So I Finished my guitar today, and I started to play it some to loosen up the strings. After swapping my kitchen back to a kitchen and making dinner, I sat down to play some. The action is low but not too low, and I thought I kept hearing my slide drag along the neck. After correcting my playing for lower action, I still noticed this strange sound. I know the slide is not contacting anything.
The sound is weird. When I slide down towards the nut, there is a harmonic overtone that slides up. So you get that weird walk on the wild side effect on a single string. You slide down, it goes up, and you slide up it goes down... It's not anything I've heard of before and I'm wondering if it's some type of resonance issue. Does that description describe anything someone here has encountered?
Thanks
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I get this all the time. When you play with a slide, you divide the string into two sections and both of them vibrate. Where the slide touches is a nodal point (point where it doesn't vibrate). Some people use a finger to mute the section between the slide and the nut. I like to let it ring. When play well in tune, it sounds awesome and the guitar sounds louder.
When you play at the twelfth fret, both sides are equal and produce the same note. When you move toward the nut, the section between the slide and the nut is shrinking. So, when you play lower, that other quiet note will be higher.
As Nathan said, just let one of your trail fingers lightly touch the string and the extra sound will vanish. Sometime I dampen, sometimes not. Depends on what you are going for.
That is the natural harmonics of the string. You can use your other fingers to lightly mute the strings to dampen the harmonics. I cover how to get a good clean slide tone in this beginners video:
By player I mean me haha. It plays nice its just a shame its so noticeable. The last one was built with a Punch box that was made from MDF and had no sound holes. When i listen for it now, the first one kind of does it too, but its not very noticeable, and ive developed habits that didnt involve muting. This new one is all wood and uses the bottom not the lid as the soundboard. Perhaps that and the sound holes have resulted a more resonant guitar. I did notice its quite lively so any noise would be amplified when playing this unplugged over the other I would think. Is it possible the low action has me playing too lightly to nullify the effect? The other one has much higher action than this new one. Its basically a fretless that can be played without a slide, so I have to have a special touch to keep from hitting the fret board.
Yep, Nathan's explained it well. Overtones. I have noticed this occasionally while playing slide. I don't consciously play with a trailing finger, so I hear all kinds of stuff, including clunks, and now with my Mojobone slides, some interesting squeals on the bone part of the slide I don't get with glass or steel. Just let the weight of the slide do the work, without pressing down hardly at all. Why not try to make overtones part of your developing style? Try picking behind the slide while sliding into your note; it's an interesting effect.
Manny i dont think that means its a bad player ? ive seen some Nice players that overtone. it may just be part of the cigar box animal. ? try muting with your trailing finger lightly when you are using your slide . like I said ask any of the big boys , I bet they mute with their trailng finger. just watch their videos, JJ does it Shane Dan Kenny Lee.
Yup Manny , Nathan hit it, its called overtone, some strings pick it up more than others some guages more than others , most slide players drag their trailing finger behind the slide to mute that over tone when they want too. some use it for effect at times. this is what ive seen them do and heard them do. watch some videos of guys playing cbg's you'll see it too.
It's very common. I'm not sure the technical term (or really how to describe it very well), but basically you're dividing the string into two parts when you use the slide: the part "in front" on the slide and the part "behind" the slide... but you're hearing both parts at the same time. When you get to the 12th fret or center of the string, the overtone/behind tone will (or should) be the same as the in front tone. When you get 1/4 of the way down the neck versus 3/4, both of the tones' pitches should be reversed. (did that make sense to anyone else? I'm not sure it makes sense to me, even...ha!)
The part in front of the slide is what you want to hear, while behind you typically don't. You'll see a lot of "learn to play slide' video teachers tell you to always mute the strings behind the slide by lightly trailing a finger behind the slide, which will damped and/or eliminate that behind tone. That's why They recommend using your 2nd, 3rd or 4th finger to put the slide on.
Then again, as I'm sure you've seen/heard here on CBN.com, there are no rules... I've seen some people play slide with their first finger and play it very well!
Replies
When you play at the twelfth fret, both sides are equal and produce the same note. When you move toward the nut, the section between the slide and the nut is shrinking. So, when you play lower, that other quiet note will be higher.
Have fun and play on!
As Nathan said, just let one of your trail fingers lightly touch the string and the extra sound will vanish. Sometime I dampen, sometimes not. Depends on what you are going for.
That is the natural harmonics of the string. You can use your other fingers to lightly mute the strings to dampen the harmonics. I cover how to get a good clean slide tone in this beginners video:
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/beginning-slide-by-skeesix
Manny i dont think that means its a bad player ? ive seen some Nice players that overtone. it may just be part of the cigar box animal. ? try muting with your trailing finger lightly when you are using your slide . like I said ask any of the big boys , I bet they mute with their trailng finger. just watch their videos, JJ does it Shane Dan Kenny Lee.
Yup Manny , Nathan hit it, its called overtone, some strings pick it up more than others some guages more than others , most slide players drag their trailing finger behind the slide to mute that over tone when they want too. some use it for effect at times. this is what ive seen them do and heard them do. watch some videos of guys playing cbg's you'll see it too.
It's very common. I'm not sure the technical term (or really how to describe it very well), but basically you're dividing the string into two parts when you use the slide: the part "in front" on the slide and the part "behind" the slide... but you're hearing both parts at the same time. When you get to the 12th fret or center of the string, the overtone/behind tone will (or should) be the same as the in front tone. When you get 1/4 of the way down the neck versus 3/4, both of the tones' pitches should be reversed. (did that make sense to anyone else? I'm not sure it makes sense to me, even...ha!)
The part in front of the slide is what you want to hear, while behind you typically don't. You'll see a lot of "learn to play slide' video teachers tell you to always mute the strings behind the slide by lightly trailing a finger behind the slide, which will damped and/or eliminate that behind tone. That's why They recommend using your 2nd, 3rd or 4th finger to put the slide on.
Then again, as I'm sure you've seen/heard here on CBN.com, there are no rules... I've seen some people play slide with their first finger and play it very well!
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