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| string gauges for slide guitar - Beginner Questions - Guitar - Guitar - ezFolk Forums | |||||||||||||||
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scottyo Approved
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what is a good string gauge for slide playing on an acoustic? Mosty I play in open D
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1four5 Approved 
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Hi Scottyo!!! Hey, I really can't answer your question with any experience, but I just started learning slide in ernest, and am using .012-.050 flatwounds. They are working great for me, and I'm playing slide in combination with normal fretting and bending notes. I do know some guys who would answer your question. I hope Richard doesn't mind. I tell ya what Scott...if you promise to help me get some more blues players to come back here, check out Big Road Blues...they have a really good slide forum there. 
____________________ These are the good times! |
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scottyo Approved
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thanks for the reply...Maybe my problem is not in string gauge at all. I have been using .12's but my answer may lie in the make of string...Phospher Bronze,nickel, wound or unwound...there is alot of strings to choose from on the market and I'm trying narrow down the process of elimination.
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1four5 Approved
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I'm using Thomastic-Infield Jazz Swing flatwound nickle strings...veeeeery smooth without any finger squeel and much less slide rasp than round wound. I've got them on my F-hole acoustic guitar and reso. I don't know how well they would work on a traditional dreadnaught though.
____________________ These are the good times! |
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1four5 Approved
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Here is an update to this topic, as my personal experiences continue...The more I've been playing, and the better and faster (if you can call it that) my licks are getting, the more trouble I've been having with the high (thinnest) two strings buzzing (not enough pressure) or fret clanking (too much!) when I was really gettin down on em. I recently subsittuted the two thinnest strings (12 and 14) for thicker (15 and 18) and man what a difference...I can play a lot more relaxed and get a deeper tone too!
____________________ These are the good times! |
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David Approved
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1Four5, I forget what you're playing, but that makes a big difference in the size of strings you can get by with. Slide does require heavier gauge strings, but not all necks will take the heavy tension. I have been using 12s on my old Kay archtop, but I use the "Resonator Guitar" strings that come prepackaged--usually Martin or D'Ardariao--on my resonator. These are 16's on the high string. Even with my resonator I get nervous tuning up to "standard" tuning. I play almost everything in Open D (DADF#AD) and sometimes Open G. On my Cigar Box Guitar I get away with even Open E tuning, since the neck runs all the way through the cigar box. With both ends of the strings attached to the same piece of wood there is no neck joint to strain. (I'm also using lighter strings on the CBG, and there are only three of them, so that gives less tension at the higher tuning.) Many squareneck dobro (bluegrass and country) style players use an unwound third string to give a smoother sound on those long lap style slides. They are also usually using a spider bridge, which gives a much longer sustain for the whiney, almost lap steel, sound. On my biscuit cone, which gives more on the initial attack, but decays quickly for that Delta blues bark and growl, the unwound third string just sounds too dead for my taste, so I go for the wound string. In fact, that scratchy vibrato of a heavy wound string during the quick decay is part of the classic acoustic blues sound. In short, heavier strings will give more satisfaction for slide (and raise the action enough to avoid the slide banging on the frets), but don't go too heavy unless you're sure about the neck. On a resonator you should be able to just buy the "Resonator Guitar" package of strings and put them right on. But, to be safe, tune down. Open tunings are better for slide anyway, since you can get a chord any place you want to lay the slide. As for open tunings, once you get used to them, you won't want to go back. If you've ever tried to cover a Rolling Stones song and couldn't get the chords to have that cool sound, its because the original is most likely in Open G.
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1four5 Approved
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You are right on the money! I've been playing in open D and it's hard to go back to standard tuning. I played open G for several days, but fell in love with open D on the first low raspy nasty chord! I've got a National Radiotone (single cone biscut), and I got it with .13's on it. The strings were nastier sounding than I could take as a newby slider. I put the flatwounds on it to calm the guitar down while I get better at it. The 12 and 14 from the flatwound set were solids, but just too light to control. The two thicker string are much better, and I do keep this guitar tuned in open D. I'm looking forward to getting better at it, so I can go back to the raspier roundwounds and use the slide sounds on the strings to my advantage  Thanks for the tips and info! I'm still working hard on the "mechanics" of the slide, such as keeping it moving, and sliding up and down to notes etc. The angle of the slide to the fretboard has been my toughest challenge. I start getting loose and getting into it...and the next thing I know it's all slanted. I'm hoping to record something good enough to post soon. I wrote a good song last week, and have the music in my head for it...just a matter of getting it to my fingers and playing it through without screwing up!
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Roj Approved
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Hey Scottyo Please be careful with what gauge string you put on what guitar as too much tension can cause something to break. I have two guitars for slide, a parlour size acoustic and a Tricone. The Tricone has 17s on but the parlour (AMI cedar) does not respond well to too much tension the sound really chokes badly. Wih the parlour i had to compromise by fitting a set of 12s and replacing the the 12 with a 13. Too high a string gauge and the you may find the strings also 'bind' in the nut causing tuning stability problems. best regards Roj
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| ezFolk Forums > Guitar > Beginner Questions - Guitar > string gauges for slide guitar | |
