The Steel Guitar Forum

A while back I came across some videos on youTube of folks using two finger slides on a lap steel to get some interesting chord motion. Does anyone else here do that?

Or has anyone tried to use one of those "slide rings" in addition to your bar to get a single moving tone amongst a ringing chord?

I have never used rings; however, I use a leather worker's thimble when needed. When the bar doesn't reach all of the strings that you need or a slant doesn't give you the chord needed, the thimble works like a charm.

Pulling on a string and keeping it in tune takes some practice.

Interesting. You got any photos of this leather thimble and how you use it? I'm assuming it has a metal tip? I've often thought of putting some type of fingertip slide on my index or thumb to reach certain notes.

James, all a leather worker's thimble is, is an over sized sowing thimble, maybe a little heavier but not much heavier.

Link to said videos? Sounds cool...

Chris Gabriel wrote:Link to said videos? Sounds cool...

I don't have the equipment to do videos or I would have posted a few long ago. Other than that, there are a flood of videos so Youtube doesn't another.

Should have referenced these in the original post!

Two Slides & Lap Steel
Peaceland Guitar Ring is a demo in guitar context that has some examples of varying intervals (4:20) and divergent motion (7:51).
Peaceland Lapsteel Ring.

There are enough possibilities with one tuning and a bar and slants and pulls to keep one busy, but incorporating these might give us some new ideas when we feel our playing is getting stale!

Les: I like the thimble idea.

I play with my favorite old bottleneck on one finger and a Will Ray Stealth Slide (somebody gave me a set) on thew other. The Steaslth Slide, however, is a bit too light so I may try the thimble thing.

I have several players who have ordered bottleneck slides from me because they had serious issues with fingers or the thumb in holding onto a bar and thought that a bottleneck slide might do the trick. Since my stock bottleneck slides weren't as long as needed for 8-10-12 string instruments, I have made some in special longer lengths to their specification.

For those players who are handicapped in this manner, I offer to make the custom, longer-length bottleneck at no extra charge.