Six Strings
In this section: Techniques
Techniques

Slide

Your finger glides from one fret to another without leaving the string: the note rises or falls smoothly. One pick stroke, two notes, a very singing sound, and the most natural way to shift positions on the neck.

Notation
/ and \ (5/7)
Hand
Fretting hand
Difficulty
Beginner
Style
Blues, rock, country, every style

Listen

e|---------------|
B|---------------|
G|-5/7-7/9-9\7-5-|
D|---------------|
A|---------------|
E|---------------|

What it’s for

With a slide, the note doesn’t jump from one fret to the next: it glides, like a voice moving to the next note without a break. One pick stroke, two notes, and in between a little glide that no other technique gives you.

First of all, it’s a way to be expressive: in blues, rock and country, players often arrive on a note by sliding up from a fret or two below. It’s also the best way to shift positions: the sliding finger carries your whole hand to another region of the neck, with no gap in the phrase. Guitarists slide whole chords too, power chords in rock riffs or double-stops in soul and country.

Don’t confuse it with slide guitar, where a glass or metal tube glides over the strings.

How to do it

Here’s the move from the example at the top of the page, on the G string.

  1. Play the starting note, the 5th fret of the G string, with your ring finger.
  2. Slide your finger toward the 7th fret without letting up the pressure: the string has to stay pressed against the frets the whole way.
  3. Ease off the pressure a little compared to a held note, just enough for the finger to glide without the string lifting off.
  4. Let your whole hand move, thumb included: your arm carries the finger, the finger doesn’t stretch.
  5. Stop right on the target fret, just behind the fret wire, while looking at it: like throwing a ball, you aim at the target, not at your finger.
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The slide

  1. Your ring finger plays the starting note.
  2. It slides without letting up the pressure and stops right on the target fret.

Drawn like tab: high E at the top, low E at the bottom.

In tab, / means a slide up and \ a slide down: 5/7 reads “play the 5th fret and slide up to the 7th,” 9\7 “play the 9th and slide back down to the 7th.” You’ll also see sl. written above the tab.

Examples

The example at the top of the page stays on the G string, in the A minor pentatonic: 5/7, 7/9, then 9\7 to come back down, and the 5th fret to finish. One pick stroke per slide.

Here, the slides act as bridges: the phrase climbs the A minor pentatonic from position 1 to position 4, sliding on the G string and then on the B string, and comes back down one position to end on A.

e|--------------------12/15---------------|
B|---------8-10-10/13-------13-13\10---10-|
G|-5-7-7/9---------------------------9----|
D|----------------------------------------|
A|----------------------------------------|
E|----------------------------------------|

The index-finger slide: on every beat, your index slides along the B string and takes your whole hand up one position, then two notes follow on the high E. In sixteenth notes, the phrase climbs the pentatonic all the way to the A at the 17th fret.

e|-----5-8-----8-10------10-12-------15-17-15----------17~-|
B|-3/5-----5/8------8/10-------10/13----------15-15/17-----|
G|---------------------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------|

Licks

A country lick in G, on an acoustic: a slide from the 2nd to the 4th fret of the G string to land on the third of the chord (B), a run down in open position, then a half-step slide on the low E that lands on G, and a G chord.

Loop it in the Studio →
e|-------------------------3-|
B|-----3-------------------0-|
G|-2/4---4-2-0-------------0-|
D|-------------2-0---------0-|
A|-----------------2-0-----2-|
E|---------------------2/3-3-|

A rock lick in E minor, around the 12th fret: two slides climbing on the G string, one note on each high string, then the run down to the E on the D string.

Loop it in the Studio →
e|---------------12--------------------------|
B|------------12----15-12--------------------|
G|-9/12-12/14-------------14\12--------------|
D|------------------------------14-12----14~-|
A|------------------------------------14-----|
E|-------------------------------------------|

A soul lick in D major, in the major pentatonic around the 7th fret: short, smooth slides gliding into the chord tones, never forced.

Loop it in the Studio →
e|---------------------------------|
B|-----7-----------10-7------------|
G|-7/9---9-7------------9\7-----7~-|
D|-----------9-7/9----------9-7----|
A|---------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------|

Practice routine

On the G string alone, play the A minor pentatonic in slides: 5/7, 7/9, 9/12, 12/14, then back down: 14\12, 12\9, 9\7, 7\5.

  • Start at 60 bpm: one slide per click. The pick stroke falls on the click, the arrival halfway to the next click.
  • Go up 5 bpm once you land right on every target fret three times in a row, without glancing at your hand at the last second.
  • Goal: 120 bpm.

Then play the intermediate example at 60 bpm (one eighth note per note), and work up to 100 bpm, its full speed.

Common mistakes

Sound dying out on the way? You’re easing off the pressure as you slide. Press a bit lighter than when you’re still, but enough that the string stays on the frets.

Overshooting the target fret? Slow the motion down and brake at the end. Accuracy comes before speed.

Slide dragging and arriving late? You’re sliding too early and too slowly. Let the starting note ring first, then slide quickly, right before the moment the target note should land.

Hearing a second attack on arrival? You’re picking the target note again out of habit. In a legato slide, your picking hand plays only once: the starting vibration carries the target note.

Variations

The slide-in. You start a fret or two below the target note, without stopping there, and slide straight up to it. Written /7: the starting fret isn’t specified. It’s the most common ornament in blues and country.

The slide-off. After a held note, your finger slides down while gradually letting up the pressure: the note drops and fades away. Written 7\. Perfect for ending a rock phrase.

The picked slide. Some tabs tell apart the legato slide (one pick stroke) and the slide where you pick the target note again. The second sounds more defined, useful when the target note really has to come through.

The chord slide. The whole shape slides as one block: a power chord moving up two frets in a riff, a third or a sixth gliding into the next one (see double-stops).

The bottleneck. A tube replaces your finger and glides freely, without stopping at the frets: that’s slide guitar.

Acoustic or electric

On an electric guitar, slides are easy and they sustain: light strings glide well, and you can hear the whole trip, even over five or six frets. With distortion, a slide-off can go all the way down the neck.

On an acoustic, the note dies out faster: go for short slides, two or three frets, and press a bit harder. The wound strings (the three low ones, and often the G) squeak under your finger: that’s normal, and the noise disappears on the high strings. On a classical guitar, the glissando is an expressive effect, used sparingly.

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