recommend me a good brass/heavy material slide

[Drew]

tl;dr - due to an unfortunate cocktail-garnishing accident involving a vegetable peeler and an orange I'm missing about a third of the nail on my fretting hand middle finger which makes guitar excruciatingly painful. The perils of the bottle, indeed. Since I can't fret, I figure I should spend some time working on my slide playing.

I have a couple slides, and I've quickly figured out that the heavier ones are the ones I like the most - way better sustain, and somehow that makes it easier for me to control them (though I have to be careful on guitars with low action). By random chance I grabbed a Dunlop size medium slide with heavy brass walls that I really like the sound of - a 224, if anyone's really into this stuff - but the medium size is IMO just way too big to be comfortable. I have a couple small sized slides in glass and steel that fit me way better, but without the same mass don't have the same sustain.

So, what I want is a medium or thick walled slide, made out of brass or some similar heavy material, but with a "small" internal size to wear comfortably on my pinkie or ring finger.

Go!

[Drew]

I guess, for background, at present I have:

• this medium, gheavy walled brass slide which sounds great but is too loose for me to feel like i can control
• A small, heavy walled glass slide, which is probably the best compromise slide
• a small, chrome over probably brass but possibly stainless slide which is the second best compromise slide
• a small, thin walled glass slide which doesn't have the mass to provide much sustain on clean electric or acoustic but is workable on distorted electric
• a small thin walled brass slide that sits in my acoustic case that I've barely touched in two decades that I should probably pull out.
• a smalll thin walled carbon fiber slide Max suggested I try, which convinced me mass is critical for slide sustain, since it has none of either.

I think that's it, and yes, that is a lot of slides for someone who can't play slide.

[Dominic]

Ouch! Get well soon! They do grow back, though: I suffer graphic nightmares and once kicked a werwolf in the face. Losing my right big toenail completely to the wall in the process.

(Pre Dutch partner [insane cheese consumption]/pre discovery of alcohol)

I cannae slide for toffee either, but generally have preferred a glass slide.

[Darren]

Owie!

I much prefer metal slides over glass. They just have that growl that sounds great. I think mine is a Dunlop. No idea what any of the specs are beyond that… but it’s one of the larger ones, on the thicker and heavier side.

[Darren]

You might not find anything heavier than tungsten carbide!

https://wolframslides.com/slides_carbide.php

[Chris]

Carbon fiber or GTFO.

[Drew]

Carbon fiber or GTFO.

Want one? I tried it, and maybe at the gain levels you play at it would work, but the decay is just laughably fast.

[Drew]

You might not find anything heavier than tungsten carbide!

https://wolframslides.com/slides_carbide.php

That had me interested until I saw they were out of stock.

Then I saw the price.

[Chris]

Want one? I tried it, and maybe at the gain levels you play at it would work, but the decay is just laughably fast.

Fuck if I know, there are zero parts of Holy Wars that require a slide.

[pjr]

I'm not a slide player by end stretch of the imagination (just like to putz around with some Ariel Posen or Joey Landreth here and there) but here's what I use:

https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Slide-Swamp-Tarnished-Medium/dp/B006G2DNI2/

No complaints - they also make polished ones if the "tarnished" look isn't your bag.

[Drew]

I'm not a slide player by end stretch of the imagination (just like to putz around with some Ariel Posen or Joey Landreth here and there) but here's what I use:

https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Slide-Swamp-Tarnished-Medium/dp/B006G2DNI2/

No complaints - they also make polished ones if the "tarnished" look isn't your bag.

Ironically, I just ordered one of those in small, after a few guys over at /7/ recommended them. I figure it'll tarnish with use anyway, but the tarnished was kinda cool and like a buck more so I got that one.

[Drew]

Fuck if I know, there are zero parts of Holy Wars that require a slide.

There are also zero parts of Holy Wars that require carbon fiber. Just saying.

[pjr]

Ironically, I just ordered one of those in small, after a few guys over at /7/ recommended them. I figure it'll tarnish with use anyway, but the tarnished was kinda cool and like a buck more so I got that one.

Nice!

Assuming that's SSO? Maybe not the right place but what's the backstory on styling it as '/7/'?

[Drew]

SSO, yeah. Inside joke and I forgot where it came from.

[Chris]

SSO, yeah. Inside joke and I forgot where it came from.

It's a play on this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//b/

/b/ is a 4Chan board where all the really fucking horrible shit from the internet used to originate. Because all of the fucking horrible djentfluencer shit originates on my old site, we all started calling it /7/.

[pjr]

It's a play on this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//b/

/b/ is a 4Chan board where all the really fucking horrible shit from the internet used to originate. Because all of the fucking horrible djentfluencer shit originates on my old site, we all started calling it /7/.

Ah...should have known it would be 4Chan related...

[Drew]

Right, I thought it had something to do with 4Chan.

[Leon]

Find the slide you sound the best on, that may be a bit on the bigger side for your finger, and work some foam in there. It's maybe a little to hack/DIY for your tastes... ...but I really like the way mine feel since I've done it; basically double-stick-tape'd a little shaped piece of soft foam into two of my favorite slides.

[Chris]

[Dominic]

Tom Kiefer signature slide? Sounds like metal on the acoustic intro, rough brass, maybe? Someone'll know.

More importantly: WTB MM.org vocal cover of that track. It will suffice if we all just do one of the epic "ewww!" parts each, with a video, natch. Bonus points and extra love for the best "I've just stuck my finger in something very upleasant" face.

[Drew]

\m/

I've been playing shit like that for the last week.

[Chris]

Tom Kiefer signature slide? Sounds like metal on the acoustic intro, rough brass, maybe? Someone'll know.

More importantly: WTB MM.org vocal cover of that track. It will suffice if we all just do one of the epic "ewww!" parts each, with a video, natch. Bonus points and extra love for the best "I've just stuck my finger in something very upleasant" face.

lol @ "eww!"
I'll never unhear that. It's like he saw a particularly gross looking bug in the recording studio in the middle of tracking his vocals.

[Leon]

\m/

I've been playing shit like that for the last week.

Don't forget to detune your B string by like ~5-10 cents (if you're in Std or Open G).

[Dominic]

lol @ "eww!"
I'll never unhear that. It's like he saw a particularly gross looking bug in the recording studio in the middle of tracking his vocals.

Gross-looking bug?! This was a hair metal band in the 80s! We all know what happened in the studios at that time! More like: his vox were cut in stages, each time an "eww!" was due, his bandmates would try to outdo each other with progressively debauched adult activities with girls from the line around the block, right in front of the glass of the vocal booth. A much more likely scenario! I think the most intense "eww!" had something to do with Pat's Dogs, though...

[Drew]

Slide arrived today.

First impression - way smaller than I expected, not even close to spanning the entire fretboard, and a bit lighter than I'd hoped. However, very comfortable, fits perfectly as a pinkie slide, and I dig the asymetric shape - combined with the shorter length it's actually a lot easier than I would have expected to target the thicker part of the slide onto the strings you want it on, and sustain isn't quite as good as the brass medium, but it still very good.

I might grab a size medium as well as an option so I can go back and forth between pinkie and ring (I still don't havew a strong preference), but this is a pretty cool slide.