Slide Guitar Lesson Podcast 1

Learn how to choose a slide in this video guitar lesson podcast.

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Below is a transcript of this video.

Hey, this is John with Learning Guitar Now, and this is video podcast number one. I’m gonna start having a video podcast every now and again, and I’ll show you some cool techniques on all different types of guitar styles. So welcome to the video podcast for April.

And in this podcast I’m gonna show you how to hold the slide when you’re playing slide guitar in this hand, and also a few major guitar licks that you can use to help enhance your slide guitar playing.

So let’s go ahead and talk about holding the slide, what kind of slide you want to get, and how it’s supposed to fit, and what you exactly do with it.

So I like to use the Dunlop Blues Bottle, and I also like the medium wall. The wall, you can get them, I think, in small, medium and large, and this is a medium wall. And what that means the surfier surroundings, actually the radius, of the glass slide, the thickness, is medium.

Well, you know, you get more sustain with thick wall, but you slow down, so a medium is kind of best of both worlds there. So that’s what you want to look at when you’re purchasing a glass slide to play slide guitar.

And also you want it to fit your finger. If it doesn’t fit your finger, you’re just gonna have problems, you know, having the thing stay on your finger. If you’re playing and it slides off, that’s not good. It’ll shatter, so you don’t want that. So you want to find one that fits whatever finger you’re gonna use. I like to use my third finger. I find that third finger has the most control. So if people use their pinky, it’s better for a few openif you wanna play chords and stuff, but I don’t have as much control with my pinky. And there’s also a lot of people use the second finger.

I find it’s just a little awkward for me to use the second finger. Third finger is just great, ‘cause you two fingers behind here that can help you mute the strings. You can also play some leads with these two fingers, you know, bending notes when you’re not playing. Playing a bar chord with your first finger is a cool thing when you use your third finger. So there’s benefits and disadvantages to using each finger, but that’s why I like to use the third finger. I think it’s the most practical way of playing slide guitar, and you can also do some other things. So that’s pretty much what you want to look at when you’re starting playing slide guitar, getting the glass slide, and actually using it, and then finding one that fits your finger, you know.

Just try out a bunch of sizes and, you know, if it’s too tight, it’s not gonna be comfortable, and you’re not gonna stick with it, and you’re gonna quit. So don’t get it too tight. And one that’s too loose, you’re just gonna hate it ‘cause it’s just gonna fall right off when you start sweating. They will just fall on the floor and break.

Another thing you want to keep in mind is that when you’re playing, if you’re playing gigs or something, you’re gonna start sweating. So your finger is gonna kind of enlarge slightly, and if the slide is just a tad bit too tight, it’s gonna be extremely tight when you start playing out and doing gigs and stuff. So that’s another thing you got to keep in mind. And also if it’s cooler, you’re finger will shrink up a little bit, and then if it’s, you know, not the right size, you got to keep that in mind. But it’s better to have it just slightly tight, but not hurting you. You just want to feel comfortable. So I spent months trying to find my slide, and you just got to keep trying all of ‘em, and that’s just the only way you can do it.

Just try all of ‘em and find that one that fits you well. Okay. Well, that’s enough about the slide. Let’s go ahead and take a look at a few major scale licks.

And I’ll be tuning in the key of E. And I’m just gonna play here on the twelfth fret a little melody I created. You’re gonna go ten to twelve. That’s going ten to twelve, back to ten to twelve. And twelve on the G sharp string. Next, same lick. You do the same thing, you go twelve, ten . So you go . You also get a thumb rake in there if you want to have a little extra emphasis.

That’s the first lick. There we just went from ten to twelve, to twelve on the B string. Now we’re gonna go to twelve, fourteen, seventeen, a cool pattern. That’s the whole lick. Let’s start and just play the whole thing slowly. I’ll break some more parts of it down.

So that end part of it was twelve, fourteen seventeen. Now you’re gonna hit seventeen, to sixteen on the high E string. Sixteen, fourteen, twelve, so. Now twelve, fourteen B string. Ten to twelve. And twelve on the E string.

Now a chord. Let’s just play. I’m gonna play it through one time slow. I’ll speed it up a little bit. But it sounds cool so I’m gonna change pickups to change it up a little bit. Here’s a neck pickup. So that’s a few licks with the major scale that you can play on the slide guitar. And I recently put out a DVD titled “Slide Guitar Method 2: The Major Scale” which, you know, specifically explains how to come up with these licks, and how to arrange them and how to play these licks in a major scale that you hear all your favorite slide guitar players doing.

So if you’re interested in more of these techniques, you can visit my website at learningguitarnow.com, and check out the DVD I have available. And if you’re unfamiliar with all the rake techniques, and techniques on using the hop technique, for instance, of how to switch strings with fingers, there’s method one if you’re totally starting out and need some basic instruction on how to, you know, move your hand around and get those licks to sound good.

You know, just kind of move ‘em between the strings and muting everything. You know, raking is a key thing in slide guitar, if you like that kind of sound.

So go ahead and check out the website if you’re interested in more information about slide guitar.

And, once again, that’s learningguitarnow.com, and that’s gonna do it for this video podcast. I will be back soon with another installment of a video podcast from Learning Guitar Now. And also I’m gonna have some different styles on slide guitar. Have a lot of slide guitar stuff available, but I want to do some blues guitar, beginning guitar, just gonna be a little bit of everything for everybody.

So I’m also probably gonna have some bass guitar pretty soon, if you’re interested in playing bass, which I’m gonna have to tell you right now that playing bass, I’ve been playing bass for about ten, eleven years. And playing bass guitar helps your guitar playing, because you always have to play in time when you’re playing bass. There’s just no way around it. Play out of time in bass and you’re either not gonna sound good or you’re fired out of the band. So anyway, bass guitar is a cool instrument, if you haven’t tried it. It’s cool for guitar players to mess around with.

It’s also cool for a guitar player to start playing the bass right and not like a guitar player that you solo the whole time. So that’s a whole ‘nother topic. There’s a lot to come from Learning Guitar Now. I hope you enjoyed this video podcast. Have any questions or comments or show ideas, feel free to email me at info@learningguitarnow.com. And that’ll do it for this podcast.

Learning how to play slide guitar in the beginning can be quite a challenge. Learning what slide guitar techniques to apply to your practice regimen will greatly increase your chance of staying with slide guitar.