How to choose the right slide

I recently saw a video of a big country fella rocking some blues...kicks back a bottle and chugs the whole thing while he's shredding and then lays down a nasty slide sesh with the now empty bottle. I was like YEAH!!

According to Dime, a can of Coors light works too, but I've never gotten a can to sound good and I'm not about to drink a Coors light to corroborate.
 
When I played around for the first time in 2021, I bought a glass and a wood slide. Before I went out and got them, I used a long socket (don't remember if it was metric or standard) from one of my tool sets and I must say, it had some positives. What I really like about the socket is the weight. It kind of slowed down my fingers because of the weight and that made it more difficult to do something dumb real quick (at least for me anyway). I did not care for the tone though which is why I got a glass and a wood. Of the glass and wood, I prefer the tone of the wood one, but I like the slide of the glass one better. So on sound, wood, on feel, glass or metal for me. And the sound of the glass slide is not bad, just a bit brighter than the wood one, so it certainly has it's place as they all do, even slides who identify outside of their birth material.
 
I am not a slide player, but due to the P&W setting I am obliged to use it once in a while. Have had them all: brass, glass, wood.

First size. I always try them on and I prefer the ones that are a snug fit around my index finger. Too loose and you too are busy controlling it.

Second material. I prefer glass over brass for sound, slide and comfort. Wood over glass for comfort (light), glass over wood in terms of sliding capabilities and equally like them for sound. Wood is a little warmer, glass a little brighter. Since my guitars are already bright, I went with wood.
 
I've only experimented with slide, but it's clear you'll need to experiment on materials, sizes and fingers to find what you like. I would agree with the shorter, glass version personally. But I don't use it, so there you go. Mad respect for great sliders, tho. I like the expression.
 
I am not a slide player, but due to the P&W setting I am obliged to use it once in a while. Have had them all: brass, glass, wood.

First size. I always try them on and I prefer the ones that are a snug fit around my index finger. Too loose and you too are busy controlling it.

Second material. I prefer glass over brass for sound, slide and comfort. Wood over glass for comfort (light), glass over wood in terms of sliding capabilities and equally like them for sound. Wood is a little warmer, glass a little brighter. Since my guitars are already bright, I went with wood.

Index finger!?
 
I've gone through a lot of slides on the quest:

You might have to go through a few too, have a favorite for a while, then find one you like better, and just keep going until you find the perfect slide for you.

I like them glass and tapered like a bottleneck. These are my favorites and the green one is an actual bottleneck. It's my favorite for fit , sound, weight and surface texture.


You'll have more control and probably get a better tone if you put it on the index or ring finger.

But I use my slide on my little finger so I can play chords in open tunungs and fret under the slide by holding strings down lightly with the slide and allowing clearance under the slide for the fretted note to ring between the slide and nut.

Learned that watching Sonny Landreth.


I like glass. Not too heavy but not too light. I have many brass slides but never use them.

I don't like glass Coricidan bottles. Too light and loose on my finger.

But you might like the Derek Trucks glass slide if your hands are big. Mine are not.
 
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Here's some more from Sonny Landreth:


When I lived in Boulder, CO., Sonny was a local guy.

I liked his playing so much that I put a Tele bridge pickup in a MIJ Strat and set it up for slide.

Duncan alnico 2 '53 Tapped Tele Hot in the bridge and Lindy Fralin Strat Vintage Hot in the neck.

Has a 5 position switch and #1 and #5 are either the hot or vintage output of the bridge pickup alone.

#2 is the neck and vintage output bridge combined.

#3 is the neck pickup only.

#4 is the neck and hot bridge out combined.

No middle pickup. Sustains better and less string pull because there's one less pickup and set of magnets.

I found the old 1930's Rickenbacker Lap Steel pointer knobs on eBay. They look cool!

 
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I used to use a heavy pedal steel slide. It was very smooth, but the weight made it a little difficult to use, and it wasn't hollow, so required two fingers to hold.

However, the weight helped with the intonation quite a bit. I have no idea what happened to it, haven't seen it in years. Might have I lost it when I moved a decade ago.
I recently saw a video of a big country fella rocking some blues...kicks back a bottle and chugs the whole thing while he's shredding and then lays down a nasty slide sesh with the now empty bottle. I was like YEAH!!
I had a similar thing happen with a band. The bass player was incredible, had toured with Prince. Super nice guy, too. We had a killer rhythm section, the drummer was a player I used to bring in for session work.

Anyway, we're playing a song, and I'm on keys next to him. The bass player looks over at me, gives me a wink, lays down an incredible bass line on the fretboard with his left hand, while walking over to a shot glass on top of his amp, and with his right hand reaches for the glass and drains it while not missing a perfectly timed note.

Then he looks back at me, gives me another wink, and gets his right hand back on the bass. I laughed so hard I almost couldn't play.

There are players who have the ability to floor me.
 
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I used to use a heavy pedal steel slide. It was very smooth, but the weight made it a little difficult to use.

However, the weight helped with the intonation quite a bit. I have no idea what happened to it, haven't seen it in years. Might have I lost it when I moved a decade ago.

I had a similar thing happen with a band. The bass player was incredible, had toured with Prince. Super nice guy, too. We had a killer rhythm section, the drummer was a session player I used to hire.

Anyway, we're playing a song, and I'm on keys next to him. The bass player looks over at me, gives me a wink, plays an incredible bass line on the fretboard with his left hand, while walking over to a shot glass on top of his amp, and with his right hand reaches for the glass and drains it while not missing a perfectly timed note.

Then he looks back at me, gives me another wink, and gets his right hand back on the bass. I laughed so hard I almost couldn't play.
Danny Gatton would do that. Finish off a beer and play slide with it. Sometimes it wasn't quite finished and it'd get messy.

 
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