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Location: cincinnati, ohio | I've got an Ibanez six-string that I'm going to pull a Lynyrd Skynyrd with and put a cut-down ball point pen tube under the first fret to raise the action so I can use it as a slide guitar. Does anybody have any experience with slide playing who can suggest a good "all purpose" slide key to tune it to? What key will I get the most mileage from (i.e.; relatively easy to play in)? I was thinking of doing open "G" (like Keith Richards, possibly open "E" or open "A." Right now I'm just looking for feedback. Thanks! |
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Posts: 97
Location: Chicago | I would recommend DADGAD as a somewhat regular tuning for sliding. Whatever you feel comfortable with. Try a little from several tunings. If you want to use DADGAD, try open-D for a bit. |
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Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | While DADGAD can be used for slide it is not a common slide tuning. D major DADF#AD, will make more sense than DADGAD if you're a novice. I use E major almost exclusively (EBEG#BE) The nice thing about E is that it's easy to get to from standard (5th and 4th strings up a tone, 3rd up a half tone) and you don't have to re-think or transpose your familiar points of reference.
You don't need to raise the nut very much to make a slide guitar unless you want to play lap-style. Using an extension nut will make fingering chords damn near impossible. A thin shim, no more than the thickness of a credit card or less under the nut will do the trick. You can then play cleanly with the slide in the lower positions but still finger chords. |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Good suggestion, Paul. I just want enough clearance that I'm not rattling on the frets. We're always getting these credit card offers in the mail that have a fake credit card stuck to them; next time I get one I'll cut a strip. Or I think I have a few extra Ovation saddle shims left over from about 30 years ago.
DADF#AD and EBEG#BE are equivalent tunings-- basically you're tuning the guitar to an open 1st position "E" chord shape, right? Open "E" major was one of the options I was looking at, because basically you play bar chords just by pressing your index finger across all the strings. I'm not a TOTAL novice with slide, but I'll be playing it infrequently and I want to make it as much of a "no-brainer" as possible. Seems the "D" major version with a capo at 2 would be a little less neck tension, even though it's more work to tune it. Paul, do you ever have string breakage problems in "E" major? |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Duh--just had a thought. Would a capo negate the shim under the strings at the nut? Probably? |
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Location: south east Michigan | I found at the tour that low action will not stop someone that has the skills.
The action on my Breadwinner is pretty darn low. You should have heard Paul kick ass playing slide on it. Maybe you will. It might be on Waskel's DVD. |
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Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | I might give that a try first. That would also give me the option of using it for standard songs in "E" major tuning like "You Can't Always Get What You want" and "She Talks To Angels." A friend of mine who's an excellent lead player had a really low action on his guitar and played it like a fiend. When he DID occasionally rattle, it had a sort of "dirty blues" gutbucket effect. thanks for the suggestion, Brad. |
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Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Originally posted by rick endres:
Duh--just had a thought. Would a capo negate the shim under the strings at the nut? Probably? Generally it will, best bet is to let the rod off and let the stings pull the neck into more of a bow than you'd usually like to see. That way if you capo the first frew frets there'll be a little (but not much) extra clearance. I occasionally use a capo on my lap-style guitars, but almost never on slide guitars. I've gotten so comfortable with open E that I'm happy playing in any key without a capo, the payoff being that in some keys you lose the really cool first position open string stuff. |
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Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Originally posted by rick endres:
Paul, do you ever have string breakage problems in "E" major? I use pretty hefty strings for electric slide, usually 16 to 60 (both the first and second strings are 0.016's) and a little, but not much lighter on the acoustics, with no problems at all. I never break strings or have bridge/neck problems. |
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Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | Thanks for the info, Paul. You DO pick up a couple of frets at the top without a capo, and it will have a brighter sound. I'll experiment a little and see what develops. |
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Location: south east Michigan | thanks for the suggestion, Brad. Rick,
Just to be clear....I was not saying you are lacking skills...I was just relating what I saw. |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Rick,
Just to be clear....I was not saying you are lacking skills...I was just relating what I saw.
(quote from SlipKid)
No sweat, Brad. I didn't infer that from your comments anyway. Actually, I consider myself a vocalist first and a guitarist second. I like to think I'm a good singer, and I'm a pretty decent picker overall, although (like everyone else, probably) I'm nowhere near as good as I'd like to be. I'm a very good fingerpicker-- solid Travis-style, and I do a MEAN James Taylor imitation. J.T. songs are my showstoppers; People invariably say, "Oh, you play just like J.T. (don't I WISH!)!" On the rhythm side, I'm a better than adequate strummer (not outstanding, but pretty solid). I don't do much lead (when you play solo a lot, like I do, the bottom drops out); what I do play is very simple, based off the chords (and usually 1st position)-- single string and simple double-stops like America's B.S. lead on "Sandman," where you grab a two-note chord and keep plucking it for about 50 bars, or like Neil Young on "Southern Man" (and so no one gets the wrong impression, Neil Young is one of my idols). I play a lot, but I don't really have time to practice, which I'm sure would help. I've gotten to the point, after all these years, of knowing my limitations and being able to work with them, and I've been quite successful at it. So as much as I'd like to leap ahead with my playing, there's a lazy part of me that says, "Don't rock the boat!" |
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Posts: 627
Location: Cherry Hill, NJ | I've used open E tuning when I first started playing slide, but never really mastered it in a way that I would like. Lately, I've tried just regular tuning, seems to work because I can finger notes and add a little slide to complement a lead. I do admire good slide players, Paul does a great job. I think it's important to learn using your pinkie for slide. You can do more lead work that way. I recently saw the Derrick Trucks Band on an HD concert. He's got to be the best I've ever seen. If Duane Allman were still around, this is what he'd sound like. He did the whole concert on his SG, absolutly knocked me out. |
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OT: GOOD GENERAL PURPOSE KEY FOR SLIDE TUNING
