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Glass, ceramic, brass, bone and steel of every size, shape and type imaginable has been employed by guitar players over past few decades to create those cool slide effects people have grown to associate with the blues. I've experimented with at least one member from each food group and I've pretty much settled into the tones created from blown glass. It's quiet, it's mellow, it's fat and warm... glass is my friend! Remember choosing a slide is like picking out a pair of shoes... it's very personal! My advice to the newby is... sample the whole buffet!

In the beginning, I started with a Jim Dunlop short, heavy walled pyrex #212 slide. It fits my pinky absolutely the way a slide should... snug. Slide size is determined two obvious factors: how big your hands are and what finger you use to slide with. That's another decision to make early on... which finger to use. I played with my ring finger for a number of years, but when I began to study slide a little more seriously, I switched to my pinky. Pinky players have a distinct advantage over other finger choices when it comes down to ease of chording and fingering.

I pretty much use DIAMOND BOTTLENECK hand blown crystal leaded glass slides and tone bars these days made by glass master Ian McWee in the UK. These have amazing tone and sustain... life is is simply to short to have crappy sound!

On some occasions I use a metal slide, I have a stainless steel slide custom made for me some years back. To my ears, of the metal slide family, stainless and copper seem to be the warmest and fattest sounding. Rust, plating wear or chipping is not an issue stainless either and it polishes right up on a buffing wheel when it looks a little rough.

A BIT ON SLIDE GUITARS: Though I cover this subject in greater detail on other pages, I did want to say that any guitar is a candidate for a slide guitar. Nothing is scared okay? It's just that some guitars are more suited for slide guitars than others. There are some special guitar setup considerations for slide that one should consider though. Ideally, if at all possible, it is best to have a guitar devoted specifically for open tuning slide playing. The reason is that heavier strings and higher action is a preferred perquisite for best results. If you got a spare guitar, acoustic or electric... get yourself a slide and learn something new!

I rarely slide in standard tuning, mostly because my standard tuning guitars don't really accomodate slide activity to my liking. It's fun to slide in standard, but my personal preference is open tunings.

Without going into a deep dicussion about bottleneck slide technique and style, I'd like to recommend to anyone that is just beginning on bottleneck slide to consider doing themselves a huge favor and get Bob Brozman's videos or DVD's on playing bottleneck blues. His 3 instructional pieces will help you create a solid foundation in style and most importantly, techniques that are associated with good sounding slide playing. Bob focuses mostly in G tuning, but folks like Mike Dowling's instructionals works you out with D tuning and a lot of fingerpicking. There are also websites that have chord generating software for alternate tunings that are pretty cool too. You'll find those links on the link page.

Diamond Bottleneck slides

Bob Brozman DVD's & Video's

Mike Dowling DVD & Video's