Bottle Neck Or Lap? What Open Tuning?

[stevieb]

Just starting to get into slide. Most of the instruction I see talk about bottle-neck, but I find I am much more confortable turning my open-tuned guitar up, standing up and using the strap to support it so I can play slide standing up, than trying to play bottle neck. Holding the slide BETWEEN my fingers is more natural-feeling to me, too. I think I'd rather spend my time learning to actually play, than forcing my hand and arms to do things that just don't feel right- but I know developing good technique when starting out is important, too.

Also, it seems that every instructor (at leas on-line lessons) use a different open tuning. And I mean EVERY ONE. Thus, when "shopping" for lessons that work for me (so far, two were a gigantic waste of time, for me, and many others were not jelling with me, either) would mean I either have to transpose the location on the fret board (one guy likes open C7 tuning, my guitar is in open G, so I had to go up 5 frets to be where he was on most strings/notes) or retune my guitar again and again. Yuck. Again, I'd rather spend my time playing and learning than retuning.

So- what's better- doing it their way (presumably developing good, standard technique) or the way that feels best to me? And in general, are face-to-face slide teachers flexible about tuning used?

 

[WhiteStrat]

Different tunings are key (no pun intended) to slide guitar. C7 commonly (commonly referred to as Hawaiian) will be completely different than E (great for blues). So it's more than technique--it's about being able to effectively approach different types of music.

Lot's of hardcore slide/lap players have one for each tuning. I've got a lap steel that I leave in E. (The string set is even designed for E) But that's because I'm just using it for bluesy rock stuff. With the same set, I can get it into a G tuning and that's a cool sound--but if I used it a lot, I'd seriously consider getting a cheap second lap steel and having one for E and one for G.

 

[Anfontan]

For myself I prefer the G tuning, I can use it for playing partial chords, even minor chords when you are playing rhythm, and I like the fact there is a major key chord on the D, G & B strings. I will also play in standard tuning and sometime fret a note behind the slide, Sonny Landreth does this often-see it on the 2007 Crossroads DVD with Clapton.
Just dropping the high E string to D will give you an easy G voicing as well-it's an easy thing to do at a gig and just as easy to get back into standard tuning.

 

[lpdeluxe]

I've got a Dobro in G, an ancient Regal in D, and electrics in D and E. I had a couple of electrics I kept in open C, also. I play the resos lap style with a bullet-nose steel and the electrics with a chrome slide.

I'd stick with a teacher who uses a tuning you're familiar with, which sounds like G from what you've written. the principles are the same, but a teacher will likely show you a bunch of licks idiomatic to the tuning he favors (for example, Eric Clapton's Running On Faith lays out logically in G tuning and is a real headache in any other) which you will eventually be able to adapt to other tunings. The basic concept remains the same, and, disregarding tunings with 6ths or 7ths or minor 3rds or other rarities, each is an inversion of the same 1-3-5 chordal form.

I played exclusively in D and E (and the related minors) for many moons, and now find that G tuning offers some opportunities for riffs not possible in the more familiar modes.

There are lots of things you can do lap style relatively easily that you can't do Spanish style (slant bar technique, single note solos on the inner strings) and, equally, others you can more easily do with a slide (fingering partial chords, running bass lines). I play both (and I once played pedal steel) and I suspect that fact has made me smarter than I otherwise would be.