FENDER PLAYERS CLUB THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND

From the book:

ELECTRIC SLIDE GUITAR

by David Hamburger
Slide Guitar: #HL 695022. Book/CD $19.95 (US).

The Style of Duane Allman Read more...

Open E Tuning: E B E G# B E AUDIO CLIP

Duane Allman possessed a fluid inventiveness and rhythmic conviction previously unknown among slide
players. In the space of his short career, he established the concept that you could find any notes you wanted
playing slide, not just the ones that seemed to be there. He was one of the most creative musicians of his
generation, with a deep blues sensibility, tremendous control over tone and dynamics, and a rhythmic finesse
second to none. Duane Allman developed a slide style that paralleled his highly accomplished standard guitar
playing as a fully realized melodic voice, expanding and refining the techniques of slide guitar in the process.

Pulldowns, Escape Notes, and Gradual Slides

A pulldown is an immediate downward slide, usually of about two frets distance, into a note. It differs from an
ordinary downward slide in that the starting note is rhythmically invisible, coloring the principle note without
taking up any space. The sound is similar to a harmonica player’s downward bending or the quick release of a
prebent note in standard guitar playing. Duane was supposedly emulating harmonica players as he developed
this technique. Right hand muting is essential here; while a certain amount of string rattle is kind of
picturesque on an Elmore James intro, the single-note coolness of Duane’s approach will be seriously
compromised in the event of any extraneous slides.

Here are a series of pulldowns going into each beat of the first measure. Be sure to mute the first note once
you have reached the tenth fret. Return to the twelfth fret with a quick slide upwards from the tenth fret.

AUDIO CLIP
E

w/ slide

12 10 12 10 12 10 12 10 12 (12)
10 12 10 12 10 12
An escape note is when you lift the slide from the strings while sliding upwards in pitch. The technique is tricky,
but very effective; correct hand position is the key. Begin by laying your fingers on the strings behind the slide.
Quickly slide upward toward the target pitch. The instant you reach the target pitch, lift the slide off the strings.
Your other fingers will have muted the escape note, giving it a staccato feel.

Here is a sample riff to put escape notes into context.

AUDIO CLIP
A ∗
∗

∗ ∗ 3
5 5 9 12 5 9 5 5 3
3 5 5 5

∗ escape notes

A third element of Duane’s style is his use of gradual, drawn out slides. He created tremendous tension by
landing a half-step or more below a chord tone and slowly hauling the note up to pitch with the slide. Be sure
to begin your slide immediately after picking the G natural on beat one (of the first complete measure), but
take your time, gradually sliding, so that you don’t get to G sharp until beat three.

AUDIO CLIP
E

w/ slide grad. slide

11 12 10 12 10
12 10 12
10 12 12

Duane’s World

In the Allman Brothers Band, Duane Allman freely improvised fills and solos throughout tunes like Elmore
James’“Done Somebody Wrong” and the band’s signature tune, Blind Willie MacTell’s “Statesborough Blues.”
Duane’s vocabulary was uniquely his own; he seems to have created his techniques specifically to express what
he was hearing inside through the guitar.

This next riff is in Duane’s hard-swinging eighth note style. Pay close attention to how the pulldowns and
ascending slides stitch everything together. It looks complex, but usually for every downward pull there is a
corresponding slide up, and vice versa.
 AUDIO CLIP
C

w/ slide

6 8 8 6 8 8 6 8 6
8 6 8 8 6 8 6 8 6 8
8 8 6 8 8
8

A few of Duane’s moves can be traced back to Elmore. The next lick is similar to one of Elmore’s slow blues intro
licks cranked up to shuffle-boogie tempo and run through Duane’s triplet-feel fingers.

AUDIO CLIP
E

3 3 3 3
3 3
w/ slide

12 12 12 12 12 12 10 12 10
10 12 12 10 12 10 12
10 12 10 12
12

This riff is pure Duane, playing off the double stop on the second and third strings.

AUDIO CLIP
E

3 3
w/ slide

12
10 11 11 12
10 12 10 11
12