Glide guitar

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Kevin Shields playing with the glide guitar technique during a My Bloody Valentine performance in 1989. Glide guitar 1989.jpg
Kevin Shields playing with the glide guitar technique during a My Bloody Valentine performance in 1989.

Glide guitar is a technique for playing electric guitar in which the player holds the vibrato bar (sometimes erroneously called the tremolo bar on Fender instruments) and manipulates it while strumming, resulting in a wavering pitch. It was developed with and is usually associated with a Fender Jazzmaster or Jaguar-style vibrato system. [1] It was popularized by Irish musician Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine on the band's releases You Made Me Realise (1988) [1] and Isn't Anything (1988). [2] Shields often combined this technique with a reverse reverb effect from a Yamaha SPX90 unit or Alesis Midiverb II, and would also utilize nonstandard tuning systems. [3]

Contents

Shields explained that he "virtually invent[ed] my own way of playing. It didn't come about in any conscious way. ... It felt playful, but on a much stronger level." [1] The technique was later referenced in the title of the group's EP Glider (1990). [4]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 DeRogatis, Jim (2003). Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 488. ISBN   978-0-634-05548-5.
  2. Fisher, Joseph (12 October 2011). ""Something in the Way": 'Loveless' and the Un-Invention of Cock Rock". Popmatters . Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  3. Bannister, Matthew (2013). White Boys, White Noise: Masculinities and 1980s Indie Guitar Rock. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 69. ISBN   978-1-4094-9374-7.
  4. Brook, Chris; Buckley, Peter (2003). "My Bloody Valentine". The Rough Guide to Rock . Rough Guides. p.  709. ISBN   978-1-85828-457-6.