Slide Guitar Blues – The Heart of Blues

Steel or bottleneck slider guitar, you pick your poison. The two guitars have many interesting qualities and different ways to play them; however, they both usually produce a similar unique sound. The main difference between a steel guitar and a bottleneck guitar is in the way you hold the guitar:

Bottleneck Guitar – The bottleneck guitar is held exactly like a normal guitar: back up against the stomach, bottom (thinnest string) resting on your knee, using basically anything you can find to create that “slide” sound. In the past, when sliding was invented, people used glass bottles, slipped over the finger on the fretting hand.

Steel Guitar –The steel guitar is held horizontal and flat across your knees, with the bass strings toward your body. The player usually uses a slider referred to as a “steel.”

The technique of slide guitar blues was popularized by African American blues artists. Since then, the sound has found a home with country and Hawaiian music. Although it is not always associated with them, sometimes it was also played with the classical rock and roll legends such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney.

Any guitar can be used to play slide guitar, even that dilapidated, old ukulele that has been sitting in your parents’ garage for years. The most popular slide guitars are resonator guitars. Nicknamed dobros, after the Dopyera brothers (the first company to manufacture a slide guitar), these guitars use a special bridge that transfers the vibrations from the strings to a metal cone placed inside the body of the guitar. Resonators are constructed from a lightweight material and then inlaid into the metal. Because of the alterations, the slide guitar truly is a unique piece of musical equipment.

As for the slider, all you need to do is find an object that is relatively smooth and solid, which can be slid across strings without breaking. Some interesting materials that could be used for sliding objects include:

•Glass bottles – Sometimes referred to as the “true” way to slide guitar, all you need is either a small glass bottle or the glass neck of a bottle. The glass bottle was still used frequently up until the 1980’s when the glass medicine bottle Coricidin went out of production.

•Stainless steel

•Chrome

•Brass

•“Ceramic Moonshine Slides” – Slipped over the finger for maximum speed and accuracy (much like the glass bottle), these slides had holes on the inside that absorbed moisture in order to reduce slippage.

•Knife – W. C. Handy, on first hearing a slide guitar played by a blues artist in the Tutwiler, Mississippi train station, said, “As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings of the guitar in a manner popularized by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars. The effect was unforgettable.” Who wants to mess with a guitarist who uses a knife to play his instrument?

Today, many bands use slide guitar techniques in their music. One of the most famous rock and blues guitarists of today, Eric Clapton, uses slide guitar techniques. His most popular song, “Layla,” employs a slide guitar sound. Newer bands, such as Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The White Stripes, Beck, and Ben Harper, have all fallen victim to the sweet sound of slide guitar in their songs. So, rather than sit around and read guitar articles all day (although they are thoroughly entertaining), why don’t you go make your own slide and start playing some slide guitar blues?