I have a long-standing, healthy obsession with all things slide guitar, and I love to help others understand and master this most expressive way of playing guitar.
I've been a guitar player for 35 years, a guitar teacher for 25 years and in my own playing have focused on slide guitar since 2005.
I studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston (including studying with slide guitar great David Tronzo) and the Guitar Institute in London (where I later taught for many years). I have played everywhere from tiny restaurants to the O2 Arena, and continue to perform, compose and record music.
Originally from the UK, I live in Auckland with my young family and "a few" guitars (and slides!)
Side note - what I'm talking about in the video is actually a couple of concepts involving fretting notes and using the slide. The strict "behind the slide" technique developed separately by David Tronzo and Sonny Landreth is related to the part where I talk about depressing the string below the slide. Using the first finger to play notes behind the slide when improvising is slightly different, but does incorporate some of that too (there's a bit of an overlap). A third thing to consider would be just improvising normally with three fingers and then throwing in the slide occasionally too...
Definitely interested in working on this technique. Thank you for the video and the introduction. Yeah, Two Finger Guitarist might be the most accurate description, but One Finger Guitarist moniker just has that zing 😄
Hi there. I see you’re using a brass Rock Slide. Could you please recommend what size I’d need for a pinky and which for my ring finger? Our hands look much the same size. Thanks!
@@bradferguson9840 I only use the slide on my pinky - mine’s the Joey Landreth model - fits great for me. I also use a custom-sized glass Diamond Bottlenecks slide - love it!
Hey Dylan - Great way to start the week a cup of coffee ☕️ and a quick slide lesson 👍🏻I think the short 3 - 5 minute vids are great if you want my opinion - great way for us one fingered guitarists to add bits and pieces to our arsenal - Thanks as always and keep ‘em coming my man 🎸
Thank you so much Rod - I'm hoping this will help me get back into all of this in a sustainable way 🙂Really appreciate your support, and enjoy that coffee my friend!
Thanks - that's a great idea - I'm struggling to find time to create new videos right now though :-( There are some things in this playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PLTYgZIVBdlYdOf7TUmdyCkAuBR0vPxeDp&si=bLRbbncpFA8jzUDh and the shapes in the Open C video translate to Open D just like the scales do (except they'll be D chords, not C chords). I'll put this on my list to do in the future :-)
@@onefingerguitarist Thank you for the link and info. Is there a mental cheat for going from C to D? One note up (I guess it would be 2 due to C#/Db)? Having no time is often a good thing :)
@@SharpsBox yes, two notes (or a tone/whole step - depending on where you're based!) - and if you play any of these shapes in Open D they instantly become the equivalent D chords... no thinking required 🙂 Hope that helps!
Thanks, and for checking out the video :-) If you play all these scales (same frets/shapes) in Open D tuning, then they'll just be D scales (eg E major shape will become D major). Hope that helps!
Wow !! My Man - that’s one of the coolest slide improvs I’ve seen yet - Loved it. Keep em’ coming mate if this doesn’t inspire us all to play slide nothing will. Hope you’re doing okay mate and everything is going as well as can be Cheers 👍🏻😎🎸from Oz
thank you this has helped me with my beginnings with open E slide and using scales as well for beginner slide players, and for people who read my comments it would be in your best interest to take notes on paper
Thanks for checking it out and the comments! Yes, this was largely unscripted, so there are definitely things not in the handouts that can be helpful to note down 🙂
I hadn't heard Dave Tronzo's name in years; I saw him once, playing in John Hiatt's band, but he was having guitar problems; when Hiatt introduced the band, he said, "Dave Tronzo, on slide guitar that's barely there"! I've seen Hiatt at least 2 dozen times over the years with various bands, including Sonny Landreth and the Goners which is still the best match in my opinion ---- the Guilty Dogs band with Mike Ward was also excellent ---- but that was the one and only time I saw Tronzo in the band. If I remember correctly, he was playing what looked like a modern National Steel-copy guitar and it might not have had a headstock on it.
Wow, wish I'd seen him with Hiatt - though we talked lots about those times. He used to use a National with overdrive, along with a Cort headless guitar. Amazing.
@@onefingerguitarist , it may have been a one-off show with Tronzo in the band, not sure, because he never played on any of Hiatt's records that I'm aware if. There were two guitar players on the stage that night, besides Hiatt! I don't remember which particular record Hiatt was touring to support, or who else was in the band, partly because I'd seen him so many times over the years. I first saw him on the Slow Turning tour with Sonny and the Goners, opening for Robert Cray ---- who is dull and boring IMHO ---- , and ever since then I always made it a priority to go out of my way, as necessary, to see him play. I saw him 4 times on the Perfectly Good Guitar tour, along with my wife to be on one of our earliest dates, and she became a huge fan. Sadly, Hiatt's voice is but a shadow of what it used to be, and so we skipped the last couple tours, preferring to remember him as he was. Sonny was never a strong singer either and his voice has definitely gotten weaker, but we go to see him more for the guitar playing, and the instrumentals, than for his singing. Saw him last year and he was great!
@@goodun2974 sounds great - I think Tronzo took over after Ry and Hiatt had a falling out - I believe after the Bring The Family record, but not absolutely sure...
@@onefingerguitarist, the matching amp/case was somewhat Champ-like in execution; but the single-pickup 1449 had a very different, cheesy, low-power and electrically dangerous amp. The single pickup guitar is fine, but the amp design is a "widowmaker", a transformerless "AC-DC" circuit with a hot chassis, no power transformer, and about 1.5 watts of audio output power. A 50-50 change of getting badly shocked from your guitar strings!
Great video. Lots of valuable information. I’ve been playing for many years however was really never interested in slide until recently. I started learning Lap Steel in C6 and have switched that guitar over to open D and now I’ve switched one of my Fenders to open G. Making steady progress and really enjoying the different textures. Makes me a more versatile guitar player. Cheers!
@@onefingerguitarist I tried open E. Open D. Open G. OPEN B FLAT. I just couldn't get the slide riffs AND vamps and I KNEW it wasn't two guitars. Thanks again.
Good encouragement here. I have some damage in both of my hands that make fretting and picking awkward. I play to amuse myself and have developed my own style. It is good to hear that that is OK. 🙂
Hi Tim - I've tried to contact you a couple of times by email - glad I found you here! Could you check your junk/spam for emails from me? I think it might just be an overactive Spam filter? I'll be sending some more info out in the next day or two, so I want to make sure you get it... Cheers Dylan
Hello Dylan, thank you for replying here! I was checking spam and just checked it now. Nothing from you there. I do get your newsletter fine, apparently, which is what lead me to the signup for the class! I’ll add the newsletter email address to my contacts just to be sure. If a week goes by and I don’t see your more info email I’ll reach out. Sorry for the hassle!
@@bangpow00 Hi Tim - strange - OK, I'll email from the newsletter address just to make sure. Looking forward to meeting you and getting into it! Cheers Dylan
Your comment about hearing the sounds and "just ACCEPT them" is an epiphany. All too often we play through scales just to know them or play what is right without really hearing the scale degree. Taking them in slowly, as you have shown, and accepting them is a great lesson that I'm sure will be paying off dividends much more effectively than just playing the proper scale over the chords. All the notes are to be understood but we have to accept their sound first. Thank you!
Sorry John, impossible to tell without hearing/seeing you play! If you want to send me a RU-vid link of you demonstrating this I can try and help - send it via the website - www.onefingerguitarist.com
