Slide guitars: description and methods of playing

Guitarists who play blues, rock, or country music often use a special device in their technique called a "slide" (or "slider"). The slider gives the composition an unusual sound. Read more about slide guitar and the technique of playing it - in this article.

And although there are certain models of guitars designed for playing with a slider, an interesting fact is that a similar method can be used on any type of guitar (on an acoustic six-string, electric guitar with different tunings, bass, blues and ukuleles), as well as on others string instruments other than guitars. That is why it would be more correct to mean if we talk about the guitar, the term "slide guitar" is not a specific instrument with any special features that distinguish it from an ordinary guitar, but the very method of playing (playing with a slider).

This is exactly what the technique of playing the slide guitar is based on. The slider is an accessory in the form of a tube made of a smooth material that is put on one of the fingers of the left hand.

It should be noted that in ordinary guitar technique there is a technique called "slide". However, it is performed with the fingers without additional devices. This technique also consists in sliding the finger from fret to fret both up the neck and down. Another variant of the name of the considered technique in musical terminology is glissando. But the essential difference between a slide that is performed with a finger and a slide that is obtained with a slider is in the technique of sound production:

1. in the first case, the finger of the left hand presses the string to the nut at the original fret, and then, without breaking away, moves to a different fret, without weakening the pressure on the string (as a result, 2 notes sound legato);
2. the slider moves almost along the open strings, without pinching them, but only lightly touching on the corresponding frets.

The sounds themselves are also different - in a slide guitar they have characteristic metallic overtones, sometimes even with harsh intonations and squeals. True, you can't deny them melodiousness, if the composition requires it.

The origin of the slide method of playing owes to the ancient one-stringed musical instruments of the peoples of India and Africa. This fact is not denied, since a "singing bow" with a musical bowstring can still be found in some African tribes. And also known are the primitive tools of African slaves who came to the American continent in distant times. These products were called by different names, for example, "diddli bo". To make them, only 2 nails were needed, driven into any wooden surface, and a piece of steel wire, which was pulled between the nails. Any metal container was used as acoustics, and a glass bottle or a knife could serve as a slide.

It was in the guitar technique that this method began to be applied at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries among blues guitarists. It is believed that slide guitar has been around for almost as long as the blues.

Currently, slide guitar can be heard not as often as any other, but it invariably remains in the blues, country, and is actively used in rock music.

The special slide guitar is the same six-string guitar, but it has a built-in metal resonator inside the body. The resonator is a cone-shaped cone covered with a perforated cover that fits directly into the top deck cutout. Such a guitar was designed at the beginning of the 20th century in the United States. Its inventors were brothers Doper who came from Slovakia. The guitar is called Dobro ("Good") - the first 2 letters are taken from the beginning of the names of the inventors, and the other 3 mean "brothers" (translated from English brothers). In addition, the whole word is also translated from Slovak: “good”.

As for the slider, musicians are still trying various forms and materials of this accessory in order to get an original and high-quality sound of a slide guitar. The slider function is performed not only by tubes, but also by other objects. They even manage to play with lighters or wide rings on their fingers.

Its length should slightly exceed the width of the neck (so that it overlaps the distance between all the strings).

Tubes can be made of steel, ceramics, brass, bronze, chrome-plated materials. Glass sliders provide a particularly good sound. True, the latter must be necessarily thick-walled, otherwise it is impossible to achieve a good sound timbre.

Metalwork is the most advanced, especially in rock styles. They make a ringing, punchy sound with a perceived drive.

Ceramic and porcelain slides have gained unusual popularity in recent years among slide guitarists due to their impeccably smooth surface that does not create noise when playing, as well as the porosity of the materials that prevents fingers from sweating inside the tube. Besides, the sounds are unique, resembling the sound of a guitar at the same time when using glass or metal sliders: warm and soft - in the calm flow of the melody, ringing - during the transition to the attack.

In shape, slides are mainly in the form of a tube, but there are also bars with a rounded working surface and a concave side for fixing the product on the finger. There are models in the form of cut along the tubes. When choosing, it is imperative to take into account the individual dimensions of both the neck of your own instrument and the thickness of the fingers. The slider should not dangle on your finger or be difficult to put on. In the first case, it is possible not to calculate the force of pressing the accessory to the string, having lost the sound, and in the second there is a risk of stopping blood circulation in the finger and losing its sensitivity.

The slider is most often put on the little finger of the left hand if playing with it is combined with the usual playing with fingers. Otherwise, it is placed on the middle finger.

As noted above, when playing with a slide, you do not need to clamp the strings of the guitar at the frets.

Special resonator guitar designed for slide play. In addition to its acoustic features, it has some other differences from conventional guitars.

Build Dobro guitars for slide play:

1. low version of "Open G", that is: D-G-D-G-B-D, if you start from the sixth string;
2. "Open D": D-A-D-F # -A-D.

Heavy rock styles are also more often played on down-tuned guitars.

To make it easier to play with the slider, the strings on the Dobro guitar have a higher pitch than that of conventional electric guitars.

That is why on standard instruments, before playing a slide, you need to change the height of the strings to the maximum possible without any alterations (changing the nut, bridge, and so on). This makes it difficult to play with high pitch over the fretboard in standard tuning.