On Friday, I played at a private bbq party in Edmonton. I brought my SX acoustic, my Tele and my Squier '51. It was a lot of fun!
I played mostly slide guitar. I play my slide stuff in open E tuning, and my '51 works great for slide. I just need some heavier gauge strings on it, but the sound is sweet. I have raised the action on it quite a bit, so that I don't get so much rattle when using the slide. I used the Tele for some regular guitar picking, just to have some balance in the material I was playing.
For amplification, I brought my Vox AD50VT. It works great for this type of gig. It can produce good tone at low volume. For this gig, I was more background music, so a loud tube amp would not have worked as well. I just find the Vox extremely handy for some situations. I don't I'll ever get rid of this amp!
I've been using brass slides for a while, but now I have rediscovered the glass slide, and I think I dig it better, at least for now. I'll experiment more with slides. The benefit with the brass slide is that it's heavy, but if they action isn't high enough on the guitar, it can cause some issues with pressing down the strings too much, which leads to rattle and noise.
The evening was nice and warm, and not so many bugs either. I got some bug spray to keep the few present mosquitos away. The food was great, and people seemed to like what I was doing.
I have not played slide at a party before, so this was sort of a new experience for me. I played mostly improvised stuff, although I took some inspiration from old classics and some Ry Cooder songs.
My SX acoustic isn't perfect for slide. I should get a dedicated acoustic slide guitar some day. Maybe a Dobro? Those things sound sweet.
In all, it was a great event for me. I got good feedback and I had a good time, plus I got to practice my slide guitar skills!
Hopefully I'll find the time to add a slide guitar video to my website soon, so you guys can get an idea what I sound like when I play slide.
By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com
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