Favorite Slide Guitarist

[DanCa]

George Thorogood? Chris Thomas King? Help me expand my knowledge.

[Zuni]

1. Robert Johnson

king of the delta blues

[StopTheMorans]

3. dust my broom

:thumbsup:

[Zuni]

6. speaking of "dust my broom"

Elmore James is pretty damn good too

[StopTheMorans]

that's my favorite version

if you've heard the same version that i have; it's absolutely classic. the piano is out of tune with the base, and it sounds so fucking chaotic. that being said, it all works together so well that i don't think anyone could copy it if they tried.

[William Bloode]

10. Robert Johnson was not the king.

He was actually viewed in a bad light in the delta. He was also not a prolific slide player. Son House was viewed in a much higher regard than Johnson by delta residents.

It was only later white folks who called Johnson the king, and that because they had never heard of Son House, as he got little exposure till he was very old.

[Zuni]

16. Johnson was viewed badly because of his character, not his playing

he was idolized by many players--- Robert Jr. lockwood, Sonny Boy II, even Howlin' Wolf (who played with him) and Muddy waters.

Johnson played slide on many of his recordings. Son House pretty much played the slide on everything, unlike Johnson, but Johnson has quite a few slide based songs

Johnson was not the king in his lifetime, but he was well known and many of his songs were copied and became standards within 20 years of his death. In 1964, when his recordings were reissued, is when he attained mythical status

But to say Johnson was not popular and his songs were unknown until 1964 is completely false.

[William Bloode]

20. Actually he was saw a a terrible player.

He then disapeared for a year and amazingly came back and could really jam! I did not say he was unpopular, but he was viewed as no king. That monicker was given to him by white folks who had limited exposure to other blues players and legends.

[Zuni]

21. that is a myth

I am not sure how much truth is in that he left and then came back amazing. In all the books about the history of the blues I have read (it is a subject I actually researched), I can find no verification of that rumor. The earliest mentions of his playing come from the mid-1930s, and even then sorting truth from myth is difficult

[William Bloode]

29. Not a myth.

The myth part was that he sold his soul to the devil.But was viewed as terrible, then came back great. I don't know how he got good. Maybe he isolated himself and really worked at it.

Anyhoo this is what Son, and others like Charlie Patton had to say>

"Of course, Johnson's influences in the real world were far more disparate than the legend suggests, no matter how many times it's been retold or embellished. As a teenage plantation worker, Johnson fooled with a harmonica a little bit, but seemingly had no major musical skills to speak of. Every attempt to sit in with local titans of the stature of Son House, Charley Patton, Willie Brown, and others brought howls of derision from the older bluesmen. Son House: "We'd all play for the Saturday night balls, and there'd be this little boy hanging around. That was Robert Johnson. He blew a harmonica then, and he was pretty good at that, but he wanted to play a guitar. He'd sit at our feet and play during the breaks and such another racket you'd never heard." He married young and left Robinsonville, wandering the Delta and using Hazelhurst as base, determined to become a full-time professional musician after his first wife died during childbirth. Johnson returned to Robinsonville a few years later and he encountered House and Willie Brown at a juke joint in Banks, MS; according to House, "When he finished all our mouths were standing open. I said, 'Well, ain't that fast! He's gone now!'" To a man, there was only one explanation as how Johnson had gotten that good, that fast; he had sold his soul to the Devil."

http://music.aol.com/artist/main.adp?tab=bio&artistid=91178
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"His early influences were Son House and his accompanist Willie Brown. RJ would sneak off to one of the local juke joints at night and sit at the feet of these two gifted men. His eyes back and forth from one guitar to the other lost in the concentration of learning. Son House recalls in the Living Blues how when they went outside for a break, RJ would pick up one of the guitars and begin to play:


"And such a racket you never heard! It'd make the people mad, you know. They'd come out and say, 'Why don't y'all go in and get that guitar away from that boy! He's running people crazy with it!' I'd come back in, and I'd scold him about it, ' Don't do that Robert. You drive the people nuts. You can't play nothing. Why don't you play that harmonica for'em.' But he didn't want to blow that. Still, he didn't care how I'd get after him about it. He'd do it anyway."

http://www.mudcat.org/rj-dave.cfm

[StopTheMorans]

2. neither nor

thorogood is not that great. Duane Allman is a great starting point for either standard or open tuning playing; I learned a lot by listening to him (the studio version of "Trouble No More" has some of my favorite slide tone). Then there are the obligatory Allman knock-offs like Derek Trucks (he uses a lot of Duane's licks) and Warren Haynes (who also uses a lot of his licks). Basically, I see this whole genre of slide playing kind of like guitar blues after Stevie Ray came along; a lot of the players afterwards are going to sound extremely similar until some other incredible player comes along.

[Zuni]

8. one really original standard tuning slide player

was Mike Bloomfield, who played with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bob Dylan (he played lead and slide on the Highway 61 Revisited album), Electric Flag, on Muddy water's "fathers and sons" album and with Al Kooper on Super Sessions.
He is mainly noted for his blistering blues and jazz-like solos, but he has some cool slide work as well

[StopTheMorans]

12. i like bloomfield, but i was never really that impressed with his slide

work. the one slide tune that i think of when i think of him was "shake your moneymaker", and his playing didn't impress me that much. i know he was on the the Highway 61 revisited album; i guess i need to give his slide playing more of a listen. that being said, his technical skills are quite impressive; he's just a bit jazzy for my tastes when i'm looking for blues :D

[Zuni]

18. I am not very fond of the "Shake" cover they did

that is probably the weakest track on their debut album.

[DanCa]

9. I agree with thorogood he was on the radio when i typed the thread.

Speaking of Blues i went to borders last night and why did they have Tahj Mahal and Bo Diddley in the rmb section and not the blues? Note I am just getting into the blues genere (just started playing the harp last month.)

[johnnie]

4. Johnny Winter is one of my favorites

Great blues players:
Son House
Robert Johnson
Duane Allman
Blind Willie Johnson
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Lightnin' Hopkins
Keith Richards
Little Walter



I think that George Harrison is a very under-rated slide player. He had one of the coolest and most distinctive sounds. Strange thing about him is he started playing slide out of nowhere. I don't know when he found the time to work on it.

[Bunny]

13. I was going to say Johnnie Winter too. n/t

[StopTheMorans]

15. i love his slide on dirty old town

[Bassic]

5. David Gilmour

:D

[William Bloode]

7. Son House.

The best ever! Every slide player has copied from him or was inspired by him.

All hail the king Son House!

[Zuni]

11. there was slide before Son House

Muddy waters is probably his best known disciple

Son House is probably the most imitated slide player of all time

[William Bloode]

14. Of course there was slide before Son House.

Muddy and Robert Johnson were both disciples of House.

[Richardo]

17. The Rock and Roll Doctor

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

19. Preston Reed

[XNASA]

22. I'm thinkin' Duane Allman.

[peekaloo]

31. another Allman vote. Plus Lowell George and Elmore James.

:-)

[Angry Girl]

33. Yes! Duane all the way!!!!!

[tigereye]

23. notice there are no women listed - there must be some....

Bonnie Raitt is a pretty good slide player... but I am no expert.

[StopTheMorans]

25. that's because women can't play guitar

[Shine]

27. Now THAT's flame bait if I've ever seen it!

Of course women can play guitar, you silly. :spank:

Bonnie Raitt kicks ass on the guitar! and she's not too shabby on slide, either...

[tigereye]

35. well, you have to consider the source!

;)

thanks Shine. There was a really good young woman blues player a few years ago, Shonna something? Don't remember her name, I suppose that is not a good sign.

[tigereye]

34. oooh

:spank:

[mulsh]

32. Cindy Cashdollar

awesome slied player. check out her CD Slide Show.

[MN ChimpH8R]

24. Duane Allman

was the king. Go listen to "Allman Bros. Live at the Fillmore" if you doubt me.

[kwassa]

26. I always think of Elmore James first

I like Ry Cooder, too, among the moderns, for his spare, atmospheric sound.

[Shine]

28. Ry Cooder. n/t

[HeeBGBz]

30. Bonnie Raitt

[bif]

36. Derek Trucks

Anyone who transcribes John Coltrane solos for the slide guitar has my vote.

[chaska]

37. Sonny Landreth, of course. Honorable mention for Rod Price...

recently departed from this earth and Foghat.

[yorgatron]

38. Jr.Brown

and Roy Rogers (NOT the cowboy star) especially with Norton Buffalo on harmonica.

[BrotherBuzz]

39. Joseph Kekuku

[graywarrior]

40. Duane Alman