Tips on How to Play the Slide Guitar

Making a slide requires good execution. This is a technique where a guitarist can create a loud wailing sound on the guitar. Here are some tips to make a perfect slide.

1. The tuning of the guitar must be replaced from its regular chord tuning of E-A-D-G-B-E to a more open tuning; with the chord alignment on the D major arranged as D-G-D-B-D. The change should be from the sixth string up to the first string.

2. He can make a slide by moving the fingers of his left hand. The execution should follow the correct positioning of the chords. A smooth and slow slide would be perfect to accurately play the new chords.

3. Make a gentle grip on the neck of the guitar and expose the end finger to have a feel on the strings. In this way, you can easily make the slide with simple finger movement.

4. To create a wailing sound, it is necessary that you must only cover the strings that are needed for the slide. Sometimes the guitar will produce an unwanted noise from the strings if the slide is not properly done, so be sure that strings are properly covered by the fingers.

5. Always remember to have a slide vertically aligned straight to the strings. This will allow you to exert effort when making a slide than the normal way of holding a guitar.

6. You can make a little movement along the strings with the fingers. It must be executed with smoothness and gentleness. A hard press or tight hold might create distracting noises on the fret.

7. You can execute a slide on the first and second string making E and B chords and a D-major key on the twelfth fret of the guitar.

8. Then execute the slide going toward the bottom from the D-major key, which is in the twelfth fret for a G-major key in the fifth fret. That would give a loud wailing sound because of the slide.

9. You can make a slide going back on the A-major key, which is in the seventh fret and then release your fingers removing the slide and make an open twelfth fret to create a D-major sound.

To have a perfect execution in sliding requires more practice. It is easy to learn sliding by practicing with an open tone because all of the strings will have similar chords when they are strummed. If the strings are set up with their regular tones, the player needs to make sure to cover the right strings when sliding.