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#1
07-07-2020, 07:28 PM
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a Eureka! moment and a way forward
Hi guys,
I've been playing for 35 years with the last 20 focused solely on acoustic fingerpicking. In the first 15 years of fingerpicking I progressed considerably but I've spend the past few years a little directionless. I had a long chat with Woody Mann about this and followed his recommendations but I keep coming back to this point of feeling lost. I do feel I'm playing the best guitar of my life right now but I don't really have many goals left other than the next fingerpicking instructional DVD or tune. I maintain a 30 song repertoire so there's always something to work on but it's still not enough. I do play six days a week, sometimes for hours on end, so I'm happy to be playing but yet I'm sort of bored. Then suddenly a few clear thoughts came together in my head today (hard to believe but it does happen sometimes!) Back at the beginning of Apr. I bought a National Triolian 12 fret steel bodied resonator. No major intent there other than I always wanted one. Since then I've been playing it on my Blind Blake tunes with varying degrees of success. Honestly I'm still learning how to play it properly. Also, as some of you may have noticed, a Gibson J-185 is in my near future so I've been thinking about what material to use it on. I realized that the Blake stuff would sound a lot better in the J-185 than it does on the Trioilan. I just think a wood body would be a better instrument for those tunes. So what to do with the Triolian? I really like it so I'm not going to let it sit in the closet. Then the Eureka! moment came. SLIDE! I have fiddled with it off and on over the years with no success. Why not make a real effort to learn it right? I have the perfect guitar and a really sweet hand cut bottleneck. And it will finally open my eyes to alternate tunings. I know Tom Feldman so I looked up his introductory DVD and it looks perfect. Suddenly I feel excited again! I know I'm probably going to sound really terrible at it for the next long while but why not? I could use some humility. So Saturday will become my seventh day of practicing and it will be slide day! So how about you guys? Have any of you suddenly been inspired by a change of direction? Last edited by Guest 33123; 07-07-2020 at 09:28 PM. 
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#2
07-07-2020, 08:19 PM
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I'm surprised you've been playin the old country blues so long and haven't gotten into slide yet.;
About 15 years ago I heard Blind Willie Johnson's Nobody's fault but mine and immediately thought "I need to make that sound." Ten years later I was able to come pretty close. I spent years working on delta a piedmont blues playing. I never could get the alternating bass down right. About a year ago I started getting more serious into flat picking. I bought an HD-28 6 months ago and have been loving it. I still do some sliding on my Waterloo too though. Good luck. I think you'll really enjoy it. Especially on that National.
__________________
“Good grief” -Charlie “Chuck” Brown
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#3
07-08-2020, 12:11 AM
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Yep, Blind Willie! Could be a bit hard to start on, but worth listening to get the mood! And Fred McDowell!!!!!!
But I thought you were supposed to drink the bottle of plonk, then break the neck off the bottle and then slide it down the guitar neck, head and fingers bleeding - not go BUY a slide - earn it..........Oh, that is what I was told anyhow......  BluesKing777.
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#4
07-08-2020, 01:03 AM
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That's great, Doug! Glad to hear it. Yes, I think I did that a decade or so ago when I dived head first into acoustic blues. I've always thought doing something different is a positive thing. It's a great response to being in a rut or simply reaching the flat part of the learning curve. Best of luck. Let us know how it goes.
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#5
07-08-2020, 07:14 AM
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That's a good direction to go if you ask me. I've been spending my time learning Mississippi Fred McDowell, Furry Lewis, Blind Willie and Charlie Patton for the last year or so. I can't get enough of delta slide playing. It'll be some years before I get to Blind Blake though.
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#7
07-08-2020, 07:34 AM
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Get a fingerstyle guitar such as a Goodall or Lowden to cure your boredom. Better yet get one made to maximize a fingerstyle guitar. For me thats a 1 13/16 nut with a 2 1/14 string spread on a 15 1/2 a rosewood, preferrably not EI, body.
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#8
07-08-2020, 08:06 AM
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Thanks for the support guys! I've ventured down the Piedmont style blues, classic ragtime and early jazz roads a ways so it's time for something new.
BK, the latest issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine actually has a tutorial on how to make a slide from a bottle. I have to say I'm quite intrigued by it. Last edited by Guest 33123; 07-08-2020 at 08:13 AM.
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#9
07-08-2020, 08:37 AM
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Quote:
Here is a tip that may save you cutting your fingers! Decide which finger you are going to have a slide on, get a size with a ring measure and order a custom fit Diamond Bottleneck - wonderful work, polished, rounded. (May be offline for now due to Covid). BluesKing777.
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#10
07-08-2020, 08:44 AM
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I've dabbled with slide a few times, mostly for a few weeks right after a guitar camp where classes were offered. It is intriguing and (as mentioned) harder than it looks. I happen to have a wine bottle saved that is perfect for a slide, but my next door neighbor with the diamond tile saw moved before I could cut it to length. I've experimented with a bunch of slides and settled on the Mudslide ceramic model, used on my pinky. Some thicker glass ones are second place. Mass seems to be necessary to get good tone.
Plateaus are a natural part of playing. At this point I have a repertoire that includes about an hour's worth of Piedmont and ragtime stuff, another hour of Hawaiian slack key, and maybe a half dozen tunes that I can play slide decently on sprinkled in. Plus all the standard-tuning singer-songwriter tunes. While there are plenty of songs left to learn -- far more than my remaining years will allow -- my challenge is maintaining them all. It takes a lot of time to "keep them under my fingers" in playing condition, and I'm unwilling to let them fade due to lack of practice after investing all that effort. So a LOT of motivation is needed for me to add very many new tunes in a year.
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#11
07-08-2020, 09:46 AM
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Slide playing is fun! You're going to enjoy it, Doug.
My "Eureka!" moment was the discovery of DADGAD - changed my guitar playing life. Its not just for Celtic music! It really freed up my approach to composing, and even influenced the way I play in standard tuning.
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#12
07-08-2020, 09:51 AM
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Quote:
__________________
“Good grief” -Charlie “Chuck” Brown
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#13
07-08-2020, 12:53 PM
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Quote:
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#14
07-08-2020, 01:10 PM
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Slide guitar is a lot of fun! I have a guitar that lives in open A tuning for playing slide. A lot of Robert Johnson's slide work was in open A (and Tom Feldman's DVD's are excellent). Also, as long as you're in open A check out Romeo and Juliet by Mark Knopfler. I like to use a brass slide - I think the extra weight makes it easier to control.
Last edited by Dave Anthony; 07-08-2020 at 01:41 PM.
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#15
07-08-2020, 04:38 PM
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Quote:
Cool! A friend 'borrowed' my 'Original'....must get another. Slides are fun and not so expensive.... My all time best is not available anymore 'Blue Diamond' in mojo bag (Diamond Bottlenecks) - blue Murano glass bottle:  But you know, the more the merrier!:  For the home made - a straight neck plonk bottle helps but you have to ...empty it...  BluesKing777.
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