Muddy Waters — £1,000 · Pro-Level Rig

• Slide in standard tuning — Waters did not always use open tuning. Standard tuning slide requires targeting specific string frets that correspond to chord tones
• Push the amp to natural breakup — the tone should be slightly overdriven, not clean. Small tube amp at high volume produces this character
• The slide rests on the strings without pressing — the slide should touch but not press to the fretboard. Too much pressure mutes adjacent strings and changes pitch
• Damping with the left-hand fingers behind the slide is essential — unused strings must be muted or they ring sympathetically and create noise
• The Les Paul's neck pickup is used for leads — thick, warm tone. Reserve bridge pickup for rhythm crunch
• Learn the Chicago I-IV-V shuffle — Waters' rhythm playing uses a specific shuffle pattern on the bass strings that is the foundation of electric blues
• Vibrato on the slide is done by moving the slide rapidly up and down the string — unlike finger vibrato (sideways), slide vibrato is along the string direction
• Listen to "Mannish Boy" and "Hoochie Coochie Man" for the definitive rhythm approach — these two songs contain the core Chicago blues vocabulary

• ✗Using a heavy pick with chicken-picking technique — hybrid picking (pick and fingers) on a Tele requires the pick to be thin enough not to interfere with the finger attack.
• ✗Using a distortion pedal instead of pushing the amp — vintage-voiced amps create better overdrive by being pushed hard than by a pedal circuit. Let the amp do the work.
• ✗Using a distortion pedal to replace amp saturation — amp-driven tone has a specific feel (dynamics, touch sensitivity, natural compression) that pedal distortion cannot replicate. The source of gain matters.
• ✗Using a large amp at low volume — the character of this style comes from a small amp working hard. A 100W amp at 2 doesn't give the same result as a 15W amp at 8.
• ✗Adding reverb heavily — early Chicago electric blues was relatively dry. Excessive reverb washes out the rawness that defines the genre.

Gibson Les Paul Standard into a small Fender amplifier (Champ or Deluxe) run loud, with the amp naturally breaking up at high volume. The tone is warm, thick and saturated but never harsh. A glass or metal slide plays the melodic lines; his fingers handle the driving I-IV-V rhythm underneath.