Scott Ainslie: Slide Guitar Basics & Come On In My Kitchen Walkthrough
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- čas přidán 12. 10. 2021
- This is a lesson for my Patreon subscribers, a good example of the sort of material available to all subscribers. We have lots of instructional videos on the music of Mississippi John Hurt and continue to populate the site with material on roots music. / scottainslie
- Hudba
I've just discovered this wonderful gentleman - never heard a guitar teacher talk anatomy before - this guy knows his stuff!!
In a previous parallel life, I studied and then taught massage therapy, musculoskeletal anatomy, and workshops on acupressure. Tell no one! ;-), s.
Me neither and yeah
Definitely he is going beyond, I love that
Guess I’m gonna learn a lot with this gentleman provided I work honestly hard 😮
It is very Humbling to see a Gentleman Genius ( Yes You are Sir!) impart His knowledge in such measure of kind generosity! Thank You Greatly! I am heart filled and lightened in spirit to soak up Your Presence and talents! Seasons Greetings and A Full and Happiest New Year to You!
Thanks so much. I'm glad you have found this work. One doesn't want such technique to be a secret, after all...all the best, s.
Genius 😂
I made up that position for playin slide all by myself. Then, I said to myself, that is wrong, according to everything I've ever been told. But, Scott is so right. It is so much easier to play like that. Thank you Scott.
Making music is a very physical act. Ergonomic considerations can make it easier or harder.
Thank you very much Mr. Ainslie 😊
Happy to hear from you about this. And to be useful! Cheers, s.
Appreciate you guys letting a string geek check out your technique, that's a lifetime of knowledge.
It actually is. I wandered around in the wilderness of slide guitar, playing okay, for twenty-some years before realizing how best to control the damned thing. Happy to shorten your walk, my friend. Thanks for commenting. Join us at Patreon.com/ScottAinslie. All access, just $5. That's how we roll. Every subscriber, the same.
Hey, Scott! Great stuff, man. I’ll be sheddin’ on that right hand.
Mr. Ainslie=National treasure
Blushing just a bit, and thank you!
Thank you Scott for the basics of hand placement, and the angeling of the guitar to get more movement on the guitar. No one has mentioned this in any other slide instructions I have seen.
Thanks, John. Making music is intensely physical. Making the ergonomics easy can definitely help…been playing slide for fifty years…
Excellent information sir. I appreciate you putting it out here.
Thanks, JB. Pass it around. More on Patreon.com/ScottAinslie
Thank’s to you, Sir, for your teaching. Nothing is missing, all details are there. Speaking and taking the time to explain slide technics, body position too. It’s priceless you are a fabulous teacher.
How wonderful to awake to you comments, Mario. Thank you. And you can join me on Patreon if you are interested in more: Patreon.com/ScottAinslie
@@scottainslie You know, Mr Ainslie, there’s many technics, on web, but sometimes, and often, the teaching is in the manner, and we are all here on your youtube page, to receiving exactly the kind of instrumental teaching we needs. Time to make things with precision. Merci mr. Ainslie.
@@mariofournier9663 Ne rien, Mario. My pleasure. We travel: where is home for you?
@@scottainslie Québec city, Can
@@mariofournier9663 Vermont!
Thanks Scott for all the details and reasons for them !
Dave: you are most welcome.
I am just loving this! 😊
GREAT lesson! Thank you!
Glad you liked it!
Thanks, some great advice I hadn't heard elsewhere
Mike: thank you for this note. Please share the video with any likely suspects. It is good to feel useful!
Thank you so much Scott!! I love your rendition of this song by RJ.
Thanks, Arthur. The recording of this tune on Jealous of the Moon was the first take, untouched.
Just the video I needed. There's lots out there but this is the best. Circa 2009 I bought myself and each of my siblings copy of your Robert Johnson lessons CD. I have tried unsuccessfully to play guitar and it wasn't until I switched to 3string CBG that I had some success. This lesson works for the 3 string too. Thanks.
Seriously, that was amazing
Thanks, man. Cool.
Thank you Scott, your method of teaching is soo enjoyable and informative. I have your dvd and book. Would love to have a online Skype lesson if people. 👍👍
Possible 😊
I do offer a few Skype lessons each week to individual students. You’ll find information about that at CattailMusic.com under instructor/private lessons…scott@CattailMusic.com
Again so much detail and necessary basics to help start off right !
Thanks. Glad it seems useful. I recommend learning these muting techniques in standard tuning first. It is less forgiving than an open tuning, which can cover a lot of sins...;-), s.
Bravo !! Loved it.
Merci, Bruce…s.
Nice lesson full on great advice thks Scott
So glad it was useful to you. Enjoy playing: it is better for one’s soul than can be imagined…s.
Easy and in depth , Thank You sir !
Glad to be helpful. The hand skills are important! More at our Patreon page, of course.
WOW! What a beautiful, precise, eloquent! lesson.... I've played guitar for 40 years, 20 years professionally, and I just bought a resonator and a slide, and I've been lost! I've watched some videos and they help, but I still feel kind of lost. You explain it and show it so clearly.... this is the best slide guitar lesson I've had so far and I've wacthed about 40 different channels ... Thank you Scott! :D
Leo: Thank you for this message. It is always good to have work like this received so enthusiastically. Please refer people to it and, if moved, join me on Patreon.com/ScottAinslie I use the platform in an egalitarian way, no one need pay more than $5/month for all access, but about half my subscribers to pay a bit more to buy a place at the table for those who can only afford the minimum. So far, it's sustainable. Un-American, I know, but it's a way of making a world I can tolerate living in...all the best, s.
Great lesson. Thank you Scott.
You are most welcome, Bryan. I wish somebody had done this for me forty years ago...;-),s.
@@scottainslie Do you have any upcoming gigs in Arizona?
@@bryandetwilerpllc3497 No. We are playing a few in NC in two weeks: an outdoor house concert, and four high school assembly shows for 1/2 the students, but none of them will come within thirty feet of me in those high ceilinged auditoriums, nor will we (as we used to do) have lunch with a select group of music students between shows).
The pandemic is not done with us, mostly because of so many unvaccinated folks, who are providing the virus with their immune systems to mutate in, clogging up the emergency services and hospitals, etc. We are headed into another isolated, Covid winter here (and Vermont has 87% of its eligible population vaccinated!
I hope to be able to tour again and gather a group of strangers together and turn then into a cohesive little community for a couple hours. Spring will come and then we'll see. No one is really able to make any plans at the moment: both venues and artists are gun shy.
You sir are a treasure!
Late reply (I was on the road and don't frequent these pages often, obviously), but blushing late is better than never, right? Thank you for commenting and the compliment. I will endeavor to make it stick...cheers, s.
Scott, thank you very much for this excellent, detailed tutorial on playing slide in open G/A. You have a great teaching style. I was planning to learn Come On into My Kitchen soon so this is very timely. We met in 1994 at the Washington DC Blues Festival. I had just started gigging and played with the 1st DC Blues Society Band. I believe that you must have taught a group lesson in addition to your performance. I’ve been teaching guitar since then.
Brian: Thanks for reminding me. I'm pretty sure I did a workshop for the festival. If the festival still exists, or is back after the worst of the pandemic, throw my name back in that hat. All the best, s.
Grazie è una lezione di approccio molto ben eseguita e spiegata 🙏😎
Grazie, Marcello. My pleasure.
I got your book on Mr. Johnson's work back in the late 90s. It's been one of the few reference books I've kept close by ever since. Not that I'm any better now than then. At a minimum, I can irritate my neighbors at moments notice, which like Gandalf said of the rings of power, is not be taken lightly, or used with impunity. Your tone is making me want to go get a resonator, the attack sounds like you could punch a hole in the wall.
Clayton, this made me laugh with delight. My National is one of the best-sounding resonators out there anywhere, and there are a couple reasons why (David Lindley, bless his memory, loved the guitar). But, then there is the right-hand muting: it leaves certain slides so clean they could draw blood. I loved that about Robert Johnson's playing and it always pleases me to grab one of them in the midst of a muddy, messy accompaniment and just let one string have it's say. All the best, s.
Thank You for this example, I will subscribe to your PATREON for some more ❤
Thank you, Gilles. Keep in touch about your interests…
great lesson!! thanks!!
Glad you found it. Share it with likely suspects. It is helpful for me. Cheers, s.
Thank you, lots of userful information and I am not even halfway through the video 😉😄
Geerd, thanks for the note. Making music is such a physical activity. That ergonomic aspect is so often ignored…enjoy playing. Cheers, s.
Thank you! Very helpfull
Thanks, Silvio. Happy to be useful to you…s.
Was just thinking about you today and the professor flowers video you were in lol. Turns out you also show up on the guitar side of CZcams! Thanks for making this (:
You’re welcome. Glad you saw the work with the Professor, too…s.
HEY Scott I just ordered a set of John Pearse 300 m 80 20 med Bronze 13 I hope they are the right ones , I am excited to try them . I love how they sound on your guitar and most important i need them not to break so easy tuning up to E and A it is the G string and sometimes the D string will break as well They break at the headstock when I am tuning up I give plenty of wraps I have studied videos on stringing up slotted headstocks and have gotten better at it and there does not seem to be any burrs and I might want to try the leather under the tail piece as well .I believe My national came with John Pearce 790NR phosphor bronze There standard set ,I could be wrong WELL Thank you again For your inspiration and Help With my first National Steel bodyGuitar I look forward to our First guitar Lesson I am thinking sometime in may sounds good for that THANK YOU SO MUCH take care
Thanks very much for sharing your knowledge and expertise. :)
Melanie, I am grateful for your comment and to see your name, a name you share with a dear and departed friend. Brought a smile. Thank you for that!
@@scottainslie That's lovely. I hope you do another Bluesweek in the UK again. :)
@@MelanieMaguire so do I!! All the best, s.
Thank You 🙏
Thank you 🙏🎸❤️
You are surely welcome.
Super!!
Tools for the toolbox. I'm 70 yr. young slid guitar player. thank you for the tips!!
1952: we share a birth year! Play a lot!
Hello Scott! I do play a lot. I'm getting my gear together for a 4 day camping trip with friends. We started out hiking the Appalachian Trail 50 yrs ago. Now a cabin trip in a state park?. I do enjoy open tunings. I'll be playin The Doobie Bros "South City Midnight Lady" in open G along with what I just learned from you.
@@dennisrendfrey5636 The world gets a little better when anyone plays music.
Thank you :)
Merci superbe !🤩
Ne rien.
Very helpful video, thank-you! Maybe it’s the camera angle, but you appear to be holding the guitar at a steeper neck angle, maybe 30 to as much as 40 degrees above horizontal.
Yes. Horizontal necks will cripple your access to the upper frets if you keep the slide in the correct position. Try it. Horizontal is bad. Try it both ways, you'll see.
13:33 Come on in My Kitchen
Scott, love your teaching style….how can I find more of your work? Someone help please🤷🏻♂️
As I hope you can see in the text that accompanies this video, this is a teaching video made for my Patreon subscribers. I use the Patreon platform differently than they intend it. Aiming for the anarchistic “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need.”
You will find more lessons on specific songs and techniques at Patreon.com/ScottAinslie. All access for $5/month. No contract, no limits. You are either in or out. Happily there are people who place a greater value on this sort of work and subscribe at a higher level, but they do so not for special access or privileges, but to help keep the price of admission low. It’s been my COVID experiment in a sort of gift economy. Join us.
Very educational... I realize I've picked up a bunch of bad habits trying to learn slide on my own. I will make an effort to correct these if I can, but it's not so easy when you've started in one way.... and it's not the right way.
All these hand skills are only valuable if they solve a problem. Clean slide playing requires a lot of muting. Once mastered, the techniques here will help. They are the simplest and most effective ways I know of to solve the problems that present themselves. I do offer Skype lessons, if you’d like a coach to watch your playing. It takes time to learn. Give yourself permission to introduce one new technique at a time. Then build new foundational habits. Best of luck…CattailMusic.com
I'm in the same bad-habits-boat!
Your lesson is Not just great IT is SO Wonderfully Thorough I love your pick blocking technique I will be practicing it..I just got my first National guitar a 12 fret Raw series a maple neck Custom sieve cover plate and rolled F holes As close to ( Bukka Whites Hard Rock ) as I could get it with out the Dukko finish , and no more then 3000 dollars (and that is a lotta money for a poor boy like me ) Just beautiful raw steel She plays so well and has that national growl and sustain that makes me never want to put her down I would love to Know the story on that Beautiful style o your playing Is she Vintage? I bet she has a story or two THANK YOU SO MUCH for this Fantastic lesson and Your wonderful Teachings I wish I could Take Lessons from you I play a lot of songs originals to But I could use some real help connecting all the Dots on therory see I cant even spell it ha ha and you are a GREAT teacher as well as SMOKING player I just saw your live stuff with that guitar Walking blues and Crossroads POWERFUL stuff. OK I will stop now TAKE CARE BROTHER😇
Tommy: lovely, and heartening to see your comments. Should a lesson make sense, we could arrange on sometime after the middle of May. Details on paying and scheduling Skype lessons are at CattailMusic.com. Best wishes, s.
@@scottainslie Thank you Scott I have a Question For you I sing as well as play i cant wrap my head around playing the blues and not singing ,so My voice is Most comfortable in higher keys A E and F even though I prefer the Sound of a national in lower open tuning Keys like C# or C and B My voice Works better in the higher Keys The question Is when tuning up to A and E Forget F I tune up a half step And capo on Fret 2 for F So I break the g strings the most while tuning up and sometimes even the D string When in open E or cross note e so Would an unwound G string Help for the G I find That little baby movements work best while tuning up I do love The sound of my D'Addario Phosphor bronze IT should Not be so stressful to tune Up , and I never leave her tuned up over night Even though that would be Easier I dont want to put strain on the Cone or neck PLEASE If you know of a brand of strings that works better Or a way to tune up Without breaking the g string so much Please Share i prefer medium 13s with a 15 or 16 on the High E Lately i have been using the 13 so I could practice Lightening my Slide touch I am a bit heavy handed Also I like to play the national in standard tuning to learn John hurt songs ,and Robert J all that Stuff Sounds So great On a resonator WELL That is it ...What do you use to tune up tp A and E ? THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME Sorry I go on so 😄
@@tommytramp I use and endorse John Pearse strings and have for nearly thirty years. I do not use phosphor-bronze strings because they are brittle in sound and physically, so they break much more often. I use Pearse's 80-20 bronze mediums (.13 on top) and I do tune them up to E and A on my National. The safety of doing that depends on the angle at which the strings break over the bridge: too steep and the cone is compressed at higher pitches, and the sound is pinched and deadened (the cone is actually physically compressed by the downward pressure of the tightened strings). Aiming for the shallowest break angle over the bridge commensurate with good tone, no buzzes, etc. is your goal. You can put a little piece of leather under the tail-piece to raise the string anchor points up toward the string plane and lessen the downward pressure on the cone. This may do wonders for the sound of your guitar, and also alleviate your attachment to lower tunings (which exert less downward pressure on the cone that standard or raised tunings). The neck angle and the break angle over the bridge are both powerful determinants of the possibilities of the instrument, its volume and tone. Finally, a wound G-string has the thinnest core of any string on the guitar, so switching to an unwound G will give you a stronger, more durable string. You should make note of where the string breaks, how many winds you have around the post (should be several), and whether there may be a burr where the string attaches at the end where they break. If you experiment and have trouble getting it sorted, you can book a lesson and we'll talk set-up again during that and see if we can get you sorted. Best wishes, s.
@@tommytramp I don’t get free strings. And I haven’t found better for my acoustic guitars. Good luck…
@@scottainslie YOU SHOULD BE GETTING Them free for your endorsements to there product thanx again 🙂
Отлично! Я твой новый подписчик!
я тоже....👍
9:30 🔥
Just found this. Excellent. I have one question though. You said wear a strap, so did you fix a strap button on your National? I don’t have one on the neck on my National, and I’m a bit nervous about putting one on, as not sure exactly where, and don’t want to risk damaging the neck. Thanks from England.
Iain: You are right to be shy about attaching a strap to the neck of a National, especially if it's an old one. I got my first Duolian (ca 1934) in 1979 for $500 from Rick Altman at the Folklore Center in Greenwich Village and almost immediately took it apart. I reached up inside the body to feel around the neck attachment and used Epoxy to glue a small block of wood sized to hold the strap button screw securely (I had some mahogany scraps from something or other) to the place where I knew I wanted a strap button. I then carefully drilled into it with the proper diameter drill bit to suit the screw of the strap button and mounted it. It was scarier the first time than it needed to be. These are mechanical tools and it is a very mechanical addition.
The 91-year-old Style O in the video, my standard touring guitar, was treated the same way. The strap button on mine is a little bit closer to the front of the guitar than the back, which tilts the guitar face up toward me, which is how I like to address the guitar. Specifically, the strap button is roughly 1 inch from the front of the guitar and about 5/8ths away from the neck itself, leaving room for the strap to easily rotate as needed and not rub on the neck. You can examine the strap you like and do the same. Let me know if you do the surgery, or have it done and how it turns out.
@@scottainslie thank you so much. Mine is a 12 fret style “O” National Resophonic. I thought about trying one of those Martin “headstock” strap and button things, but I’m not sure it would cope with the weight of the National. I think I’ll leave it for now, but you’ve certainly given me a good option 🎉
Thank you for this video! Have I seen you using fingerpicks? I’m going crazy trying to get accustomed to fingerpicks, to get more volume in my band setting.
If so, what fingerpicks do you use?
Yeah, I took up playing first with a thumb pick, in the days before pickups for acoustic guitars, and the finger picks to play Rev. Gary Davis' music and now rarely take them off. I use a Golden Gate pearloid Medium thumb pick and Dunlop .025 finger picks. I fit the picks to my fingers to that they address the strings at a right angle, not scraping along at a more obtuse or acute angle, this will vary with the angle at which you generally hold your guitar in performance. I would recommend thumb pick first, until that feels normal. Then five minutes of finger picks minimum before you take them off and throw them across the room. After a couple weeks, you'll forget to take them off....;-), s.
Thank you! I’ve had trouble with the fingerpicks sliding forward, too. I just saw a comment online from Jack Lawrence, who said Doc Watson licked his finger before sliding on his fingerpick to make it stick. I’ve been trying that, and by golly, it seems to work. I’ll stick with the picks, too.
Thanks for your tips. I subscribed to your channel. Great stuff! I’m inspired to bring out the slide again, too, after seeing your video on “Come on in my Kitchen.”
Your hard work online is appreciated!
@@douglove2412 If this work is useful and valuable, you could subscribe for a month or two at our Patreon.com site.
@Scott Ainslie Thanks, so are you saying you use the set of Pearse 80-20 Wound Mediums but not for the G string where you substitute a non-wound string? Particularly for Open A tunings? I have a Dobro Houndog 12 Fret Rounded Neck made around 1995 with slotted headstock. I think the nut is a little too high as its difficult to fret strings, even low on the neck with med-light strings on in Open D. I haven't played for a long time and Im 62 now so maybe its just hand and forearm strength lacking??? I know its always a compromise re action, tone, fret buzz and playability but what sort of starting point measurements to you use for string height, action, etc for medium stings? Particularly at the nut end for fretting as well as the ability to play good slide?
Thank you Allan for these questions. I do not play unwound third strings, sorry if I gave that impression. I do generally tune up to A and E tunings, knowing the cone will tolerate the higher tension because I have adjusted the break angle of the strings over the saddle to maximize sustain while minimizing the downward pressure on the cone. I cannot tell you the string clearances, as I have never measured them. But having the action set in between where the slide player might like it and where the finger stylist might like it should get you playability in both worlds. That sign in the music shop window, “Good for Slide Guitar,” simply indicates a neck reset is in the guitar’s future and they don’t want to do it at their expense…best wishes, s.
@@scottainslie Many thanks for your reply. I think I can assume with the lighter gauge strings on my Dobro, which incidentally sounds great playing with a heavy-ish brass slide; not being able to fret comfortably at the neck end, means the nut is probably too high. Notwithstanding, as I am starting to play again after quite a few years off I probably need to build some grip strength. I have had a set of flat wound bronze mediums on the guitar before and the cone, tone and loudness seemed fine. I found with that setup I did need steel picks on my forefingers though and I used a plastic one for my thumb. Pretty sure its a US made guitar, maybe Mexico but no Made In anywhere I can see. But it does have a serial number stamped in the top of the headstock. 7 291R90 H. Not that i can find that anywhere on google! Cheers from New Zealand
@@allanpennington Thanks, Allan. Welcome back to the guitar, and cheers to New Zealand. It’s likely the action’s a bit too high. If you have a luthier close enough, go and sit with him or her while they have a look at it. They can file the nut while you’re sitting there and you can try it. Won’t take 20 minutes and shouldn’t cost you much. Coming back to the guitar, you want to remove any obstacles that make it harder. This might be one…sounds like it, anyway.
Good luck. All the best, s.
@@scottainslie Great plan! Found that its a USA made OMI guitar, i.e. before Gibson bought the brand and made in 1990. I have had it since new. I assume that the nut is the only way to lower the action since the bridge is in a metal slot. Mine doesn't appear to be ebony and protrudes around 1/8". The nut however is more like 3/16 above the fretboard.
@@allanpennington Cheers, s. Let me know how it goes....
I have your old video transferred to my computer. You look real different. Note to guitarists: Look it up if you can find it, it covers many Robert Johnson songs.
I'm laughing. That was, um 1997: more than 35 lbs. ago....and we've had a lot of rampaging Republicans since then...so I guess I'm letting my freak flag fly, right??
@@scottainslie I also found the old DVD available on Amazon for anyone interested.
I have copies of the DVD for sale through our website: CattailMusic.com
@@scottainslie I recommend this as one of the best instructional videos ever made for slide guitar and for Robert Johnson style acoustic.
🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃
EXCELLENT VIDEO
Thank you not explaining how to tune or where to hold the slide.
Thanks, Andrew. Glad to be useful…
IT's real nice playin, and good technique - good explanations too - but Robert doesn't do half of the stuff he adds in.
Yes, Johnson's accompaniment is simpler. The tune has grown over the forty years I have played it, as my understanding and technique has changed. This is as it should be in my book. Johnson, had he lived, would have varied it, too. Listen to the two surviving versions in the complete Johnson sessions and you'll be amazed at his facility and the differences...s.
I enjoyed the information but i felt annoyed after watching him constantly "tune" the high E-string. It's like watching someone with a nervous tick. For example, he touches the tuning peg and then, he plays a riff using only the bass notes, and then after he finishes playing that riff on the bass notes, he touches the high E tuning peg as if to see if it's still in tune. He just "checked" it before playing that riff using the bass notes.
I, then, see him playing a cool riff with the high strings near the nut, and while he's playing, he touches the high E-string tuning peg - but doesn't turn it - and then returns his hand to the fretboard to complete the riff.
And this goes on and on throughout the useful information he presents. He keeps touching the tuning peg for no reason or...is it supposed to be funny?
I remember seeing a short, funny, edited video of B.B. King that was made to look like BB was playing in a completely different style and he kept touching one of his tuning pegs between riffs.
'We tune because we care.' And if I am guilty of having a 'nervous tick,' you certainly have seized on an insignificant detail and ignored what is good and useful here. How very useful of you. What a great addition to the conversations here. You surely have important things to share. I look forward to your videos. Thanks for your comment.