The guitar I use for slide, I have lots of people complimenting me on the sound of it, is a guitar I got from Purplemusic.com for less £100 including post and packing, and I got a tuner, spare set of strings, Ritter gig bag, plectrums, string winder thrown in. Its called an earthfire. And i got it when I heard that Kevin Brown used a gauge 17 on his first string. Mind you Kevin plays a special ovation tuned two and a half tones down. I was thinking well if the neck snaps off I can hardly say I've been diddled at that price. Luckilly it hasn't!

this year I decided to crack bottleneck - something which I'd never done before. I got a new guitar because I knew I couldn't be arsed to keep retuning. I would recommend Kevin's one day course in Bath that he does twice a year, and Michael Messers DVD. Scott Anslie's video on Robert Johnson is a real eye opener too

The most important thing I learned on Kevin's course is that the guitar and the slide is largely irrelevant. The guest player was playing a straight Martin and that sounded as great as any resonator Its the touch between the two things - strings and slide you have to concentrate on.

When you have the touch right, its just a case of experimenting with different slides and strings to see what texture suits you. Most slide players are real guitar nerds and love to discourse on what they personally have discovered - because it really is a personal thing - all down to your touch. So ask around....

all the best
al