I saw him in New Orleans at the Jazz Fest and he played through his ODS/58 strat. What a monster tone. I'm just beginning to learn the 'behind the slide' fretting. It's all about string damping.
BobW wrote:I saw him in New Orleans at the Jazz Fest and he played through his ODS/58 strat. What a monster tone. I'm just beginning to learn the 'behind the slide' fretting. It's all about string damping.
Many years ago I played pedal steel (still own a nice Mullen). Although never messed with slide too much. I would bet that the right hand is just as important as the left hand. On the steel you need to damp on both sides of the bar. Using the palm of your picking hand to block (damp) the strings.
Gary
Located in the St Croix River Valley- Afton, MN
About 5 miles south of I-94
aka K0GWA, K0 Glas Werks Amplification www.glaswerks.com
glasman wrote: On the steel you need to damp on both sides of the bar. Using the palm of your picking hand to block (damp) the strings.
Gary
Just as important on bottleneck. I play slide a ton and I mute using my right hand fingertips and the fleshy part of my thumb. Behind the slide I use my index finger across the strings.
The few times I`ve seen Sonny he holds his left hand fingers way off the neck unless he`s fretting. No muting behind the slide at all.
Gary and Bob I agree, it's all about the damping. The last two times I saw Sonny, he used the slide on his pinky, kept it razor straight across the frets and either damped behind the slide with his ring finger or not al all while using his index and middle for fretting behind the slide. Although a higher action helps, he's truly a master of technique. Thanks guys,