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Blues Guitar Institute

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Do you make these 3 slide guitar mistakes?

Lesson ID: TB177

In this lesson, we’ll cover three huge slide guitar mistakes and what you can do to avoid making them.

Playing slide is cool. ’nuff said, right?

But it can be tricky and without attention to the details of your technique, the soaring slide sounds of Muddy Waters and Bukka White seem unattainable. In this lesson, we’ll cover 3 easy-to-make slide guitar mistakes that many budding slide players make. More importantly, we’ll dive into how you can avoid making these mistakes.

Not playing directly above the fret

This wasn’t obvious to me at first and as a result, all my slide playing was either flat or at best inconsistent. Check out the tricks in the video to help tune up your ear and your intonation when it comes to playing slide.

Not dampening the strings

This immediately cleaned up my slide sound the minute I started muting both with my fret hand and with my picking hand. This takes some coordination, sure, but it’s well worth the time invested in learning this one.

Not getting the right pressure

Playing too lightly or tightly – either one will put you on the path to terrible tones! There’s a tip or two in the video to help you get just the right touch when it comes to placing your slide on the strings.

OK, so in the spirit of full disclosure, I made all three of these mistakes and the sad part is that I wasn’t aware that I was even making them. Check out the lesson to see which one of these mistakes you can work on to get your slide chops up to speed.

So, grab a guitar and a slide and give it a go!

When you are ready, there are two ways I can help you:

Back Porch Blues Course:  A proven system to fingerpicking the blues.  This step-by-step course guides you through building fundamental fingerpicking skills.  Plus, you’ll learn three levels of a delta blues style performance study to put your new skills into action.

Become a myBGI Member: Membership comes with access to Back Porch Blues plus over 70 step-by-step courses.  Get proven results with one of myBGI’s structured Roadmaps.

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