Bottleneck
A bottleneck (from AmE bottleneck , English . Bottle neck = neck) is an accessory for guitar players, with which glissandi over the entire fingerboard of the guitar are possible. Since the bottleneck slides over the strings while playing, the playing technique is also called slide (from English to slide = to slide).
Style of play
While the pioneers of the bottleneck game (e.g. Charley Patton ) actually used the neck of a glass bottle, specially made glass or metal tubes that are placed over a finger of the gripping hand are now available. Most players use the little finger, ring finger or middle finger of the grasping hand, whereby the little finger has the advantage of being able to use the remaining fingers for the fingered chord or solo play. By sliding the bottleneck on the strings , the pitch is determined by the point of contact of the bottleneck and not by the frets. The bottleneck should be placed on the strings exactly at the height of the fret , as the intonation will then sound “clean”.
When playing with a bottleneck, the guitar is often not in the standard tuning (E – A – D – G – H – E), but in an "open tuning" ( eg in D or G major) agreed.
materials
The sound differences of the bottlenecks are partly noticeable, depending on the nature of the material:
- Glass tubes create a warm, soft sound with little background noise. Many famous guitarists (z. B. Duane Allman , Warren Haynes ) use the legendary Coricidin small bottles (glass bottle for pain pills, which are available again as a replica).
- In contrast to glass tubes, metal tubes sound much more aggressive, with more sustain , but with the risk of more background noise.
- Some of the "old" slide guitarists also used the back of a razor (you usually had it with you in your wash kit)
- The sounds of ceramic or brass bottlenecks are mixed forms of the acoustic effect of the aforementioned materials.
- Ry Cooder uses a specially prepared bone for slide play.
In addition to the material, the weight of the slide is also responsible for the tone.
Bottlenecks are also available in a conical shape to compensate for the different string spacing with a rounded saddle or bridge insert of the guitar .
Sound sample
Web links
- Introduction to the slide game with the bottleneck ( Memento from September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ^ Wieland Harms: The Unplugged Guitar Book. 20 of the most beautiful songs for acoustic guitar. Gerig Music, ISBN 3-87252-249-3 , pp. 34–39 ( Wish You Were Here ), here: p. 35.