• Select the correct string gauge
• Choose a good slide and learn how to hold correctly
• Advanced Set up
Once you have decided to take the plunge and venture into the wide world of slide guitar you will need to setup your instrument in a more permanent way that is even more suitable for slide guitar playing.
The following information does not conform with other slide playing 'experts' but the following set up has will vastly improve your tone and middle string access. Imagine the bridge of a violin or cello, it has a highly curved radius to allow the bow to 'get at' each string individually without touching the other strings, but still allowing more than one string to be bowed by increasing the pressure on the bow.
We gain clean access to the middle guitar strings in the same way, by having a curved nut and saddle. In other words the totally flat action means that to access the middle strings we also have to make contact with the outer strings creating unwanted background scrapings. These surplus noises are totally unnecessary and create nothing but problems for the budding student, (imagine a violin player trying to cope with a flat action. By adopting a more curved profile to your nut and bridge saddle you will immediately gain much more control over unwanted noise and find many more notes and licks more easily available.
You will need to have your nut and saddle replaced with a more pronounced radius. Do tests by inserting paper into the nut grooved just to see how much you need to raise each string so that you can gain individual access to the middle 4 strings at the 5th fret. If you come to any of my concerts you will hear that a lot of my slide work takes place on these middle four strings as well as on the top two. This totally widens my range and allows for simple melodic lines to be played in pairs of notes making for a much fuller and more interesting sound.
For a full explanation of my slide style and technique keep your eyes peeled for the new video to be released in spring 2003.