Topic: Delta Blues Bottleneck Guitar: To Dampen, or to not.

[GrasshopperBlues52499]

Hi forum. I've been playing bottleneck guitar for little more than a couple years, and I've just started to realize the importance (or so most say) of dampening. A local friend of mine loves to emphasize it's importance for getting a clean tone and steady vibrato; likewise, another friend likes to say how it's essential NOT to apply it to Delta blues: "to get the delta acoustic blues sound w/ a slide, I strongly believe it's essential  NOT to mute the strings! It gives it that unique bite which might account largely for the difference between Son House or Patton from a Tampa Red.". I agree most with the latter statement, as this friend happens to have an excellent feel, vibrato, and tone on Robert Johnson and Charley Patton tunes. I've also heard that Muddy Waters didn't dampen and that likewise "Patton played slide lap style with a pocketknife that he likely held entirely by the knife's grip meaning he didn't mute the strings." What I want to ask is what are your guys' opinions on this topic? I understand that for technical slide (i.e. Tampa Red, Earl Hooker, etc.), it is more important to dampen; as for right now, I'm concerned with Delta/roots blues -- Patton, RJ, Muddy, Son House, Blind Willie Johnson. To create a clear question: Despite the fact that the aforementioned players didn't dampen with a slide, should I bother with it?

[Johnm]

Hi GrasshopperBlues52499,
If you spend some time working on learning how to play slide damping the strings behind the slide, you can use the technique when and if you think that what you're playing would sound better that way.  If you don't learn to damp the strings when playing slide, you won't have the option of damping, even in those instances where you would actually prefer that sound.  In a general sort of way, the more options you have in terms of technique, the more expressive options you have.  It may be that you'll end up preferring one sound over the other in a general sort of way, but until you can do both, there's no way of knowing for sure.  Best of luck with this.
All best,
Johnm

[Mr.OMuck]

What JohnM said. I would add that in general I'm not a big fan of the kind of damping that uses the finger behind the slide to do the chore but prefer smaller, quicker applications resting part of the right hand on the strings..or is that muffling? Free and wild is how I mostly prefer my Bottleneck playing. I would also try experimenting with different slides. One of the best I found was a $0.50 thin walled copper pipe joiner about an inch and a half long. It has a different sound altogether than any of my glass or heavier brass slides. I use different slides on different songs. One of my favorite "party tricks" is to pick up any glass or bottle within reach and play using that. The looks of puzzlement and indifference are just amazing!

[harriet]

I learned to damp behind the slide dragging a finger and damp with my palm heel on my right hand and use both by intuition without thought, but the third technique that I lack I think is important  is to use the slide hand to stop the notes and I think -could be wrong - a sharp stop of the note is part of the sound on a resonator in Tampa Red's playing and that's one way I have seen folks accomplish that..

Options, as John Miller suggests, are a good reason to learn, probably better than the reason I learned - the reason I learned to damp was I needed it on my equipment to cut out extraneous noise from the slide on the strings, I played for a year or two without it.

IMHO I do not think that your friend's techniques and his results will necessarily mean you will get the same sound or one even that you want - you just have to try and figure out what's best for you.

Best,
Harriet

www.harrietgoldenslide.com

[blueshome]

No argument with what has been said. You need all of these techniques to build the sound you want to hear. The damping methods are just part of the playing toolkit.

It don't think it is possible to be dogmatic and say Delta players did not damp and so and so did.

However, I think too great an emphasis has been placed in recent times about damping behind the slide, when you listen to the old guys it sounds more like there is no damping or palm damping. Even on some Tampa Red recordings its possible to hear overtones which would show that he doesn't alway damp that way.

[Rivers]

To damp or not to damp. The answer is yes, play it both ways. I tend to damp with both hands, at the saddle and at the bar, and not damping at all for the effect. I'm more inclined to damp than not damp because I like to play inside single strings and it can get messy otherwise. I like clean.

Right hand muting of several strings at the saddle is easy enough, but touch damping of single strings is a high art. I would credit Ry Cooder with being the master of the touch, but only because I am certain he does it and don't know for sure about any other players, though I could hazard guesses. It's hard to get the touch, that much I know.

I agree that one cannot generalise, delta blues is not one thing or the other. It depends on the player and the song, and is another example of how a genre name can be convenient in some ways and misleading in others.

[alyoung]

If you keep fingers of the slide hand on the strings behind the slide, you'll stop the harmonic note that sounds as the slide moves up and down the string, and you'll get a cleaner sound. Broadly, I use the left hand to damp on the basses (and I think Muddy Waters did, too, by the way), but I'm more inclined to let the tops ring, especially if I'm playing in the style of, say, Fred McDowell. At one end of the spectrum is Tampa Red, who had superb left hand control; at the other is Booker White, who simply threw the slide at the strings and didn't dampen anything.  Whatever works for you ...

[GrasshopperBlues52499]

Thank you to everybody who has responded thus far -- always cool to hear from experienced musicians who can greatly help young Joe Schmoes like myself! I will definitely use all the tips provided here to improve my playing.

Cameron