Slides

A slide is basically a technique which will brighten up your lead guitar playing and bring it to life. A slide is where you slide from one fret to another on the same string without releasing the pressure on the string.

e|———|
B|———|
G|—5/7—|
D|———|
A|———|
E|———|

On this example, you would pick the 5th fret on the G String and then slide your finger up to the 7th fret without taking your finger off or picking the string again.

e|———|
B|—7\5—|
G|———|
D|———|
A|———|
E|———|

On this example, you would pick the 3th fret of the B String and then slide down to the 5th fret without taking your finger off or picking the string again.

It is not just individual notes you can slide though. You can also slide chords up and down the fretboard.

e|———|
B|———|
G|———|
D|———|
A|—5/7—|
E|—3/5—|

Above, you would play the 3rd fret of the E String and the 5th fret of the A String, and you would slide the chord up so that your fingers are now on the 5th fret of the E String and the 7th fret of the A String.

e|———|
B|———|
G|———|
D|———|
A|—5\4—|
E|—3\2—|

Here, you would play the 3rd fret on the E String and the 5th fret of the A String, then slide down to the 2nd fret on the E String and the 4th fret of the A String.

So far, we have just been sliding from one note to another, but this isn’t always the case. Sometimes, you are told to slide from “nowhere” to a specific fret. This usually means that you would slide from two or three frets lower than the fret mentioned to the fret mentioned. Here is an example of this…

e|———|
B|———|
G|—/10—|
D|———|
A|———|
E|———|

This indicates that you must slide up to the 10th fret of the D String from “nowhere”. So in other words, you should slide from the 7th or 8th fret to the 10th fret.

This can also happen in reverse. In this case, you fret a specific fret and slide down to “nowhere”. Again, this would mean you slide down by two or three frets…

e|———|
B|———|
G|—10\—|
D|———|
A|———|
E|———|

Here you would pick the tenth fret and then slide down to the seventh fret or the eigth fret. (it is not important to stop dead on the right fret)

So now you know how to slide up to a note, down to a note and to a note from “nowhere”. And that is all there is to it. This is a technique that requires a fair bit of practise, and there is one thing to be sure of when playing slides – Make sure you are finishing dead on the fret you are told to end on. The note you end on is the main note that will sound, and you need to make sure you get it right. Here is an example for you to try out…

e|—————————————————|
B|—————-15/17–12—-12-13-12————–|
G|———12/14————————-12/14–12\–|
D|–12/14——————————————–|
A|—————————————————|
E|—————————————————|