Influences are a dangerous thing. I mean without putting too much thought into it, I've gotten into a bit of slide guitar due to one Mr Derek Trucks.

A number of months ago he made the cover of the UK's Guitarist magazine with the catch line of "Worlds greatest guitarist". Now them's big words to have associated with someone who hasn't really stormed into the limelight & is primarily a slide guitarist, playing lots of ragas & cultural influences from many Indian & Asian nations.

Listening to Derek is unique & quite inspirational to find something that can be done with a guitar which hasn't been done before. Hendrix did it for rock, Stevie Ray Vaughan did it for blues, but finding someone who plays, without being reminded of the various licks & sounds of those who have come before, is quite amazing.

Anyway, in light of witnessing this guy in the flesh as part of Eric Clapton's band & seeing just how easy he made playing with a slide looks, I pulled out my old glass slide to give it a go. & yes, I still sucked just like I remembered, but with a bit of practice & concentration levels which highlight the veins in my forehead, it's getting better.

I was of the opinion if I had a really decent slide, I might just keep putting in the effort, so I went on a bit of a hunt & found the following;



From someone I've never heard play slide, comes the Aerosmith guitarist, Joe Perry, signature edition boneyard slide. I was after a simple ceramic slide with the thought it might have a nice mellow sound, but such items are really hard to find & this one I discovered in a store all on it's lonesome, just happens to be a really nice feel & fit.

The inside is porous, so it doesn't get all sweaty & the glaze has fine cracks which are collecting dirt off the strings & adding character to it's appearance, as if the skull with wings didn't!

So, yes I'm still not very good even with this new slide, but damn it looks cool! I'll keep working on the talent side but Derek Trucks doesn't have too much to worry about for a while!



Like all guitarists, I have a range of picks in a billion different colours & various types of plastic. You end up finding them around the house in strange locations even though you always use one specific pick all the time. It's one of those mysteries of life. For the record, my preferred pick is a Jim Dunlop Gatorgrip .96mm in purple. I've been using one single pick for the best part of a year & they simply don't wear down!

However, that doesn't mean I don't still buy the odd plectrum & a bargain I found a while back were a couple of tins from Fender's 60th Anniversary last year.



A long time ago I found some Fender picks in a local music store & bought a couple because they were the top quality premium celluloid (because I thought that meant they were exceptionally good!) & they cost nearly a dollar each! Both of these tins contained 36 picks & besides being collectible & being housed in a very handy tin, they were very cheap & are very nice & smooth to use. Of course, they still don't beat the purple Gator!