google_ad_slot = "0858097036"; Slide tones are so often heard in this context – on a film or TV soundtrack during a desert scene with a rattlesnake slithering past, for example. Lap steels are invariably tuned to an open tuning and are used in many genres of music. 6. They are fairly big strings but stay in tune well. As these guitars have an extended body cavity that runs the full length of the neck, they can only be played lap-style (See picture of Ben Harper below). Tuning is courtesy of Fender ‘F’ tuners which hold the strings tuning perfectly. //-->. The bridge is also made from rosewood. This is even more true when playing slide guitar. The tremolo bridge and tuners being nickel coated. This guitar stands on its own with its more supposed illustrious brethren as a stunning blues/jazz guitar. BB King, Otis Rush, Chuck Berry and closer to home for us, Alvin Lee from Ten Years After. Controls are the familiar one volume and one tone per pickup and a toggle switch to move between them. The Best String Gauges for Playing Slide Guitar. There is a three-way toggle switch for pickup selection. Jim Dunlop Brass Guitar Slide – $7.99. It features a Tune-o-Matic bridge with its six adjustable saddles. PRS guitars are of the highest quality though at times not appreciated by some. Some players prefer glass slides, claiming they give a smoother, more mellow tone. Being made almost entirely from mahogany, it is very durable and is going to last you a long time. Many of you have been wondering what the best electric guitars for blues are. It sounds like the guitar was made for this style as it resonates with clarity and power. 3). This is an iconic song with very simple chord progressions, and some awesome slide guitar melodies. These are the Best Blues guitars around, so have fun deciding what is the best one for you. 3. Fender or Gibson, 335 or Strat it was always the same argument. Slide can be played using a Knife, a broken bottle neck, a beer can (full ones give better sustain ! Hound Dog Taylor played the shittiest, cheapo Japanese guitars through old Silvertone amps with blown speakers, and it was the greatest sound ever. That vintage Telecaster look. This Fender Classic Vibe Thinline Telecaster might be good to learn with, but it’s an awful lot more than that. Some players feel uncomfortable with that, but it is really only what you are used to. Physically it is quite small compared to many of its contemporaries, though it is, in fact, full-size, which makes the deep, resonant sounds it makes even more surprising. In 1931 Paul Barth, George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacker founded the Ro-Pat-In Corporation (ElectRo-Patent-Instruments) and designed and patented the "Frying Pan" as it was nicknamed. Not a guitar traditionally suited for slide or shredding blues, this Taylor acoustic is best suited for blues rhythm guitarists or those guitarists who are after a greater tone, and don’t mind a larger body-type or thicker neck. 1). Prev … Watch our Fender Vintera Series video demo (Image credit: Gibson) 2. Dunlop Porcelain Guitar Slide – $15.99. google_color_bg = "FFFFFF"; Enough power and drive to remove your shoes and socks if you let it get out of control. This is wonderful for slide. Too much midrange scoop and a slide part will sound thin, hollow and appear to disappear. There is no doubt it is a unique guitar with a unique sound that just asks to be given some blues to play. Slide guitar is very much an American tradition, and when you play slide – especially on an acoustic instrument – it’s hard not to sound American. It is not the cheapest of the guitars we have reviewed, but it is still great value. Slides can be worn on any finger, it's really a matter of personal choice. 4. Now… It is a fact that you can play blues with almost any electric guitar, but there seems to be a big difference in tone, playability, and affordability among many of them that tend to get the label of “best” for the genre itself. 4. Other players say that brass slides have more sustain and give a better "tinny" treble sound. We get a little bit perplexed when we hear them say in there marketing blurb that this guitar or that guitar is great to learn on. Required fields are marked *. For more info on slides, check out our Guitar Slides page or call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700. Others say the humbuckers deliver real power to dig out those bluesy riffs and the single coil is too thin in the sound. ), The best way to chose the guitar that is right for you to play slide on is to ask yourself "Who are my favourite slide players, whose sound do I like the best and what guitar are they doing it on?". There are a lot of different types of guitar slides and every guitarist has different tastes on what they want from a guitar slide. They have been producing quality guitars suitable for a variety of genres since 1833. The rich mahogany body and the resonance of the semi-hollow design all mixed in a pot with a traditional Telecaster sound and what do we get? There are slides made of metal or glass or ceramic which have very different sound and feel. The hardware is well crafted and of PRS’s own design. Steel Fender Steel Slide, Standard Medium. Xavier Rudd, Mason Rack and many others. Read size from scale. Just as Gibson can parade a host of great guitarists, Fender, and the Strat can do the same. Which guitar packs the punch? The ‘c’ shaped neck is a single piece of maple, and it also has a maple fingerboard with black dot inlays, and the design finished off perfectly with its white shaped pickguard. 3. Tweeds tend to be my favorite amps for recording slide. It will be determined on the venues to be played to a certain extent. Amongst Gibson's electric guitars, their instruments with their P-90 single-coil pickups such as the semi-acoustic ES-125 and ES-330 (these guitars were also produced under the Epiphone label as the "Sorrento" and "Casino" ) as well as the solid-bodied "Firebird" are much prized by slide players such as George Thorogood, Kevin Borich and Johnny Winter. Elegant is probably the word that might best describe it. At the headstock are the Grover machine heads for accurate tuning and are also the standard on all Gibson guitars. What sort of sound do you want? Right now, this is the best blues guitar you can buy for the money. Such a difficult decision as there were so many credible options. google_color_link = "0000FF"; Twenty-one frets on a 25.5 inch bolt on neck. It has a solid mahogany body with a maple veneer top. This guitar can stand up and stake its claim as a good guitar to play some blues and at the price is a very attractive option. Great question! It’s not enough to know what notes to play to play the blues. Generally speaking, acoustic guitars with smaller bodies, as opposed to 'Jumbo' and 'Super-Jumbo' sized folk guitars have a tone more suited to slide playing. They have a really nice midrange character. To some, the archetypal blues guitar that generates real power yet can also be moody and subtle. Mason Rack with Weissenborn, East Coast Blues Festival, Say no more. The only question we were left with was how they could produce a guitar this good at such a price. But, what guitar do we play the blues on? The neck is mahogany with a rosewood fingerboard. It’s for this reason blackface fender amps aren’t my go-to for clean slide tones. Non-resonator guitars can make excellent slide instruments. 2). Squier has done a great job with the Affinity Telecaster, not only by the way it sounds but also with how it looks. The beveled top adds extra comfort when playing, whilst also adding a lot to its looks and the flame maple finish on top is quite stunning. Insert "A" through slot "B" (˜g. Simple, easy to use controls that generate a powerful sound. This is the defining question and will lean you one way more than the other. It's estimated that less than 5000 of these instruments were originally made, however reproductions bearing the Weissenborn name are made by several manufacturers these days. Don’t worry though! Bring the cost of it into the equation, and surely you must have one of the best instruments around. It is well made in China from good quality materials. 6. Do we go for the acoustic, authentic feel of blues playing or something that uses its sounds to the full? Simplicity is still this guitars driving force…. It, therefore, lends itself beautifully to blues players who often like to utilize both styles of play. Guitar slides started as a part of Hawaiin culture and heavily influenced Delta Blues in the United States. google_ad_type = "text"; In our efforts to identify and pick the Best Blues guitar, we have been fortunate enough to have looked at some real quality. google_ad_channel = ""; So, enter the Epiphone Les Paul Standard, a quality instrument. Some players prefer glass slides, claiming they give a smoother, more mellow tone. and Double-necked versions. Black Friday Deals Week - Save Up to 96%! Comes with a gig bag rather than a case, which is one of the cost savings we just mentioned. Your email address will not be published. Yet with one switch of the selector, it reverts to a mellow near jazzy feel. Start to drive this guitar in a blues break mid-song, and it’s going to take no prisoners. Made with an Alder body and a maple neck with a satin finish. Quality everywhere you look and a sound that will take your breath away. //-->, Home | History | Links | Gallery | Tuning | Chords | Techniques | Guitars | Shop | Resonators |Guestbook. The Strat has a very recognizable sound generated by its 3 pickup configuration, and Fender has stayed true to the formula. Humbuckers of course. The options have been varied but made more so by the inclusion of an acoustic and even a resonator. Nevertheless, they are highly regarded by the many that play do them. If anyone needs convincing Squier can make great guitars then pick up one of these, and we are not even considering the price. If you are interested in expanding your musical talents with guitar slides, we are going to go over how to use a guitar slide in 6 easy steps. It all looks very impressive but how does it sound? Almost certainly the most dynamic and emotive of all the musical styles. The neck is also mahogany, ‘c’ shaped, with a rosewood fingerboard and is 25-inch scale with 19 frets. Let's all take a minute and enjoy this as much as John Mayer enjoyed this. There are six saddles on the fixed bridge that can be adjusted as required. The simple answer is there isn’t a ‘correct’ open tuning for slide guitar. Here are the links to everything I mentioned above: Jetslide – ( Amazon / GuitarC / MusiciansF / Thomann) Shubb AX – ( Amazon / GuitarC / MusiciansF / Thomann) Dunlop Harris – ( Amazon / GuitarC / MusiciansF / Thomann) Peaceland Guitar Ring – ( … However, a tube that fits on the finger you wish to use for slide-playing, that fits well without being too tight, is probably the best choice. The Alnico Classic Pro taking its place in the neck position and the Classic Pro Plus at the bridge. If you have decided to go down the electric route another decision looms up. Ernie Ball Glass Guitar Slide – $11.99. This guitar plays and sounds like it looks, just great. It does fit into a specific blues playing mode, and if this is what you look for, then this guitar is going to be worth a close look. The best – and the most popular – example of his slide guitar skills is the solo on “Desdemona” from the 2003 album “Hittin’ the Note”. It sounds like the guitar was made for this style as it resonates with clarity and power. It has the look, and the feel and the sound is excellent. The Fender American Special Stratocaster has been released by Fender in an effort to make this special guitar available to as many people as possible. Because of this, electric slide playing styles, although based on acoustic styles, tend to take a different approach. All that and an unbelievable price, it just had to be the winner! Photo by Pixabay from Pexels . If you intend to play at smaller venues, or even just at home, then there is a great choice which includes the acoustic and the resonator that will give you real authenticity. But, it’s not fair to judge it as a copy. Made from mahogany, resonant in itself as a wood for guitar manufacture, it has two f-holes to add to the character of the sound, as well as, the Ampli-Sonic cone which dominates the look of the guitar. The black pickguard is in that now so familiar Telecaster style and just to add to its traditional feel the headstock is as per all Telecasters. Part of the series: Slide Guitar. google_color_url = "008000"; The output generated by an electric guitar's pickups can be harnessed to produce tremendous sustain and howling, snarling tones that an acoustic guitar cannot produce. If so, the resonator is a must to have a look at. Just the look of this guitar with its dark wood mahogany finish says its a class act, and it is. Suitable for most styles of music this guitar sounds great with either a finger-picking style or strummed. This is a powerful guitar full of great sounds for blues playing and with a neck that will allow speed and comfort if that is what you want. It’s a phenomenal guitar for the price and an instrument that anyone will be proud to own and play. This, coupled with it's simplicity of design, has made it a favourite instrument with slide players like Muddy Waters, J.B. Hutto and Roy Buchanan. A lot of the questions are valid and that’s probably what I would ask as well, but these questions don’t have answers that are yes and no. The tones are warm and mellow but can be a little twangy if you want them to be. Fender Steel Guitar Slide – $5.99. The tuners are chrome and of good quality.