Slide Guitar for Beginners: Choosing a Slide, Open Tunings and First Licks

To play slide guitar, wear a glass or metal tube on your ring or little finger, rest it lightly on the strings directly above the fret wire without pressing down, and glide between notes. Most beginners start in open G or open E tuning, where laying the slide straight across all six strings plays a full major chord.

Slide is one of the most expressive sounds a guitar can make, from Delta blues to Southern rock. It is not hard to start, but it rewards a slightly different technique from normal fretting. This guide covers equipment, tuning, the three rules of clean slide playing, and your first licks.

Choosing a slide

Fit matters more than material. The slide should be snug enough not to wobble, loose enough to slip off easily, and long enough to cover all six strings when your finger is straight.

Setting up the guitar

• Action: slightly higher action helps, because the slide is less likely to clack against the frets. Very low action makes slide difficult.
• Strings: heavier strings (0.011 or 0.012 on electric) rattle less under the slide.
• Any guitar works. Acoustic, electric or resonator are all fine to begin with.

The three rules of clean slide playing

1. Over the fret wire, not behind it. When fretting normally you press behind the fret. With a slide, the slide itself becomes the fret, so it must sit exactly above the wire to sound in tune. Watch the fret markers at first.
2. Barely touch the strings. Rest the slide on the strings with just its own weight. If the strings touch the frets underneath, you will hear buzzing and the pitch will go sharp.
3. Mute behind and in front. Let one or two fingers of the slide hand drag lightly on the strings behind the slide, and use the picking hand to rest on strings you are not playing. This removes the ringing, squealing noise that makes beginners sound messy.

Open G and open E tuning

Open G is the gentler choice: it lowers tension. Open E raises tension on three strings, so on an acoustic many players use open D instead (D A D F# A D), which has the same shape one whole step lower. More in our open G tuning guide.

In either tuning, the open strings, the 5th fret and the 7th fret give you the I, IV and V chords of a 12-bar blues. That is the whole harmony of countless slide songs.

First licks in open G

Start with the slide on the top three strings (G, B and D strings in open G):

D|---------12----12~~~--------------|
B|------12----12-------10---12~~~---|
G|---12-----------------------------|

D|--10/12~~~---12\10---7~~~---------|
B|--10/12~~~---12\10---7~~~---------|
G|----------------------------------|

In the tab, "/" means slide up into the note, "\" means slide down, and "~" means vibrato. The lower line ends on fret 7 of the D and B strings, the notes A and F#, which belong to the D chord: the V chord in G.

1. Slide up into notes from a fret or two below; it sounds more vocal than landing straight on them.
2. Keep the slide moving slightly on long notes. Slide vibrato is a small, even shake along the string, centered on the fret wire.
3. Pick with your fingers if you can. Fingerpicking lets you pluck only the strings you want and mute the rest with the other fingers.

Slide in standard tuning

You do not have to retune. In standard tuning, play single notes and two-string pairs. The B and high E strings together, or the G and B strings, give clean double stops. Players who switch often between normal playing and slide in one song usually stay in standard and play slide lines one string at a time.

Common beginner problems

• Out of tune: slide behind the fret. Move it forward over the wire.
• Clanking and buzzing: pressing too hard. Let the slide float.
• Ringing mess: not muting. Drag a finger behind the slide and palm-mute unused strings.
• Thin sound: try a heavier slide; more mass gives more sustain.

Slide pairs naturally with the 12-bar blues and vibrato. For the scale behind most slide lines, see the minor pentatonic scale.

Frequently asked questions