How to Play Slide Guitar

Sliding is an effective technique for creating a very vocal, wailing sound on your guitar. It is popular with many lead guitarists, especially in blues. Get your bottleneck out and begin practicing the art of sliding.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Acoustic Guitars
• Capo
• Electric Guitars
• Guitar Amplifiers
• Guitar Cases
• Guitar Picks
• Guitar Slide
• Guitar Stands
• Guitar Straps
• Guitar Strings
• Sheet Music For Guitar
• Electronic Tuner For Guitars

1. Change the tuning on your guitar from regular (E-A-D-G-B-E') to open tuning (for the key of D major, that would be D-G-D-G-B-D', going from the sixth to the first string).

2. 

   Put the slide on the little finger of your left hand.

3. Expose just enough of the end of the finger that you can sense the strings you're playing on.

4. Keep the slide perpendicular to the strings.

5. 

   Cover only the strings that are necessary with your slide. This way, you won't have to dampen unwanted noise from other strings.

6. Move along the strings with a light touch; pressing too hard will create a buzzing sound on the frets.

7. 

   Slide up on the first two strings (E' and B) from the first to the twelfth fret (another D-major chord).

8. 

   Slide down from the twelfth fret to the fifth fret (G-major chord).

9. Slide back up to the seventh fret (A-major chord), then lift the slide from the strings and make the open D-major chord sound.

10. Sound the D-major (open), G-major and A-major chords in that order. You are now playing blues in the key of D.

11. Play a 12-bar blues progression (see "How to Play Blues on Guitar" in the Related eHows) in the following manner using your slide: D (open strings) / D / D / G / D / G / G / D (slide) / D / A (slide) / G / D / ... (repeat).

12. Practice sliding on all strings for a wider variety in your sound.

Tips & Warnings

• It is easier to begin practicing slide guitar in open tuning (all open strings sound a particular chord when strummed), since all the strings will sound right in that chord. If you play in regular guitar tuning, you will have to dampen the strings that you are not touching because they will sound wrong.
• Slides are small tubes made from metal or plastic that can be purchased at any music store. You can also saw the neck off a glass bottle and slide it on your finger. For that reason, sliding is often called bottleneck style, but be careful that your finger doesn't get stuck or cut in the process.

[Ian20007]

on 6/18/2009 good stuff thx Ian

[Lostman]

on 7/16/2008 Open tunings are great as I play in them a alot anyway and playing slide on them has given me an extra bit to my playing

[GuitarFlameCom]

on 2/25/2008 This open tuning is mostly used in American blues culture, where I stand it is not that popular, but sounds great.

[GuitarFlameCom]

on 2/25/2008 Interesting article, really. This thing with open tuning I think it is common to American culture mostly, I had a discussion about it on my blog (GuitarFlame.com). It is not very known where I live.

on 7/17/2006 If you're going to play slide on an electric, the most common tuning would be open E (E,B,E,G#,B,E). When you strum this, open it is an E Chord. Bar the entire first fret and you have a F chord. 2nd fret bared would be and F# then 3rd fret bared is a G chord and so on. As for damping the strings, it is not as much about your sliding hand as it your picking hand. Rest your fingers on your picking hand on the strings not being played to mute them. As for tone, either play with thicker gauge strings at lower bridge settings, or lighter strings higher up. Find what feels good to you. Derek Trucks is probably the best slide player out there now (not to mention his finger style playing). I would suggest listening to him for you benefit an enjoyment.