First time slide use

I have never played with a slide. Today I bought two to use with my first CBG: one glass, one brass. They are both medium, so I assume they do come in different sizes. Trying to use either on my ring finger, they both fit very loose. Is this normal, or should they fit a bit snug?

I can see it is going to take a fare bit of practice to use the slide without all sorts of buzzes and squawks. I see in some online lessons that you use your other fingers to mute the strings to prevent this from happening. Practice, I imagine... :-)

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Permalink Reply by robert jones on November 5, 2013 at 12:36am

I can't get the hang of wine bottle slides so I go for straight neck bottles. My favorites are:

Ten Cane Rum - straight neck, fits average ring finger or larger pinky, requires two cuts because of lip
Corazon tequila - long straight neck, pinky slide or for small hands, can get two full length slides from one neck
Skyy vodka - good for stubby slides, fits average hands, only way I've gotten the bottles to cut cleanly is by hot wire cutting (I get mine cut at the local neon sign shop)

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Permalink Reply by Randy S. Bretz on November 4, 2013 at 11:30pm

Yep there`s all kinds of slides, but you can only but this type from me.

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Permalink Reply by Yankee Dog on November 5, 2013 at 1:32am

Muting with the down hill fingers is to prevent harmonics. It will not stop the buzzes and squawks. You need to press firmly enough that when you puck the string, said string does not pull away from the slide. But dont press so firmly the string hits the fret. A high action helps.

Mine do fit very loosely, I hold them in place by bending my finger ala Mr. Johnson. I find if they are too tight I cant bend my finger enough to get them into place. Do what ever works for you.

As for the home made slides, I gave up on the string and fire techniques after a couple of failures. I found a dremel with a cutting wheel and a lot of patience works very well. Once you have it cut a few twists with a piece of steel wool works very well to take off the sharp edges.