Question about using the slide on the pinky.

[murphy91]

I just bought Roy Rogers' intstrucional DVD and while watching him play I noticed that he doesn't seem to use his remaining fingers to mute the strings behind the slide. When I play I usually have the slide on my ring finger and my index and middle fingers mute the strings but I'd like to start using my pinky so I can have more freedom like Roy. How is he able to avoid unwanted noise from behind the slide? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[Alan Green]

Stick to the way you're using the slide now - it'll work a lot better and there will be a lot less noise from behind the slide. The noise might have been processed out of the vid.

Wasn't Roy Rogers a Cowboy? Over here we use the term Cowboy to mean someone who does the job without knowing what they're doing.

[greybeard]

If I remember rightly, Roy Rogers was known as the "Singing Cowboy". Had a career in Country music.

[murphy91]

No no I'm not talking about the cowboy. I mean Roy Rogers the crazy good slide guitarist. Search for him on youtube. You might have to put "slide guitar" in the search with his name or else you will get the cowboy. He's one of the best slide guitar players I've ever seen.

[Alan Green]

Lesson 1 goes straight to hammer-ons and pull-offs; nothing like bringing people in gently.

It looks to me like he's using his index finger to mute the strings behind the slide in a lot of places. I suspect some pick-hand muting too but the video quality isn't as good as it could be.

[Crow]

"Crazy good": Yes. I'm not a fan, but he is a monster slide player.

I don't have the DVD, but this makes it look like he's muting with the heel/little finger of the picking hand. He's also playing with a pick, which takes away the possibility of muting with unused picking fingers. For maximum freedom on slide I recommend fingerpicking w/slide on pinky, an approach that leaves the most digits free to do more stuff as you grow as a player.

[dogbite]

subtle right hand palm muting is an essential technique. just a feather touch is all that is needed sometimes to keep the notes from slurring together.

[Honeyboy]

Personally I love using the pinkie for holding the slide. I can use the other fingers to play most chords that way. And even play some fingered leads too. It makes me more versatile in general.

[caliban4]

Do a search for Kirk Lorange on youtube. He plays slide with his pinky and has has a great sound. He also has the planetalk and slide courses. He uses the rest of the fingers of the left hand to fret in between notes so there is a lot of freedom.