How to Play Slide Guitar Blues

By: James Duclos

Earlier, our website covered slide blues, including where they originated and what types of different random objects you can use to play slide blues. My personal favorite is the simple glass tube; not only does it sound good, but they are affordable as well.

If you are ready to play slide blues here are the basics. To use a slide, first slip it on your finger, or if you prefer to play a lap or pedal steel, you can hold it whichever way feels comfortable. I use my middle finger, but some professionals use their pinkies so that they are able to fret notes if necessary. Now, in order to produce a sound, you place the slide on the string just enough so that they touch. Picture Do not push down so hard that the string is against the fret – that would be pointless. Picture Think of a slide as a moveable fret. If the string makes a loud twanging noise, you may not be holding the slide onto the string well enough.

Now, for the actual sliding motion. To begin, just play a simple Amaj scale with the slide; this way, you can become accustomed to using the slide and hearing its sound. Slide around the neck, making sure that as you do, you are not letting the slide bounce on the frets – bouncing on the frets sounds rough, and you do not want a substandard sound. The first thing you will probably notice once you start playing is all of the extra string noise that comes with slides. You can slide from the 1st to the 12th fret without plucking and still hear some kind of a noise. Ultimately, you will have to learn to mute the strings you are not playing. This can be accomplished by resting the edge of your hand and your pinky finger along the strings to mute any that are not cooperating.

And for the vibrato: slide players use a great deal of vibrato in their playing. Since the slide allows for an endless amount of notes to be played, that means you have a better chance of playing out of tune as well. Using vibratos will help you to hit the “on–tune” mark better, even if your strings are slightly out of tune.

Blues slide players also use open tunings to achieve a little more “bluesy” feel to their slides. This allows them to slide chords and triads easier as well. Try an open E tuning for starters, and see what crazy sounds you can produce (open E Major tuning is: E B E Ab B E).

Below are a few examples of some trendy slide lines created just for this website. If you enjoy these particular slides, feel free to steal them and take credit for creating them on your own!

Examples go here

Some great slide songs, performers, and bands are “Free Bird,” of course, The Allman Brothers Band, Ben Harper, and the great Warren Haynes. Check them out, and happy sliding!

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