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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.

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

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.

You should buy a brass slide anyway, they're heaps of fun!

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.

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.

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.

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions

He uses a brass slide here:



Lots of mids too. Almost Supro like

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.

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.