I’ve always loved the sound of blues slide guitar. Though in two lifetimes I could never approach the skills or sounds of the greats, it’s cool to mess around with the ‘tones’. The sounds just have so much emotion to me.
The easiest and un-coolest way is to go into your guitar shop and buy one. [read me]
The coolest way, but hard to play is using a bottle.
I just came across this article about making your own glass guitar slide out of wine or brandy style bottles that would make Robert Johnson proud.
Slides are usually made of glass or metal. In the early days of Blues the players also used a bone (like Mississippi Fred McDowell, who gave some of his slide guitar secrets to Bonnie Raitt) or a knife. Glass and metal produce a different sound and it’s just a matter of your taste which you prefer. A general rule is that heavier slide create a better sustain.
Here are some good examples of slide blues. Three versions of Traveling Riverside Blues (Robert Johnson)
1st Robert Johnson’s original
Eric Clapton’s version
and
Led Zeppelin’s hard charging version
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