One of my proudest moments was seeing Bryan Bassett’s face light-up after playing one of my slides. On the stage that night, he looked like a three-year-old in a candy store, completely in-love with the sound of the Rocky Mountain tone. For those not in the know, Bassett was the guitarist for Wild Cherry (“Play that Funky Music White Boy”), Molly Hatchet (Flirtin’ with Disaster), and now plays for Foghat, an English rock band known for their electric slide guitar sound. As a slide player myself, I shared similar sentiments with Bassett about the state of the average guitar slide: they just weren’t vocal or expressive enough! Since one of the main ideas of slide playing is to create a warmer vocal-like presence, it didn’t make sense to me that many companies mass-produced Pyrex and metal slides: materials which often create a shrill, steel-on-steel sound. Take a look at Bryan Bassett’s signature guitar slide! He believes in the product and uses it on-stage and in the studio.
What Led to My Custom Guitar Slides?
Every slide player has a box of slides lying around the house somewhere; if you’re a slide player, I think you can agree that most slides just never offer enough. This quest for finding the perfect tone tool resulted in the birth of my company, Rocky Mountain Slides. Rocky Mountain Slides has been in business since 2002, but I was working on slides 3 years’ prior with my father (who has some serious skill in ceramics). My only purpose was to create a product that other slide guitar players would love; to me, it’s all about the quality of the product and what it can do for an individual’s sound. At Rocky Mountain Slides, there is no disconnect between the maker and the player.
Like many other slide players, I was tired of my never-ending search for the perfect guitar slide. So, I decided to make my own. While I believe that the guitar tone comes from the fingers, hands, brain, and heart of the player, I also believe that the right tool can help every guitarist reach their full potential. The guitar slide has always been a tool of opportunity… just think of how Dwayne Allman used to use old glass Corcidin bottles as slides! If you have the right tool for the right job to make the right sound, there really is nothing better…
Tools of Opportunity
Rocky Mountain Slides will always be a small, artisanal company that is dedicated to high-quality, affordable tone tools. Unlike other major guitar accessory brands, guitar slides is all I do… and I truly believe in my product and “quality over quantity”. I hand-make every small batch right here in the good old United States and have been doing so for over 15 years. Our slides offer a warmth and unique vocal-characteristic that you won’t find in any other slide…. you don’t have to take my word for it either, just take a look at how fellow slide players think of the sound of my guitar slides.
Our Custom Guitar Slides
At the end of the day, my mission is simple: make a great product that other slide players will love (without breaking the bank). If you’re looking for a slide that is radically different from the ones you can buy in any of the big-box stores, head on over to our online slide store to get a feel for what we do. If you have any questions about the slides that I carry, you can call me personally at (719) 221-1030. In the next blog, we’ll take a look at what exactly sets our slides apart from the competition.
Happy Sliding! – Doc