The Slide Guitar

The slide guitar is a technique which the player puts either a plastic, metal, or glass tube around his or her finger and slides up and down the frets--instead of using individual fingers. Because the slide does not have to be lifted, a transition is created between notes and frets, therefor lengthening the notes and the transitions between them.

The slide guitar traces back to the 1920s (and before) where it was revolutionized by Sylvester Weaver, who was the first musician to make a recording using the slide guitar. Throughout the latter years the slide guitar has been associated with classic rock bands, such as the Allman Brothers Band, Lynard Skynard, Led Zepplin.

Duane Allman, from the Allman Brothers Band, is considered one of the top slide guitarists of all time, if not the top by many accredited musicians and critics. Instead of using a tradition slide instrument, Allman used an Coricidin bottle.

Side note: Coricidin is an over the counter drug marketed for the common cold and people with hypertension. The company went out of business in 1980, though they have been reproducing replicas of the famed slide since 1985.

Derek Trucks is another famed slide guitarist. When Trucks was 9 years old he began playing the guitar, his uncle Butch Trucks is the drummer and was one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band. By the time Trucks was 11 years old he was touring the states with the Allman Brothers, as of now he has been in his own band for the past 12 plus years, The Derek Trucks Band.