Joe Walsh Talks About His Slide Guitar Playing
Here is a video of guitarist Joe Walsh showing some slide techniques that where originally shown to him by Duane Allman from the Allman Brothers. It also talks about what has turned off many of a guitar player from playing slide guitar because of the nasty fret rattling that happens with normal action and the hassles of alternate tunings, Gibson’s 2015 model year guitars may have the answer. They now have the Zero-Fret Adjustable Nut™ for making it fast and easy to set the higher action that slides need. The slide world is yours—so here’s how to start adding those swooping, emotional tones to your music.
“Slide” vs. “steel.” Slide players put the slide on one of their fingers (more on this later) and most hold the guitar as they normally would. But you can also treat the guitar like a steel guitar, and place it flat on your lap while holding the slide with your hand.
Guitar prep. With normal action, using a slide will cause fret rattling (even if you have a light touch). Players commonly raise the bridge but with the 2015 models, it’s simpler to raise the strings at the nut using the included 0.050” Allen wrench. For steel-style playing, 2 to 2.5 mm above the frets (around 1/16 th of an inch) works well. To alternate between using the slide and fretting, set the string height for the right balance of low enough to fret, yet high enough to prevent buzz and rattles with the slide. (This takes a little trial-and-error, which is another reason why the Zero-Fret Adjustable Nut is so handy.)
The Zero-Fret Adjustable Nut has been raised enough so that the bottom of the nut is just above the fingerboard. This is a good height for “steel” playing with a heavy slide.
Choose your slide material. Pretty much anything hard and smooth will work—from beer bottles to copper pipes—but the main commercial options are glass and metal. Glass sounds a little sweeter, but after breaking three glass slides (hey, they’re glass!) I now use metal and it sounds fine. Also, the slide needs to be the right size to fit your finger (see next).
Which finger? The middle, ring, and pinky fingers are all candidates—use whichever feels most comfortable. Ring finger is a popular choice because the slide can have a decently large diameter, but still allow enough index and middle finger movement to fret strings. For the “steel” technique, since you’re not putting the slide on your finger a heavy, solid slide for steel guitar sounds great.
Which tuning? Open tunings are popular for slide guitar. To access four popular preset tunings with Gibson G FORCE, press the On button twice, use the Up/Down buttons to select the green preset tuning bank, then use the Left/Right buttons to choose your tuning (E, A, D, and G correspond to open tunings for those keys). Press Enter, and when the LEDs are red, strum the guitar. When all LEDs are green, the guitar’s tuned.
Remember to place the slide perpendicular to the strings and right above the fret, not behind it as you would when playing with your fingers. And now, you’re all set—so have fun discovering just how cool slide guitar can be.
For more on slide guitar, check out these videos from Joe Walsh.