Slide guitar

Joepie

New member
Hi all,

I figured I was up for something new, so I went out and got myself a slide! So here I am with a slide on pinky finger, my guitar tuned in open G.... and I have no idea how to get started. All I get is this nice high whine when I lay it across the b and e strings... :D

Where to begin? Anyone got any tips, tricks or tabs?
 
All the strings open is G, barre at the 12th fret is G
Barre at the 5th is C
Barre at the 7th is D

Mute the strings with the four fingers behind the slide as you move the glass up the strings.

Keep your touch light.

Just go from there.... Good luck.
 
All the strings open is G, barre at the 12th fret is G
Barre at the 5th is C
Barre at the 7th is D

Mute the strings with the four fingers behind the slide as you move the glass up the strings.

Keep your touch light.

Just go from there.... Good luck.

And if you have four fingers BEHIND the slide, go see a doctor, because you should only have 3 fingers behind the slide if the slide is on your pinky! :)


Seriously though, I'd say get some transcriptions of some Robert Johnson or other old blues tunes that are in open G and start learning some licks.
 
And if you have four fingers BEHIND the slide, go see a doctor, because you should only have 3 fingers behind the slide if the slide is on your pinky! :)


Seriously though, I'd say get some transcriptions of some Robert Johnson or other old blues tunes that are in open G and start learning some licks.

:eek: Lol! 3, of course. Damn, I'm a little slow today.
 
And if you have four fingers BEHIND the slide, go see a doctor, because you should only have 3 fingers behind the slide if the slide is on your pinky! :)

Why? So the doc can cut one off to remove his competetive advantage? Imagine the jazz chords he could play!

"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die!" ;^)
 
Here are a couple of tips I got from an old dobro player when I first started trying to play slide. Don't try to slide into everything. Lift the slide off the strings when you move more than a couple of frets distance. This takes a little practice but it helped me out a lot. Minor chord sounds are accomplished by changing the angle of the slide, tilt it so the high side is about 1 fret behind the low side. Lots of blusey stuff is played out of minor tunings to start with. Change the tilt so the high side is 1 fret higher and you will get more of a 7th sound. If you don't finger pick and know how to mute strings with your pinkey, now is a good time to learn. Picking and muting are very important parts of playing slide, and harder to get the hang og than you might think. Like learning anything new about guitar, start slow and simple, speed and fancy licks will only come with practice. Good luck.

BTW you might want to try several different weights of slides and different materals. I prefer heavy metal slides while many people prefer lighter weights or glass. And for a better sound (tone) and easier playing (less fret knock and string buzz) use heavy guage strings and a guitar with a fairly high action.
 
Seriously though, I'd say get some transcriptions of some Robert Johnson or other old blues tunes that are in open G and start learning some licks.

Thanks for the info guys. Any suggestions for particular songs that are good to start off with? Are there special slide-tabs to be found on the net?

Also, I'm hearing some people say it's better to have the slide on the ring-finger instead of the pinky, so that you can use your pinky to mute. Which is a better technique to start with, or does it depend on the song?
 
How does one make a Minor Chord in Open G? Ed

You don't. You just play happy chords with the slide!

Actually, a Sonny Landreth trick to play a minor chord is to finger the note behind the slide....in the case of the G, play a fret behind the B note, making it a Bb, and voila!, a minor chord. By pressing it with your finger, the string drops below the slide and the fingering works.
 
Here's a really good way to get into this. Get your right hand in shape playing quarter notes back and forth one octave apart using only your thumb, most likely alternating between your lowest string and 4th string...
lo-hi-lo-hi-lo-hi-lo-hi

Only use your slide on the two or three higher strings for playing little slide melodies, and pluck those strings using any finger on your right hand but your thumb (since it's busy with the bas line)...

Start at a slower tempo, then gradually move it on up til your thumb is hitting quarter notes around 160-170 bpm.

Then, you can apply the same technique but do it up on 5 and 7 frets for your octave... Hey now your playin some blues. There's an old chart called "song for george" that I like to play in this way.
 
Yeah; playing behind the slide works really well. You need a medium to high action for it to work on the lower frets, but that's usually a pre-requisite for slide anyway, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
 
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