slide playing questions

can anyone please help me,

i'm trying to "learn" how to play slide guitar, i've got all the tunings (open D open G) my actions ok and i've got a slide it's glass though is this ok (it's based on a old medicine bottle, apparently joe walsh's use's them ?) it's just that when i play there seems to be alot of noise from the strings i don't want to sound, is there some muting thing that i am not doing.

Any replies would be greatly appreaciated.

By no means am I an expert at slide playing, but I do know how to 'fake it' and make laymen think otherwise.

Trusty palm-muting helps for targeting which strings you want to sound, as does using the other fingers on your left hand behind the slide.

thanks i'll give it a try :)

I don't know the first thing about slide guitar so the best I can do is to give you a link to Nick Marchant's slide tutorial. Maybe by looking at Nick's video you can see what he does and apply it to your playing. Here's the link :

http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=8877&s_id=112

thanks i'll have a look

When I play slide, I place the slide on my my middle finger. This way I can still play barre chords w/o having to remove the slide. I also (when actually sliding) gently lay my index finger on the strings to assist in muting. I will palm mute too as needed. One tip if you are just starting, the slide needs to rest directly over the frets, this differs slightly from fingering notes.

I'm a fairly decent slide player myself, but I like to think I know all the tricks to it. I like to tune to Open E personally, easy chord formations (barre one fret) and its relatively easy to play slide licks this way. Also this is what Duane Allman did and Derek Trucks does, so it can't be hurting anything to try. I like to, as well as derek trucks, to use my ring finger when using the slide, I think it makes landing in the right spot a bit easier, but it has a bit to do with personal preference I would imagine. I myself don't do much muting behind the slide, but I think most peope do, which must mute the extra noise a little bit more. I am usually more concerned with my right hand though. I always fingerpick while playing slide. Using my thumb and index finger mainly for picking. The advantage to this is that you have extra fingers as well as your palm to mute the strings. It works to use your thumb and palm to mute the lower strings, and then use your other fingers, which ever ones arent in use, to mute the other strings as best as possible. Its pretty tricky to adjust to the fingerpicking style, but I think the tone is a whole lot better this way too. Hope this helps.