Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide is in reference to the sliding motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides, which were the necks of glass bottles. Instead of altering the pitch of the strings in the normal manner (by pressing the string against frets), a slide is placed upon the string to vary its vibrating length, and pitch. This slide can then be moved along the string without lifting, creating continuous transitions in pitch.
Slide guitar is most often played (assuming a right-handed player and guitar):
- With the guitar in the normal position, using a slide called a bottleneck on one of the fingers of the left hand; this is known as bottleneck guitar.
- With the guitar held horizontally, with the belly uppermost and the bass strings toward the player, and using a slide called a steel held in the left hand; this is known as steel guitar.
Slides may be used on any guitar, but slides generally and steels in particular are often used on instruments specifically made to be played in this manner. These include:
- All steel guitars.
- Many (perhaps most) resonator guitars, particularly Dobros and their descendants.
- Lap slide guitars, particularly Weissenborns and their descendants.
Since the introduction of slide guitar playing in the early 1900s, many different materials have been used to play slide guitar. Various smooth hard objects may be used as a slide. One of the most common and still the best sounding (according to most[who?]) is the neck of a glass bottle, which is slipped over one of the fingers of the fretting hand. The term “bottleneck guitar” to describe any type of slide guitar playing is derived from this. Modern bottleneck slides are still manufactured by companies such as Mr. B’s Bottleneck Guitar Slides, Blue Moon Bottlenecks and Diamond Bottlenecks.
A glass, stainless steel, brass, or chrome tube of approximately the same size (typically one to three inches long) may also be used. There are also the Mudslide porcelain and Moonshine Slides ceramic slides, invented by Terrie Lambert in 1990, which are glazed on the outside but porous on the inside, so that finger moisture is absorbed, preventing slippage. Another more recent kind of slide is made of Pyrex, an imitation of glass bottle slides that have been utilized by slide players.
Technically a slide can be made with any material, so long as it resonates, and the craftsmanship is good. Examples include stag antler and buffalo horn, although slides like these are not often sold in mainstream shops, if at all, as the time and effort needed to create one is often too much when conventional slides are available. An alternative method is to use a solid metal bar or rod, also about the same size as above, laid across the strings of the guitar and held by the fingers of the fretting hand being laid on it to either side, parallel to it. Shotglasses, pipes, and stones have also been used to good effect, as have rings, spoons and even cigarette lighters.
One can also use a knife instead of a bar:
- “As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings of the guitar in a manner popularised by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars. The effect was unforgettable.” ―W. C. Handy on his first hearing slide guitar, a blues player in the Tutwiler, Mississippi train station.
An ordinary guitar, either electric or acoustic, can be used for playing slide. Often the strings are raised a little higher off the neck than they would be for ordinary guitar playing. This is done especially if the free fingers are not going to be used for fretting. An extension nut may be used to achieve the higher string height at the peghead end of the neck. This is just a normal nut, with the slots filed less deeply, and often in a straight line rather than following the radius of the fretboard.
The lap steel and the pedal steel are guitars that have evolved especially for playing slide in the horizontal position. Resophonic or resonator guitars have often been employed for slide playing, typically held horizontally. They are sometimes known as dobros after the Dopyera brothers, whose company first made them. National is another brand. In resonator guitars, rather than the sound being produced by the body’s hollow, a special bridge transfers the vibrations from the strings to a metal cone placed inside the body.
The main technical challenges with slide guitar playing are:
- Intonation (playing each note right at the desired pitch, not a little flat or a little sharp)
- Muting undesired strings.
Slide guitar places greater demands on one’s ability to mute strings than standard guitar does. Playing a melody with well articulated individual notes requires more skill than may at first be apparent; it is easy to get a howling mass of notes on slide guitar until muting is mastered. This is because the movement of the slide, which is usually pressing down more than one string, causes those strings to sound, but not all of those strings are necessarily intended to sound at a given time. In contrast to fretting, in which the note decays quickly after the fretting finger is lifted, unwanted notes while using a slide must be actively muted. One can touch the string with a fingertip of the picking hand, or lift the slide and damp with a fretting-hand finger. The first method is more selective, the second stops all sound.
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