Get started playing slide
- Thread starter M29
- Start date
Hi M29,
It seems that someone posted some links to some decent clips on Youtube for getting started with slide, but I can't find that post.
I've been toying around with it over the past year, gradually learning to get better with it. For now, I'm using standard tuning but from what I've read everyone reccomends using one of the open tunings. Open E is the one used by the masters like Duane Alman, Derek Trucks, and Sonny Landreth. This is the tuning that I will try eventually.
But there's quite a bit you can do with standard tuning if you stay within the boundaries of what it provides.
Here are the basics that really made a difference for me:
1) get rid of your pick and use your fingers when playing slide. (this makes a huge difference on the tone and also allows you to dampen the unused strings much, much better!)
2) string dampening is the key to getting a good tone.
- practice by holding your slide down on a note, then plucking only that string with your right hand, muting all of the other strings with the other fingers. When you get this down, try playing some basic phrases where you skip between a few strings. You will need to practice plucking with different right hand fingers and dampenening with others. (start slowly. You don't have to play fast licks to get some nice sounds.)
- place your index finger of your left hand behind the slide so that you don't get any noise from the back side of the slide when you move it around (on the headstock side of the slide)
3) Use a glass slide for the warmest, fattest tone. I first tried a metal slide and it sounded like hell, so I switched to a Jim Dunlop glass slide and it really fattened up the tone.
4) Finally, for standard tuning specifically, here are some things that you can take advantage of. Look for places on the fretboard where you can lay the slide down and hit a few notes together to make a basic triad or even 2-note shape. Some of these things are unique to standard tuning and actually make it a decent alternative to open tunings for playing slide:
- The bottom 3 strings (E B G) make a minor triad. This is a nice shape to use for blues licks. For example if you move your slide to the 5th fret and hit these 3 notes you get a nice A-minor cluster of notes that you can make licks with.
- These bottom 3 notes are also used in 9th chords. So you could move your slide over these same notes on the 5th fret and play things over a D9 chord.
- The middle 3 strings (B G D) make a major triad. You can take advanage of this with the slide by isolating only the B G D strings, plucking them together and moving the slide to the fret where you want this sound. If you move the slide to the 7th fret and hit these notes you get a D major sound. The key thing is to only pluck the notes you want and mute the rest.
I hope this helps, -- Jim
It seems that someone posted some links to some decent clips on Youtube for getting started with slide, but I can't find that post.
I've been toying around with it over the past year, gradually learning to get better with it. For now, I'm using standard tuning but from what I've read everyone reccomends using one of the open tunings. Open E is the one used by the masters like Duane Alman, Derek Trucks, and Sonny Landreth. This is the tuning that I will try eventually.
But there's quite a bit you can do with standard tuning if you stay within the boundaries of what it provides.
Here are the basics that really made a difference for me:
1) get rid of your pick and use your fingers when playing slide. (this makes a huge difference on the tone and also allows you to dampen the unused strings much, much better!)
2) string dampening is the key to getting a good tone.
- practice by holding your slide down on a note, then plucking only that string with your right hand, muting all of the other strings with the other fingers. When you get this down, try playing some basic phrases where you skip between a few strings. You will need to practice plucking with different right hand fingers and dampenening with others. (start slowly. You don't have to play fast licks to get some nice sounds.)
- place your index finger of your left hand behind the slide so that you don't get any noise from the back side of the slide when you move it around (on the headstock side of the slide)
3) Use a glass slide for the warmest, fattest tone. I first tried a metal slide and it sounded like hell, so I switched to a Jim Dunlop glass slide and it really fattened up the tone.
4) Finally, for standard tuning specifically, here are some things that you can take advantage of. Look for places on the fretboard where you can lay the slide down and hit a few notes together to make a basic triad or even 2-note shape. Some of these things are unique to standard tuning and actually make it a decent alternative to open tunings for playing slide:
- The bottom 3 strings (E B G) make a minor triad. This is a nice shape to use for blues licks. For example if you move your slide to the 5th fret and hit these 3 notes you get a nice A-minor cluster of notes that you can make licks with.
- These bottom 3 notes are also used in 9th chords. So you could move your slide over these same notes on the 5th fret and play things over a D9 chord.
- The middle 3 strings (B G D) make a major triad. You can take advanage of this with the slide by isolating only the B G D strings, plucking them together and moving the slide to the fret where you want this sound. If you move the slide to the 7th fret and hit these notes you get a D major sound. The key thing is to only pluck the notes you want and mute the rest.
I hope this helps, -- Jim
Last edited:
Hello jpfeifer,
Thank you very much that is just what I was looking for
ude:
Do you know of any songs with slide that are in standard tuning? I wanted to mess around a little and get used to the slide some.
Thank you very much for your time and help:AOK:
M29
Thank you very much that is just what I was looking for
ude: Do you know of any songs with slide that are in standard tuning? I wanted to mess around a little and get used to the slide some.
Thank you very much for your time and help:AOK:
M29
Hi M29,
Believe it or not the intro to Freebird can be done pretty easily in standard tuning. Although this song has been over-played to death, you can use that intro to get some of the basic slide moves down until it sounds right to your ear. It also helps to demonstrate some of the areas on the neck where you can grab two-notes under your slide in standard tuning.
You just have to be careful when you get to the Eminor chord not to play the major 3rd (its' too easy to make that mistake when placing your slide over the 9th fret, if you hit the B string unintentionally.
The hardest thing about playing slide is playing it in tune. This takes practice. The slide is very sensitive and you just have to listen and play with it until you can hear it. It helps the intonation to use some vibrato by moving the slide back and fourth over the fret that you're trying to nail, it also makes your notes more vocal-like, which is the best part about slide playing. I also find that the slide sounds better when I use my neck pickup for some reason.
Any basic blues tune works pretty well for trying out your ideas too. Here are some more sweet spots with standard tuning for blues tunes:
Let's say we play a blues tune in A:
For the 1 chord (A) you can grab the B an E on the 5th fret and make licks from that spot.
You can also play the A and D strings on the 7th fret. This is the root and 5th of that A chord.
When you get to the IV chord (D) then you can plat the D, G, and B strings on the 7th fret. This is the D major triad. It sounds very good over this chord, naturally. If you want to get a D9 sound as an alternative, just grab the G, B, and E strings on the 5th fret
When yo get to the V chord (E) then you can play the D, G, and B strings on teh 9th fret to get an E major triad. Or, you can also use the G, B, and E strings on the 7th fret to get an E9 sound.
The best thing to do is to listen to some Duane Allman and just try to grab a lick, or two. Statesboro Blues is a fantastic tune to listen to for the text-book Duane Allman style of slide playing. Just remember that he uses an open E tuning so it's hard to copy everything he does with standard tuning.
I need to start getting into open E tuning and see what I can learn.
Good luck with the slide playing, -- Jim
Believe it or not the intro to Freebird can be done pretty easily in standard tuning. Although this song has been over-played to death, you can use that intro to get some of the basic slide moves down until it sounds right to your ear. It also helps to demonstrate some of the areas on the neck where you can grab two-notes under your slide in standard tuning.
You just have to be careful when you get to the Eminor chord not to play the major 3rd (its' too easy to make that mistake when placing your slide over the 9th fret, if you hit the B string unintentionally.
The hardest thing about playing slide is playing it in tune. This takes practice. The slide is very sensitive and you just have to listen and play with it until you can hear it. It helps the intonation to use some vibrato by moving the slide back and fourth over the fret that you're trying to nail, it also makes your notes more vocal-like, which is the best part about slide playing. I also find that the slide sounds better when I use my neck pickup for some reason.
Any basic blues tune works pretty well for trying out your ideas too. Here are some more sweet spots with standard tuning for blues tunes:
Let's say we play a blues tune in A:
For the 1 chord (A) you can grab the B an E on the 5th fret and make licks from that spot.
You can also play the A and D strings on the 7th fret. This is the root and 5th of that A chord.
When you get to the IV chord (D) then you can plat the D, G, and B strings on the 7th fret. This is the D major triad. It sounds very good over this chord, naturally. If you want to get a D9 sound as an alternative, just grab the G, B, and E strings on the 5th fret
When yo get to the V chord (E) then you can play the D, G, and B strings on teh 9th fret to get an E major triad. Or, you can also use the G, B, and E strings on the 7th fret to get an E9 sound.
The best thing to do is to listen to some Duane Allman and just try to grab a lick, or two. Statesboro Blues is a fantastic tune to listen to for the text-book Duane Allman style of slide playing. Just remember that he uses an open E tuning so it's hard to copy everything he does with standard tuning.
I need to start getting into open E tuning and see what I can learn.
Good luck with the slide playing, -- Jim
Last edited:
.overdrive_rewind
Active member
Just a little note - Metal slides are generally used for acoustics, glass for electrics. I don't think this is canon law by any means, just a very general rule of thumb.
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
-
Gig Report: Amber & the Antidotes at Cypress & Grove Brewery, 5/29/26
- Latest: Brian Krashpad
-
