Slide and the Smoothtalker

Bob-Dubery

I was at McGibbon's this morning. I had two guitars with me - the new Larry and the Smoothtalker. I booked the Smoothtalker in for a set up, but whilst I was doing that Richard behind the counter asked me if he could play it. I said sure. He took out a slide and...

.... here's the news. The Smoothtalker totally rocks as a slide guitar. Has a marvellous tone for it. Kind of somewhere between a regular acoustic and a wood-bodied resonator guitar. Fab sound.

So hopefully starting next month I am going to be taking slide guitar lessons.

FatBoy

Awesome! Wish I could get slide lessons this side of the world...

Bob-Dubery

Fritz Brand wrote: Awesome! Wish I could get slide lessons this side of the world...

Well you already know which end of the slide to hold.

I hope to start lessons soon with Richard Bruyns. Richard plays lap steel, but teaches guitar and slide as well. He has suggested that we start with some Muddy Waters pieces.

Squonk

Good Stuff Bob 8)

I have always wanted to play slide as well, Got myself a glass slide, but still investigating. Fritz reccomends the ceramic ones.
We dont have much on this in the lessons section, so maybe you guys can contribute... tunings etc.

PeteM

Nice one Bob - Muddy Waters heh? - You're gonna get hooked on the blues now ?

Bob-Dubery

PeteM wrote: Nice one Bob - Muddy Waters heh? - You're gonna get hooked on the blues now ?

Like many a young white boy I went through my phase of believing that nobody, and I mean NOBODY, knew about the blues except me, my close friends and a bunch of old-timers down in the delta. So whilst I have nothing against the form, I've been on that hook and off again already.

What I REALLY want to to get down is "the Hedgehog's Song" by The Incredible String Band.* If I can "master" enough bottle neck to be able to perform that one then I'll be content. It's got some blues licks in it, but it's not what most people would call "blues".

I referred to the prospect of taking some lessons with Richard Bruyns. He also works under the name "Saucetone", and has a CD out. One of the delights of that CD for me is that he takes slide and lap steel out of their "comfort zone" of blues and Hawaiian and tackles some styles that are less associated with slide.

* recently briefly newly famous when the Archbishop of Canterbury nominated it as one of his 10 desert island discs

FatBoy

Bob please promise me you'll post sound clips! Really interested to hear what the Smoothtalker will sound like on slide.

Bob-Dubery

Fritz Brand wrote: Bob please promise me you'll post sound clips! Really interested to hear what the Smoothtalker will sound like on slide.

Difficult. I don't have any recording equipment. Well, I could run a line into the soundcard, but that wouldn't really capture anything accurately.

I also have to get a slide and some idea of what to do with it.

Vick

Like,slide guitar is awsum...i hade a faze were i tryd 2 make my own slyds...dangerus buznis...a coupel of beer,gin and wine bottels later...i semi-kinda got the hang of it...the slides looked awsum,but they were useliss,sounde very bad...so i went out to buy one,wich i should have done in the first place,but i wanted 2 be oldschool...setteled on a 'moonshine' slide,think dunlope makes'em...the difrince,its amazing...porceline is the way to go for flexability in a slide...and imo hase enuf sparkel,not to much,just enuf...o and ps:raise that action skyhige

chris77

A bit of topic, but what guitars are traditionally regarded as good slide guitars? Jakob Dylan used a Tele with the Wallflowers and it sounded great. So what would it be, single coils, buckers, a combination or rather acoustics and semi-hollows?

Vick

Dud,ther r guys that use p90's,buckes,singelcoils...solid bodys,semi's,acoustics...depends on the sound u want i guess...i kinda think a 335 sounds awsum with a slyd...but then agen,i alwys think a 335 sounds awsum

Bob-Dubery

chris77 wrote: A bit of topic, but what guitars are traditionally regarded as good slide guitars? Jakob Dylan used a Tele with the Wallflowers and it sounded great. So what would it be, single coils, buckers, a combination or rather acoustics and semi-hollows?

Well nothing is off limits I guess, though electric guitars with a distinct curve on the fingerboard may not suit so well.

In this case the sound was quite intriguing. As I said, somewhere between a regular acoustic and a resonator guitar. It may help that the Smoothtalker is a very dynamic guitar and responds well to light inputs. It's very lightly braced and that makes it very responsive - but also makes it possible to overload the top which causes a blurring of the sound.