The haunting, brooding sound of slide or bottleneck guitar has become increasingly popular in movie soundtracks, television commercials, and television shows. Think of the movie Paris Texas and you’ll recall the haunting, whiny sound of Ry Cooder’s famous backing soundtrack.
The origins of the slide style of guitar playing can be traced back to a one-stringed instrument that originated in West Africa. This ultra-basic musical instrument became, in the United States, what is called a diddley bow. This is a single-stringed instrument, usually homemade, consisting of a wire stretched between two screws or pegs across a piece of wood. The string is plucked while setting the tone using a piece of bone, metal, or glass. Some diddley bows were made by attaching the single string to the wall of a hut or house. Lonnie Pitchford, a blues musician from Mississippi, was well known for demonstrating his own diddley bow, which used two nails driven into a beam that was part of his front porch. His grave marker is designed with a playable diddley bow on its side.
It was in the Mississippi Delta region that African influences in American music really took root. Many emancipated slaves moved to the area after the American Civil War, bringing with them their love of rhythm, dance, and accessible musical instruments, one of which was the diddley bow.
Many have speculated that the Mississippi Delta is the birthplace of the blues. WC Handy heard the first documented blues tune in 1895 or 1903 while at the train station in the town of Tutwiler, Mississippi. He is reported to have witnessed a poor black man in ragged clothes and worn shoes play a guitar by pressing a knife against the strings to vary the pitch, much as Hawaiian guitarists would use steel rods. The tune the man played was a haunting and melancholy tune that made a big impression on WC Handy.
It was during the 1890s that some well-known American folk-blues tunes are believed to have originated, including “Joe Turner Blues” and “Frankie and Johnnie.” A well-known exponent of the style that originated at this time was Charley Patton. His precise date of birth is unknown, but is believed to have been between 1885 and 1892. He learned his musical skills from the people around him, including Henry Sloan, who was also a resident of the Dockery plantation in Ruleville, Mississippi. Some say that Henry Sloan is actually the mysterious black slide guitarist that WC Handy heard at the Tutwiler train station.
It wasn’t until 1929 that Patton was discovered by HC Spier, the white talent scout who auditioned notable blues artists in the back of his Jackson Mississippi furniture store. In June of that year, he recorded 14 songs for Paramount Records, including the well-known blues classics “Pony Blues”, “Banty Rooster Blues”, “Bo Weavil Blues”, “Screamin’ and Hollerin’ the Blues” and “A Spoonful Blues”. “. . Pony Blues with Banty Rooster sold 10,000 copies, making Patton a major star for Paramount records.
Another fantastically influential blues man who made recordings for Paramount Records in 1930 was Son House. His distinctive style of playing, which featured a strong, repetitive and hypnotic rhythm, would be hugely influential for decades to come. His guitar playing was accompanied by his unique voice that was derived from the wails and screams of the chains, likely influenced by his time in jail after allegedly killing a man.
No discussion of blues and bottleneck guitar would be complete without mentioning Robert Johnson, probably the most famous of the many influential men in Delta Blues. He made a large number of landmark recordings between 1936 and 1937 and his guitar playing skills and songwriting talents have influenced countless thousands of blues and rock and roll artists in the decades since his untimely death at the age of just 27 years.
The bottleneck or slide guitar style is synonymous with blues. It is a style of playing that allows the notes to tremble, to sound uncertain, to sound like a human voice or someone crying. It’s a style of play that doesn’t require any fancy or expensive equipment, making it immediately accessible and engaging. The slide guitar sound is immediately captivating, but at the same time it can evoke feelings of sadness and melancholy. Slide guitar is what blues is all about.