The Creation Of Slide Guitar, The Blues Music Of The Mississippi
Of all the blues guitar forms of playing, perhaps the slide style is the best representative of blues from the delta. Pay attention to the sounds of 'Crossroads' by Robert Johnson or 'Walkin' Blues' played by Muddy Waters and the songs are sure to shoot a shiver along your backbone.
Of all the blues guitar forms of playing, perhaps the slide style is the best representative of blues from the delta. Pay attention to the sounds of 'Crossroads' by Robert Johnson or 'Walkin' Blues' played by Muddy Waters and the songs are sure to shoot a shiver along your backbone.
The story of slide, or
bottleneck guitar, is intriguing. This blues style is favored by many
students searching for blues guitar lessons. Where did it come from and how did this kind of blues music evolve?
The First Bottleneck Guitar Sounds
It is probable that the first bottleneck blues was put together in the
southern states surrounding the Mississippi delta around the beginning
of the twentieth century.
Early guitars used for the blues were very basic instruments,
frequently being fabricated from old wooden boxes and just boasting two
or three strings. It was not until Sears marketed a really cheap
guitar for $1, and a catalog to order it from, that the guitar became
commonly used throughout the US.
The early acoustic guitars had a couple of large disadvantages. First of all, the
Mississippi weather was frequently hot and wet, not a good mixture for
guitars made of wood. Next, a home made guitar was incredible
tough to keep in tune.
For those reasons, slide style of playing the
guitar was simpler to do, as the player can look for the correct note
while continuously adjusting the bottleneck around, without it making a
strange sound.
Bottleneck Delta Blues Guitar Masters
After the early bottleneck songs were created, some musicians focused on
the form and produced some really fine music. Some others, like Son
House, seemed to beat the instrument whilst growling lyrics.
It's really
simple to take on the fundamentals of slide playing, but quite hard to
really master the technique, because careful damping of all strings is
vital, between the bottleneck and the guitar head stock.
Guitar lessons are definitely needed to progress at a good pace.
THE FIRST BOTTLENECK GUITAR SOUNDS
It is probable that the first bottleneck blues was put together in the southern states surrounding the Mississippi delta around the beginning of the twentieth century.
Early guitars used for the blues were very basic instruments, frequently being fabricated from old wooden boxes and just boasting two or three strings. It was not until Sears marketed a really cheap guitar for $1, and a catalog to order it from, that the guitar became commonly used throughout the US.
The early acoustic guitars had a couple of large disadvantages. First of all, the Mississippi weather was frequently hot and wet, not a good mixture for guitars made of wood. Next, a home made guitar was incredible tough to keep in tune.
For those reasons, slide style of playing the guitar was simpler to do, as the player can look for the correct note while continuously adjusting the bottleneck around, without it making a strange sound.
BOTTLENECK DELTA BLUES GUITAR MASTERS
After the early bottleneck songs were created, some musicians focused on the form and produced some really fine music. Some others, like Son House, seemed to beat the instrument whilst growling lyrics.
It's really simple to take on the fundamentals of slide playing, but quite hard to really master the technique, because careful damping of all strings is vital, between the bottleneck and the guitar head stock.
Guitar lessons are definitely needed to progress at a good pace.