Urban Hillbilly Blues-Pick'n'Slide Practice Session

While my repertoire and skillset remains rather limited, I've been experimenting with some changes in tuning, picking pattern and string gauge recently.

I've been trying the dobro tuning
(GBDGBD) on for size.
In the past, I've used DGDGBD
(Spanish tuning).

I also raised the action at the saddle significantly, and I find that the slide glides and the strings sing way more smoothly.

The picking I did here feels kinda rural to me. It is the above (and NOT sublimated feelings of ardor towards my kinfolk) that
prompted the hillbilly reference.

I still need to work on maintaining a steadier tempo, but I'm hoping that will come along with time and practice.

Cheers!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ottawa
• Canada
• kokoro86
• blues
• hillbilly
• slide
• open
• GBDGBD
• Tuning
• rural

[normskis69]

Lovely to listen to

[kokoro86]

Thanks normskis69!

[BunnyshtoCherri]

oh so thats hat makes a "glideing" type of sound?

[kokoro86]

The slide is indeed the secret to playing slide blues.

Also prevalent is use of open guitar tunings.

[BunnyshtoCherri]

what do you have in your hand?

[kokoro86]

Thumbpick il right hand, chrome slide on left pinky.

[KeniLeeBurgess]

It might work out. I used this idea in my instructional CD. I played along to a youtube clip and then taught the song. The monitor is fully visible. Do a little test run.

[kokoro86]

Thanks for watching.

That is a neat idea, but I'm betting that the monitor would probably be flickering like crazy in the vid due to different refresh rates of camera compared to monitor.

It is a good idea though, and perhaps I COULD cobble together a picture-in-picture effect with the right software and a little research.

[KeniLeeBurgess]

Very nice. Great clean tone. Here's a fun suggestion. Why don't you try recording yourself playing a simple 12 bar blues bass line. Then after you practice with it, video record yourself playing the bottleneck along with it. Have the monitor with you playing the bass lines visible in the shot. I bet with your current skills it would come out real nice. Thanks for sharing.

[kokoro86]

Hi Greg, thanks for the support. As for resources, so far I've looked on YouTube at all of Kenileeburgess 's instructionals. He also has an instructional disc that preceeds those lessons that he sells on Ebay

(I'm thinking of obtaining it as well)

Also slide (dot) neonblade (dot) com has some resources for the DIY slide player.

I also checked out a book called Backup Dobro by Doug Cox that has several exercises, the like of which I haven't even scratched the surface of.