models, are expensive to buy. However a number of companies in Asia have been producing affordable copies for a number of years, of varying quality. Some of these companies include: Regal (originally produced in Chicago but now manufactured in Korea), Epiphone, Samick, Sakura and several other brands. These Asian copies are sometimes very hard to fault, although many suffer from having poor tonal characteristics due to their use of unseasoned timbers. Many of these guitars will improve tonally with age though.
As you may have noticed, my personal preference when it comes to Resonator guitars are the Republic brand, from Dallas Texas. These guitars are faithful reproductions of Vintage instruments, beautifully finished, with an amazing tone at a fraction of the cost of the original instruments that inspired them.
If you're looking to buy your first Resonator guitar I highly recommend them. A word of caution though, if you should purchase one, remember to put it down and eat occasionally, I became severely malnourished within a few weeks of getting one and my wife, uncaring selfish feminist that she is, flatly refused to hand-feed me sandwiches so I could keep playing.
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Mention this site if you buy a Republic and Frank will throw in a Free T-shirt!
Non-resonator guitars can make excellent slide instruments. Generally speaking, acoustic guitars with smaller bodies, as opposed to 'Jumbo' and 'Super-Jumbo' sized folk guitars have a tone more suited to slide playing. Also, as mentioned above, the age of the instrument's timber is an important factor in it's tonal quality. It is always important to remember that an instruments suitability for slide playing is completely unrelated to it's price! Hound Dog Taylor became a phenomenal slide player playing on guitars that probably cost him less than twenty dollars. Some very cheap guitars, both acoustic and electric, are excellent for the purpose. Another important fact is that a guitar used primarily for playing slide should have an action (The distance between the strings and the fingerboard) higher than what would be regarded as ideal for normal playing.
This is because when playing slide the strings are not pressed onto the fingerboard of the guitar.
Another type of guitar popular with slide players is the "Weissenborn" (See picture below, right). These instruments were originally designed and manufactured by Hermann Weissenborn in Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s. As these guitars have an extended body cavity that runs the full length of the neck, they can only be played lap-style (See picture of Ben Harper below). It's estimated that less than 5000 of these instruments were originally made, however reproductions bearing the Weissenborn name are made by several manufacturers these days. You can find some more detailed info on these guitars at www.weissenborn.es
 Resonator Guitar |
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 Weissenborn guitar |
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Acoustic guitars used for slide can be amplified either by placing a microphone in front of them or by putting a pickup in the body of the guitar. Either of these techniques can be used to amplify the natural acoustic tone of the guitar. The semi-solid or solid-bodied electric guitar is a different animal altogether. The output generated by an electric guitar's pickups can be harnessed to produce tremendous sustain and howling, snarling tones that an acoustic guitar cannot produce. Because of this, electric slide playing styles, although based on acoustic styles, tend to take a different approach. Guitar pickups are usually either single-coil pickups (such as those usually found in Fender guitars) or "humbucker" pickups (as used in the Gibson 'Les Paul'). In general, the single-coil pickups are preferred by slide players. The Fender Stratocaster guitar (the electric guitar of choice with players like Buddy Guy, Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt and Dave Hole) can produce an amazingly close tone to an acoustic guitar, and the harmonic overtones of this guitar produce a sweet, natural sound very much suited for slide playing. The Fender Telecaster, on the other hand, is famous for it's sharp, biting tone. This, coupled with it's simplicity of design, has made it a favourite instrument with slide players like Muddy Waters, J.B. Hutto and Roy Buchanan. |
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 George Thorogood playing a Gibson ES-125 with P-90 pickups |
 The undisputed Queen of Slide guitar, Bonnie Raitt, with her Fender Stratocaster |
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The first Electric Guitar was a Lap-Steel! Lap steels are invariably tuned to an open tuning and are used in many genres of music. They have recently enjoyed a resurgence in popularity due to players such For more info on Lap-Steels, check out Brad's Page of Steel (Excellent site!) |
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| Slide played on a Fender Stratocaster |
The best way to chose the guitar that is right for you to play slide on is to ask yourself "Who are my favourite slide players, whose sound do I like the best and what guitar are they doing it on?"
Opinions differ as to which is the best type of slide. Some players prefer glass slides, claiming they give a smoother, more mellow tone. Other players say that brass slides have more sustain and give a better "tinny" treble sound. As with selecting your guitar, selecting your slide is a matter of personal preference. Slide can be played using a Knife, a broken bottle neck, a beer can (full ones give better sustain !), a cigarette lighter, in fact just about any solid object weighing less than your average car could be used as a slide. However, a tube that fits on the finger you wish to use for slide-playing, that fits well without being too tight, is probably the best choice. Slides can be worn on any finger, it's really a matter of personal choice.
Choose your weapon...... |
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