Seven Nation Army - Slide solo - Brass?

Its all in the fingers, or is it?

Moderators: Slowy, Capt. Black

Post Reply
User avatar
Spykerwolf
Tokai
Tokai
Posts: 487
meble-kuchenne.warszawa.pl
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 1:33 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 23 times
Been liked: 11 times

Seven Nation Army - Slide solo - Brass?

Post by Spykerwolf »

Hey guys. I'm trying to learn slide and stumbled upon Seven Nation Army.
I only own a glass slide at the moment, and it just doesn't sound right (I'm in E standard tuning).
I read online that he used a brass slide, and that's how he gets the tone - is that true?
I see brass slides are about $40 from the shops around here, but I'll just get one from ebay or so.
I don't mind the wait. :eh:

kwhelan
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 1400
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2016 9:25 pm
Has liked: 123 times
Been liked: 93 times

Re: Seven Nation Army - Slide solo - Brass?

Post by kwhelan »

think you find its more the standard tuning is wrong than the slide
he used Open A E A E A C# E
digitech whammy or octave pedal for the verses

theres some talk it was also done on a resonator but he definitely keeps a guitar in that tuning especially for that song
Last edited by kwhelan on Wed May 03, 2017 9:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Spykerwolf
Tokai
Tokai
Posts: 487
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 1:33 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 23 times
Been liked: 11 times

Re: Seven Nation Army - Slide solo - Brass?

Post by Spykerwolf »

Yeah it looks like Open A is correct, but you can also play it in Standard (without a slide).
How different would a glass slide sound though? I'll tune to Open A and give it a go, but just wondering if I need to buy a brass slide lol.

User avatar
jeremyb
Chorus of Organs
Posts: 40878
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:03 am
Has liked: 7685 times
Been liked: 4157 times

Re: Seven Nation Army - Slide solo - Brass?

Post by jeremyb »

You should buy a brass slide anyway, they're heaps of fun!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

User avatar
Starfire
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 4404
Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2010 9:20 am
Location: Te Whanganui-a-Tara
Has liked: 243 times
Been liked: 596 times

Re: Seven Nation Army - Slide solo - Brass?

Post by Starfire »

kwhelan wrote:
theres some talk it was also done on a resonator but he definitely keeps a guitar in that tuning especially for that song
It was done on this guitar, a '50s Kay hollow body.
Image
Spykerwolf wrote:Hey guys. I'm trying to learn slide and stumbled upon Seven Nation Army.
I only own a glass slide at the moment, and it just doesn't sound right (I'm in E standard tuning).
I read online that he used a brass slide, and that's how he gets the tone - is that true?
I see brass slides are about $40 from the shops around here, but I'll just get one from ebay or so.
I don't mind the wait. :eh:
Tough sound to nail. There's all kinds of effects in play; Muff, Micro Amp, octaver, Whammy action for the solos. All that stuff's gonna make more difference than the slide material.

Plenty other White Stripes songs to help you learn slide too. I Fought Piranhas. St. Ides of March is a fun one.

User avatar
Spykerwolf
Tokai
Tokai
Posts: 487
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 1:33 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 23 times
Been liked: 11 times

Re: Seven Nation Army - Slide solo - Brass?

Post by Spykerwolf »

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions :-)

Aquila Rossa
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 4930
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:53 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 163 times
Been liked: 98 times

Re: Seven Nation Army - Slide solo - Brass?

Post by Aquila Rossa »

He uses a brass slide here:



Lots of mids too. Almost Supro like

User avatar
olegmcnoleg
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 5543
Joined: Sat Dec 21, 2013 11:26 am
Location: Awkland
Has liked: 860 times
Been liked: 741 times

Re: Seven Nation Army - Slide solo - Brass?

Post by olegmcnoleg »

A brass slide is indeed brighter than glass or ceramic. I have one that fits on my pinky, which is good fun for the right song.

User avatar
k1w1
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 1272
Joined: Thu Dec 14, 2006 6:06 pm
Location: Lower Hutt
Has liked: 116 times
Been liked: 391 times

Re: Seven Nation Army - Slide solo - Brass?

Post by k1w1 »

You need to know too that a guitar dedicated for slide generally has higher gauge strings and higher action. Standard set up electric with light strings and a brass slide you're going to be clanging frets and sounding terrible.

As others said open tuning is the go, standard tuning you are running around muting trying to stop discordant sounds on certain strings, far easier in open tuning.

I use 15-56 strings on my resos/acoustics with a german silver (white brass) or brass slide. On electric with 13-52 strings and normal action I use a glass slide.

Part of that sound is Jack Whites Kay, those old pickups had some real growl. My Harmony Airline Meteor and Bobkat have pretty hot pickups.

Post Reply