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Download the Acoustic Guitar Guide from the Instructional Series entitled Blues Slide Guitar
In this downloadable video and PDF, you’ll find three lessons that will teach you how to play slide blues guitar.

Intro to Slide Guitar
By Steve James
Explore the funky, “vocal” sound of barrelhouse-blues guitar by wrapping a bottleneck around your finger and sliding into your notes.

Blues in Open-G “Spanish” Tuning
By Steve James
Sound like the Delta Blues masters by learning the techniques they used: judicious muting, vibrato, and a conservative balance of slide to fretted notes.

Single-String Slide Melodies
By David Hamburger

Order this Acoustic Guitar Guide complete with audio examples and written instruction today!
In “Intro to Slide Guitar,” Steve James teaches you the basics of slide blues guitar, including the following tips.

Choosing the right slide
Glass bottlenecks that are custom cut and beveled are a good choice. But experiment to find what works for you. And make sure it’s a good fit!

Using the right touch
Apply just the right amount of pressure. Listen for “ghost” notes. Relax to achieve accurate pitch control. And take your time sliding from one note to another, especially on the whole- and half-note values so common in slide blues guitar music.

Master Vibrato
Alter the pitch of a slide note with a fast, shaky lateral movement of the fretting hand, largely from the wrist to give your slide blues guitar technique a “vocal” quality.

Try out your new slide blues guitar techniques with the song to play “Chicken Stuff” (in tab format).

Order this Acoustic Guitar Guide complete with audio examples and written instruction today!
Take your new slide blues guitar skills to the next level in the lesson “Blues in Open-G ‘Spanish’ Tuning.”

In this lesson you’ll learn:

Advanced Slide Techniques
Start by practicing your muting techniques. Learn to play certain notes, especially the major third, slightly flat (never sharp!) of their actual pitch to achieve that dark moody blues sound. Color your notes with vibrato.

Mix Slide with Fretted Notes
Well-played slide notes really stand out when framed with fretted notes and rhythmically strummed chords. One of the key tricks in a Delta slide master’s bag is simply holding back from playing slide all the time—instead, sprinkling lines with tasty slide phrases. Learn these tricks in two examples (in standard notation and TAB).

Learn to Sound Like the Delta Masters
Once you’ve gotten down the exercises smoothly, you’ll try three intro riffs, each modeled after a different Mississippi master.

Apply all the slide blues guitar techniques you’ve learned to the song “Delta Horizon” (in standard notation and TAB).

Order this Acoustic Guitar Guide complete with audio examples and written instruction today!