From the Delta Blues to Rock and Country music, the slide guitar has been and prominent element to the history of American music. Early slides were made from the neck of a wine or whisky bottle, thus the popularity of the "bottle neck" slide. Today, there is a wide variety of slides on the market, made from materials such as glass, porcelain, and stainless steel, and brass. The one thing that almost all of these slides have in common is that they fit over one of your fingers (usually the middle finger or pinky), often preventing you from easily moving between slide and regular chording. As such, players who like to mix it up have had adapt their chord fingerings to compensate for the loss of use of one finger.

On our constant search for new great guitar products, we stumbled across a cool little gadget called the JetSlide™. Upon contact, the Jetslide™ folks immediately sent out some samples of their brass and stainless steel slides for evaluation. We thought we would give you our thoughts after playing around with this accessory for a couple of months.

For many years I have messed around with slide playing, but I have never had the patience to become proficient at it. When playing in bands, I always had a glass slide on my microphone stand for when the mood hit me, but I was always frustrated by not being able to adeptly play chords when required. The JetSlide™ has changed all that with their new design concept, which was so innovative it won a U.S. patent (U.S. Patent # 6,242,676).

What I really liked about it JetSlide™ was that it allowed me to play the guitar "normally" -- that is, I could fret chords, scales and single note runs in my normal style -- and then quickly and easily flip the slide into place for those portions of a song where a slide is needed. Then, it just as easily tucks back out of the way leaving my fingers unobstructed. Like any new concept, it took a little time to get used to flipping the slide around, but once I got the action down, the JetSlide™ is now my favorite slide.

Another point to note is that I found that the thin bar gave me more control over the slide action than the more bulky "neck-type" slides that fit over you finger. It was much easier to zero in on notes, and I felt like I was playing with more accuracy and finesse. I definately had more control.

One very cool aspect of these slides is that they are custom fit for your finger! JetSlide™ takes your ring size for the finger you are going to use it on, and sends you the exact size you need. This results in comfortable fit and easier control. You do want to remember that is will work best if it is not tight on your finger. A little looseness makes it more efficient to use. I recommend getting a slide that is at least a half of a size larger than your finger. However, the ring does allow for some minor adjustments should it be a little too small or a little too big.

The brass version seemed to give me more mellow sounds, while the stainless steel version had the extra bite that can be very desirable in some playing situation. I enjoyed the sounds I got from the brass on acoustic guitar, while I found the stainless model to be a favorite for electric guitar. Your particular tastes may differ, so try them both out on both types of guitar and find your perfect fit. At about $20 each - I would probably not worry about it and buy both.

The JetSlide™ has become my slide of choice and I am looking forward to becoming a more skilled and competent slide guitar player. My only suggestion would be to figure out how to fit a piece of glass to the ring - then JetSlide™ would own my whole slide arsenal!






Gary Allen

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