Slide

Slide guitar is an important blues technique that also appears in other styles. Country music uses pedal steel guitars in addition to traditional guitar slides.

 

Slides can be metal or glass. Blues purists often prefer glass, often using a small bottle instead of a glass slide.

 

The slide may be placed on any finger, usually third or fourth. Whichever finger does not hold the slide is used for muting or playing notes in addition to the slide notes.

 

Usually slide players finger pick so that the right-hand fingers are available to mute unwanted notes (a huge issue with slide playing). Leave the fingers in the strings not playing. Also, drag the index finger of the left hand behind the slide to avoid the ringing of the notes behind the slide.

 

Slides work well on open tunings.