Note: all of the examples in this lesson are in the D A D F# A D tuning.
Tune to open D

In an era that’s become crowded with new bluesmen and blueswomen, Kelly Joe Phelps stands out as one of the few players to find a truly original slant on the music. His rich, textural arrangements and smooth, smoky vocals blanket and warm you, and his technically stunning lap-slide work and cliché-free fingerpicking—performed without accompaniment or overdubbing—inspires and amazes.

Phelps sat down with his guitar and slide bar in hand to provide some foundation for getting started with lap-style slide playing, and also to demonstrate a few of the intricacies of his guitar style. If you want to give lap-style playing a try on a regular guitar, you can use an extension nut, a temporary shim that fits over the guitar nut to raise the strings.

Phelps plays almost exclusively in open-D tuning (D A D F# A D) on both his lap-style and regular guitars, and he often capos. (His lap-style guitar is a modified Gibson deadnought). All of the following examples are in open-D tuning. On his first two albums, he recorded only one piece, "That’s Alright," in standard tuning. He has recently taken to playing some regular guitar in C G C G C F.

STARTERS

"If you’re just getting started with slide, probably the best thing to start with is working out your scales," says Phelps. Example 1 shows the major and pentatonic minor scales.