 National Style 1 No one knows who first had the idea to put something metal or glass on the strings of a guitar to make a 'slide' sound, but it was well over 100 years ago and it forever changed what's possible with the instrument. Originally gaining popularity through Hawaiian music and featured on the instruments played on the lap, slide guitar has evolved exponentially and can be found in blues, country, Indian, and beyond. Whether using a slide that goes over your finger or a solid bar, the slide itself essentially becomes a movable fret, allowing the player to glide up and down on a single string, or multiple strings, with the ability to find notes between the notes, so to speak, or create interesting sounds not achievable with fingertips. As slide guitar gained popularity in the 1920's, a few companies in Southern California stepped up to build instruments specifically for slide players. The 2 most storied brands from that era, National & Weissenborn, would create similarly shaped instruments but one was made of metal, the other made of wood. Known for their legendary steel guitars, National started producing lap slide guitars, or 'squarenecks' as they became known, as early as 1927. The bridge on these instruments rested on 3 aluminum cones giving a volume level unparalleled by any other guitar on the market at that time. National would soon develop a guitar that utilized a single, larger, aluminum cone, making it even louder still! Weissenborns, on the other hand, were made entirely of Hawaiian koa wood. Though not quite as loud as their metal body counterparts, they did have hollow necks that give them a rich, deep tone, very well suited for slide playing. What made both the Nationals and the Weissenborns ideal for slide playing was the elevated string height, allowing the player to apply more downward pressure from the slide bar onto the strings thereby creating a more solid tone with better sustain. Sadly, the Hawaaian slide guitar craze started to wane throughout the 30's. But then along comes country music in the 40's & 50's which would heavily feature steel & pedal steel slide guitars. These electrified slide instruments came in 6, 7, 8 & 10 string versions with some 'consoles' even having 3 separate necks, each with 8 strings and in different open tunings. It was during this period where slide guitar really came into its own, with players like Speedy West and Buddy Emmons gaining notoriety and bringing more attention to the instrument. Then came the blues guitarists like Elmore James and Muddy Waters who introduced slide to a whole different audience. The late 60's and 70's saw players like Duane Allman, David Lindley and Ry Cooder take slide from the blues into entirely new realms. These days you see slide guitar everywhere you look, in every genre of music.  Weissenborn Style 1
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