Setup for slide + fretted notes

[zebra]

I've fooled around with slide in the past, but never made a commitment to it.  Now I want to start incorporating it into my playing, so I was wondering:

Anyone have a guitar they use for both slide and fretted notes?

I know the easy answer is to have a separate guitar dedicated to slide, but barring that..I'm curious to see how people have approached trying to find that "Goldilocks" setup where you minimize knocking the slide on the frets, but don't have the action so I that either it's uncomfortable to fret or doing so pulls notes sharp.  I'm curious to know what other folks who have experience with this do.

Thanks!

 

[Cagey]

For just casual use, you might want to try a "ring slide"...

They're small/light, so there's less tendency to bang them into things, and they're easier to wear while playing other things, or if you just want to add some slide accents rather than go into a full-blown George Thorogood jam.

Personally, I've never been able to just do casual or occasional slide work. Seems to be one of those things you have to commit to in order to do even passably. But, that's just me.

 

[AirCap]

I have found that playing slide on guitar is more about your technique than setting up the guitar. I have a client who proves it daily by playing slide frequently on his Taylor acoustics that I have done "fretless wonder" style fret jobs on them with stoopid low action (3/64 on treble E, 5/64 on the bass). I can't play his guitar without making them buzz, but his playing is clean and clear - thanks to his very light attack.

Observe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWS_qRp2kTY&t=5s

 

[bagman67]

I'm with AirCap - it's a matter of technique more than setup, although if you're NOT interested in fretting while playing slide, high action does give you a little slack to be imprecise.  I play slide on all my guitars that are set up for ordinary fretting, and rarely crash into a fret.  I play glass on my electrics, which is lighter, so that aids in control.  I prefer the sound of a heavy brass slide on my acoustics, which I can get away with because the higher string tension reduces the tendency to clatter against the frets.

 

[Seamas]

I play slide quite frequently, and usually play in standard on electric.
I have my vibrato floating a bit on my two strats, so changing tunings is a bit of work compared to a fixed bridge. On my acoustic I will change tunings to open G or open D.


I use a fairly light slide- I really like the ceramic ones, but have a small collection of various slides of different materials.

I keep the slide on my pinkie so I can play fretted notes with ease. My first preference was to wear it on my ring finger, so switching to the pinkie took a bit to get used to, but now any other finger feels unnatural.

My action is medium low--I have a slightly heavy picking hand.
Not hitting the frets is a matter of practice--the slide doesn't need much pressure at all on the string to sound the note.

I think playing slide is a bit like learning a new tuning--you have to dedicated yourself to it almost exclusively for a couple weeks. Just play slide --and only slide for a while.

 

[swarfrat]

For just casual use...
Personally, I've never been able to just do casual or occasional slide work. Seems to be one of those things you have to commit to in order to do even passably. But, that's just me.

Slide guitar and fretless bass both. Every time I try either one it ends with 'Let's put this thing away before somebody gets hurt'

 

[spe111]

I found this article somewhat useful:
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/22414-guitar-shop-101-how-to-take-your-les-paul-into-the-slide-zone

I found it by looking for how Derek Trucks sets up his guitar.

 

[zebra]

Thanks for the feedback, folks!  :icon_thumright:

 

[musicispeace]

I've got one strat that happens to have a slightly higher action than my other and I can use that for some slide playing as well as fretted notes if I am careful with the slide. Glen Kuykendall has a youtube video on slide in standard tuning he does with his 59 les paul that he plays regular as well. I found some helpful hints from that. So in my case it seems going with a smidge higher action works but its by no means "high" or "set up for slide."