Playing slide guitar is the bluesiest thing you can do with a guitar. Well, except maybe pawning your guitar for a ticket on a Greyhound Bus.
Seriously though, playing slide screams the blues.
While I’m certainly not an expert slide player, I feel compelled to share a few bits about what I’ve learned so far about playing slide guitar. I’ve only just begun to feel comfortable with a slide on my finger in the last few years of playing. If you are brand new to playing slide, check out this lesson aimed at beginners getting started with slide guitar:
Slide Guitar Tips: How to Learn Slide without Throwing Your Guitar Out the Window
It’s a great idea to start there, then head back to this page. Some of the tips I share in this ‘tips’ lesson were incredible ah-ha moments for me.
Getting Tuned and Finding Chords
Open tunings work incredibly well for slide. Some folks can play great slide guitar in standard tuning, I don’t even attempt. Even though open tunings completely change the location of notes on the fretboard, slide playing becomes much easier in an open tuning.
We’ll stick with open g tuning for this lesson as we have in the previous lessons in the series (here’s a quick list if you’re jumping in now)
Once you’re tuned up and you’ve gotten a general idea of the sweet spots on the neck, then it’s time to put the slide to work. Push play on this week’s lesson, grab the tab and let’s get started stompin’ out a great slide rhythm in open G.
Good luck, have fun and…
Play On!