Slide guitar, make your axe
weep or scream!

Check out my new blog for more information on electric guitars!

Playing slide guitar has produced some of the sweetest sounds on a guitar fretboard. Glass or metal (even mic stands and bottles) gives a mournful bluesy quality (think Joe Walsh, James Gang,"The Bomber") or a screaming banshee sound (think Rod Price, Foghat, the end of "Stone Blue").

I've tried this technique on and off over the years. I originally started with a metal slide (too heavy) and graduated to a Coricidin bottle (which I prefer). I was sporadic as best with the slide. Usually if I liked a song with slide I would get back into it.

You play slide guitar by resting the slide on the string just over the actual fret you want sounded. Don't push down like you would if you just used your fingers only.

Put the slide onto your middle finger (my preference). You can use any of your four fingers if you choose. With the slide on the middle finger you can play third position chords (and also major chords with your first and fourth fingers) and single note runs with your index, ring and pinky.

Some guitarist use different slide tunings such as open E or open A. Usually, a slide player will use open tuning, although standard tuning is sometimes used.

In open tuning, the strings are tuned to sound a chord when not fretted; sliding the bottleneck up and down the guitar neck gives that chord in various keys. The chord tuned to is most often is a major. Open tunings commonly used with slide include Open D and Open G tuning. Open E and Open A, formed by raising each of those tunings a whole tone.

Other tunings are used as well. I just use standard E tuning, too lazy to re-tune!

The main technical challenges with slide guitar playing are:

* Intonation (playing each note right at the desired pitch, not flat or sharp)

* Muting undesired strings.

Using a slide places greater demands on one's ability to mute strings. Playing a melody with individual notes requires more skill than you might think at first; it is easy to get a total mess of notes on slide guitar until muting is mastered.

This is because the movement of the slide, which is usually pressing down more than one string, causes those strings to sound, but not all of those strings are necessarily intended to sound at a given time. When you fret a note with your finger, the note decays quickly after the fretting finger is lifted, unwanted notes while using a slide must be actively muted.

Keep your attention focused on where the slide is. It's easy to go sharp on a string due to the fact your normal guitar playing style is putting your finger between the frets to sound out a string instead of hovering over the actual fret.

It's also helpful to rest your index finger on the strings above the slide to cut down on string noise. This keeps other strings from ringing out and muddying up your tone. With a little practice, you can get pretty proficient on slide guitar. The vibrato comes easy and it adds another dimension to your playing. Check out 50 Blues.com for some great backing tracks to help you hone your slide playing skills. Another great site to learn some great blues skills is here .

Check out my new blog for more information on electric guitars!



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