Derek Trucks

• Open E tuning exclusively: EBEG#BE — Trucks has never used any other tuning live
• No fretting-hand bends, no vibrato arm — all expression comes from the slide
• Slide perfectly over the fretwire — not behind it — for accurate intonation
• Fret-hand mutes strings behind the slide with ring and pinky fingers
• Amp clean or barely breaking: slide tone is purer with a clean foundation
• Study Indian classical music for the "alap" (slow, unmetered slide introduction) concept
• Vibrato: roll the slide back and forth over the fret with consistent rhythm and width
• Thumb on the low E string for bass notes while slide plays the upper strings simultaneously
• Study "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" (Allman Brothers version) for the vocabulary he inherited

Derek Trucks plays only in open E tuning, exclusively with a glass slide, and never bends a string with his fretting hand. This self-imposed constraint has produced the most controlled, musical and vocally expressive slide guitar playing in contemporary music — his tone is warm, clean and deeply rooted in Duane Allman and Indian classical music.