# CBC Slide Guitar Summit



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Stumbled onto this while looking for something else. From last March. Hoo, boy, that is some serious sliding around. Some of the nicest hand closeups of Sonny Landreth I've seen. If one is interested in improving slide technique, or simply interested in seeing what can be done with slide, highly recommended. Will change your view on thumbpicks.

I guess this is as good a place to start as any:
[video=youtube;Q5uDooGp_dw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5uDooGp_dw[/video]


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Thanks Mark - that was great. Steve Dawson, with the beard, is a great slide player. I've got a couple of his solos CDs. But Sonny Landreth is indeed the master. That "fretting while sliding" thing he does kinda blows my mind. I've also never seen anyone using their free right hand fingers for muting in that way. I'll be watching that video a few more times.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

When I saw him at Bluesfest years ago, I made sure to be up close to the stage, because I wanted to see what he hands/fingers did. I came to the conclusion that none of those notes actually live in my instruments.

Certainly watching Steve Dawson made me want to get back to rewinding the gold foil pickup I have.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

man! that was a really cool version of that song. of course sonny's technique is amazing. i hope my grandkids will appreciate him the way some of us appreciated hubert sumlin, muddy waters, and buddy guy. that guy has his own flavor.
but i wonder about that steve dawson guy. i heard him play _alotta_ licks that warren plays all the time. 
who got em from who? or is it cause they both play standard tuning?


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

i didn't realize how big Landereths mitts are!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

mrmatt1972 said:


> i didn't realize how big Landereths mitts are!


Derek made an interesting observation about his style. You can see he often mutes strings with his middle and ring finger, and plucks with his pinky, I guess big mitts help if you're going to do that.


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## TheRumRunner (Sep 29, 2011)

mhammer said:


> Certainly watching Steve Dawson made me want to get back to rewinding the gold foil pickup I have.


Ah the secrets of the masters, the DeArmond Rowe pick-ups really work well for slide playing. Also, old Tiesco's are very special.

Here's my son a few years ago with Colin, Colin is playing one of my sons Dobro's. Colin uses a spark plug socket for a slide. He likes the heavy weight and the fact that it does not move around on his finger.









DW


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## NB_Terry (Feb 2, 2006)

I love that. Thanks.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

mhammer said:


> Will change your view on thumbpicks.


I've got nothing against other people using them, but they don't work on my thumb.


TheRumRunner said:


> Colin uses a spark plug socket for a slide. He likes the heavy weight and the fact that it does not move around on his finger.


Well it helps if you have spark plug sized fingers.

But cool video--I hope to get better at slide--so stuff like this helps (And I do play it, and I'm going through some Bob Brozman stuff on slide. I have to make more time.)


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## TheRumRunner (Sep 29, 2011)

zontar said:


> I
> Well it helps if you have spark plug sized fingers.


That was my first thought as well, then I went out to my tool box and had a look through the 15 or 20 odd sockets I have accumulated over the years. Low and behold some are quite small and fit perfect - very unwieldy however.

DW


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

If one looks at the video closely, Linden is using one of those slides that just cover the underside of your fing. I forget who makes them, but they've been around for awhile, and are intended to provide the user a little more flexibility. For example, one can simply flip them around to the back side of the finger and fret as normal.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

I've read about guys using spark plugs, and I know some do, but I always found them to be way too heavy. Especially if your going to add some vibrato. I've experimented with a bunch of different slides. The one I've settled on is a fairly heavy glass slide made by Diamond Bottlenecks in the UK. These guys make fantastic slides. All my others have been gathering dust since I got this one. The model I got is called a Redhouse:

http://www.diamondbottlenecks.com/TheRedhouse.html


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Have any of you ever made yur own glass slides from a bottleneck? I did it once, but have to say the bottle I used did not have the smoothest, most ripple-free finish. I have a couple of used bottles from prescriptions that could probably do an excellent job, but the opening is too small for my finger to fit through. I'd need to cut off the tops andgrind down the edges after.


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## TheRumRunner (Sep 29, 2011)

mhammer said:


> If one looks at the video closely, Linden is using one of those slides that just cover the underside of your fing. I forget who makes them, but they've been around for awhile, and are intended to provide the user a little more flexibility. For example, one can simply flip them around to the back side of the finger and fret as normal.


Nope, he uses a spark plug socket these days. I've held it my own hands.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Gah! You're right. I saw a bit of tube sticking out on the sides of a finger, and neglected to notice the finger in question was his *ring* finger atop his pinky. It looked like one of those half-a-slide things at first glance, and I rushed to judgment. My bad.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Here is an easy slide lesson if you want to try learning a little slide. Start at the 3:45 mark for the slide lesson.

[video=youtube;TIueIIoupjY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIueIIoupjY[/video]


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