Four different materials for slide on electric guitar

Slide on electric guitar is a reasonably recent phenomenon, at least in the history of musical instruments. We say phenomenon because of the incredible tone that slide guitar produces, while obviously not unlike a lapsteel, a slide slipped onto a finger harnesses something else; bring to mind soaring vocals and electric guitar solos in one incredible sound.

Depending on the instrument and style of music, different tones can be required, and just like pedalboards, amps and cabling, the material that your slide is made from can compliment your playing in the best way. Different materials require a different technique, and getting the best out of your slide can require a little extra practice, the magic of certain materials being that you’re forced to play with utmost care for smooth, swelling slide without the noise and buzz that comes with a badly fretted note. What’s the best material? Well, there’s no one size fits all approach, but there is something for everybody!

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Glass guitar slide

Glass is a common material for slides, the modern, manufactured glass slides hailing from a history of glass bottle neck slides used by blues and roots players. Glass slides are generally thick-walled glass, available in varying sizes, and the glass gives a smooth tonality, perfect for use with big-sounding guitars like resonators or electro-acoustic guitars.

Duane Allman has famously used a glass medicine bottle for his guitar slide, the thin bottle producing a brighter tone, while thicker walled slides, like Gary Clark Jr.’s signature slide from Jim Dunlop produces a warmer, fatter sound. The glass gives a brittle, bright sound, ideal for the quick pickin’ of blues, the sound of the slide informing the style with which it’s used.

Steel guitar slide

Steel is one of the most common slide materials is steel, the modern slides likely having evolved from lapsteel guitars and the tone bars used to ‘fret’ them. While the thick chunk of metal produced a warmer sound, much like the tick walled glass slides, the thinner walled steel slides lent themselves to fast-fingered rock players to add some zing to their playing, the light weight of steel making it ideal to stow away in a pocket easily.

The bite and attack of a steel slide helps it to cut through a dense mix and arrangement, making it the perfect companion for lead players like Joe Bonamassa, Muddy Waters and other players from the Mississippi Delta. While shrouded in mystery, it’s known that Robert Johnson used a metal slide, most likely informing a lot of the players who came after him.

Steel’s robust and polished surface makes it perfect for a slide, being reasonably immune to rust and corrosion, retaining a smooth surface that will produce a strong, smooth note and tone.

Brass guitar slide and bullet-style slide

Brass borrows a lot of tonal characteristics from steel, retaining that metallic bite and attack, but with a dull warmth that can help the slide guitar not feel so grating or harsh. You’ll hear a little more string noise than glass because it’s not quite as smooth and polished, but this can be used to great effect.

Brass can create a gritty, bright tone, though you’ll need to work on your technique as brass is pretty unforgiving! As the string vibrates beneath the slide itself, you’ll get some buzz if you’re not fretting evenly, so you’ll need to have your chops up, and your wits about you, when harnessing the organic, warm tonality of a brass slide.

Brass slides are also available in the bullet slide style, small slides with a rounded end to cover your finger. Creative sounds and technique at the ready, these can be used to create some entirely new and unique sounds!

You’ll find a lot of steel slide players jumping between brass and steel, favouring different metals for a different electric guitar, different songs, tunings and styles.

Porcelain or ceramic guitar slide

Ceramic and porcelain slides serve as a great middle ground between a few of the slides we’ve discussed; it produces a warm, vocal-like sound, harmonics singing and combining together for a cohesive, musical sound.

Again, another hybrid between metal and glass, ceramic slides are a little more forgiving than brass and steel, making a lot of sounds and technique sound great. Ceramic slides are favoured by hard rock players like Joe Perry, Billy Gibbons and Samantha Fish, these players using gritty, bluesy tone to cut through. The forgiving and warm nature of ceramic slides make them great for distorted and overdriven electric guitar tone.

All in all, picking the right material for your slide can be a bit of a quest and, like most of us, you might just end up with a handful of slides in different sizes and materials on your journey to slide nirvana. Having a few different slides available is akin to a few different pedals, or a few different guitars; they’re all here to help us achieve different sounds.

So try out a few sounds, as is often the rule of thumb with these things, as the sound will change with your evolving musical ability, preference and level of expertise on the electric guitar. This allows you to harness new sound from new materials. Learn the basics of slide guitar here.