20 Essential Slide Guitar Licks

CHRIS SAYS...

The key to playing these licks cleanly is muting the strings with your picking hand. To do this successfully you have to pick with your fingers. Watch how my fingers and thumb move around, blocking the strings I don't want to hear. You should also mute the strings behind the slide, cutting out the overtones. You just have to hold one or two fingers loosely over the strings, behind the slide... this also helps you to keep the slide stable. Holding your thumb behind the neck also helps to steady your slide movement, making it easier to play in tune. Remember to hold the slide OVER the fret, not behind it.

My slide only touches the string(s) being played; for example, if you're only playing the top E string, there’s no need to hold the slide across all 6 strings. I recommend wearing your slide on your 4th finger, but it might feel more comfortable on your 3rd or 2nd. Experiment to discover what works best for you.

It's important that you can play notes cleanly at low fret positions. This is partly about your technique, but it also helps if your guitar is set up right. Slide players often like to have the strings raised higher at the nut.