Home > Slide guitar
Slide guitar is a particular method for playing the guitar. Instead of altering the pitch of the strings in the normal manner, by pressing the strings against the fretboard with the fingers, a slide is used. The slide is a tube of some hard material. Commonly these are made from glass (or a bottleneck, which gave rise to the description bottleneck guitar), although metals (normally steel or brass) are also used. The slide is pressed against the strings (lightly, so as not to touch the strings to the fret board), producing a sustained tone which can be continuously varied by moving the slide across the neck. In this style the guitar is often tuned to an open chord, such as open D or open G, allowing the player to change chords simply by moving the slide with one hand, without fretting any strings with the other. This method is the easiest way of playing chords in slide guitar, and is most common; but many experienced guitarists use other tunings as well.
Some specialised makes of guitar are commonly used to play slide. These include resophonic or resonator guitars, commonly also known as dobros after the Dopyera brothers, whose company first made them. These guitars are made with steel bodies. Some have a square neck rather than the more normal curved neck and are designed to be played across the knee.
Slide guitar is commonly used in several different types of music. The technique appears to have originated with classic African American blues artists. These would include blues, country and Hawaiian music. However, it is used occasionally in Classic rock, by bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and Pink Floyd. Ellen McIlwaineEllen McIlwaine (born ca. October 1, 1945) is a singer/ slide guitarist. She also plays piano and harmonica. Born in Nashville, she was adopted by missionaries and raised in Kobe, Japan giving her exposure to multiple languages and cultures. Her first tra has used acoustic slide guitar to perform a body of material ranging from Isaac HayesThis article is about the musician, for the Arctic explorer see Isaac Israel Hayes. Isaac Hayes ( August 20, 1942) is an influential soul singer. He began his recording career in 1962, soon playing saxophone for The Mar-Keys. After a period of activity wi to Jack BruceJack Bruce (born May 14, 1943) is a musician ( bass guitar, cello and occasional piano), singer and songwriter. He first came to attention playing string bass with Graham Bond in the early 1960s. That group covered a range of music, from bebop to rhythm a.
Many consider the late Duane Allman to have been the man to bring slide guitar into rock music through his work with The Allman Brothers BandThe Allman Brothers Band is a pioneering and innovative Southern rock group from Macon, Georgia originally popular in the 1970s, described by Rolling Stone's George Kimball in 1971 as "the best. rock and roll band this country has produced in the past fiv and Derek and The Dominos .
Slide Bass
Though rarer than slide guitar, some musicians have used slides with bass guitarThe electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument similar to the electric guitar, but larger in size and with a lower range. It is also closely related to—and inspired by—the double bass, and shares things in common with a range of bass instruments. It iss. Mark Sandman of MorphineMorphine was a three-piece rock band formed in 1990 by Mark Sandman in Boston, MA. Sandman was something of a veteran of the Boston underground scene and was active in many bands, including Treat Her Right, the Hypnosonics, the Pale Brothers and Supergrou was probably the best known proponent (with Morphine, he perfomed primarily on a custom 2-string slide bass guitar), though Bill LaswellBill Laswell (born December 2, 1950) is a prolific bassist, producer, and record label owner who has collaborated with hundreds of musicians all over the world. Laswell's first recording appearance was in 1978, playing bass for Michael Blaise and Cheater, Kevin Rutmanis and Marc Sloan have also played slide bass. John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin has performed on a custom-made bass lap steel.
