martinrl
Verified buyer
08/18/25
Would buy again
Learned some new techniques for playing better slide guitar, practicing them as we speak, thx TrueFire!
Guitar Lab: Electric Slide
Techniques, licks, and essential insight for electric slide guitar
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About this course
Elmore James, Lowell George, Bonnie Raitt, Duane Allman, Ry Cooder, Joe Walsh, Derek Trucks, Ben Harper, Rory Gallagher, Johnny Winter and Sonny Landreth are just a few of the monster players responsible for putting electric slide guitar squarely on the blues and rock map. In fact, the expressive and "singing" qualities of electric slide guitar make it almost mandatory to have at least a few tasty and versatile slide chops and techniques in your bag. TrueFire's Guitar Lab: Electric Slide will get you up and running quicker than you can say "Diddley Bow."
TrueFire's Guitar Lab: Electric Slide from Geoff Hartwell will step you through all of the mechanics and equip you with an impressive working vocabulary of electric slide licks and moves. "Aside from being an outstanding musician and guitar player, Geoff Hartwell's skills as a clinician put him at the top of the heap. Geoff's knowledge and understanding of the mechanics of slide playing is bullet-proof. The master-class he conducted was attended by absolute beginners, professional guitarists and every level in between- No one left empty-handed. Not only do Geoff's skills as a slide player put him in an elite group of musicians, but his ability to break down those skills and demonstrate them in simple, crystal clear terms make him one of a kind."
Geoff kicks off this intensive with a thorough run down of right and left hand techniques, plucking, muting and best practices for navigating the fretboard and working with scales. Next, you'll learn how to phrase and articulate one-note-one-string and one-note-two-string licks. Along the way, Hartwell gives you a grip on classic moves including "pull licks" and Allman's now classic "see-saw" move.
As you progress through the course, you'll learn a variety of essential licks and how to play rhythm with slide, how to work with major and minor chords, how to "shwonk," how to slap and use harmonics, and how to fret behind the slide and pull off the "harmonic helicopter" in the style of slide master Sonny Landreth.
All in all, enough solid material in Guitar Lab: Electric Slide to move your slide meter to dangerously proficient.
TrueFire's Guitar Lab: Electric Slide from Geoff Hartwell will step you through all of the mechanics and equip you with an impressive working vocabulary of electric slide licks and moves. "Aside from being an outstanding musician and guitar player, Geoff Hartwell's skills as a clinician put him at the top of the heap. Geoff's knowledge and understanding of the mechanics of slide playing is bullet-proof. The master-class he conducted was attended by absolute beginners, professional guitarists and every level in between- No one left empty-handed. Not only do Geoff's skills as a slide player put him in an elite group of musicians, but his ability to break down those skills and demonstrate them in simple, crystal clear terms make him one of a kind."
Geoff kicks off this intensive with a thorough run down of right and left hand techniques, plucking, muting and best practices for navigating the fretboard and working with scales. Next, you'll learn how to phrase and articulate one-note-one-string and one-note-two-string licks. Along the way, Hartwell gives you a grip on classic moves including "pull licks" and Allman's now classic "see-saw" move.
As you progress through the course, you'll learn a variety of essential licks and how to play rhythm with slide, how to work with major and minor chords, how to "shwonk," how to slap and use harmonics, and how to fret behind the slide and pull off the "harmonic helicopter" in the style of slide master Sonny Landreth.
All in all, enough solid material in Guitar Lab: Electric Slide to move your slide meter to dangerously proficient.
Recommended Guitar Slides
What you'll learn
- Execute triplet-based blues lick with proper muting
- Apply articulation technique to add 'oomph' to single note lines
- Understand the philosophical approach to learning slide guitar
- Understand the relationship between this technique and the schwonk
- Understand that music learning is similar to language acquisition
Release date: 04/30/2009 • 0h 49m runtime
Sample lessons
Hand Techniques
Allman See-Saw Lick
Elmore James w/Pull Lick
The "Shwonk"
What's included
24 lessons • 21 charts
Introduction
Welcome to TrueFire’s Guitar Lab: Electric Slide with Geoff Hartwell. These lessons are intended to get you moving in the world of slide. There’s a ton of great stuff here for all levels and all styles. You’ll be able to use these principles for blues, rock, folk, pop, jazz, country – and any combination you can come up with! We’ll cover things from very basic slide fundamentals with examples in the style of Elmore James and Duane Allman, to some very modern techniques using harmonics and fretting behind the slide like the great Sonny Landreth. Listen well, practice hard and have FUN - From the very beginner to the grizzled pro, there’s something for everyone!
Hand Techniques
This lesson will get you acquainted with 100% of your hands. You’ll get to know the main ideas for your plucking hand, as well as your slide hand. We’ll study them individually so you can focus on one at a time, and then we’ll put them together with musical examples. While it’s important to make sure your slide is gently resting on the strings (NOT pressing all the way to the fretboard!) and that your notes are in tune (use the actual frets as a guide but use your EARS for intonation), pay special attention to your plucking hand techniques - Your plucking hand is responsible for all of your articulation and muting of unwanted notes. Relax, practice carefully, and you’ll be playing like Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes in no time!
One Note One String
This is the basis of ALL slide sounds – the fundamental first step. From the “Diddley Bow” and the Dobro players of the Delta, to the sounds of Elmore James and Robert Nighthawk in Chicago, through the Classic Rock sounds of Duane Allman and the Allman Brothers Band, all the way to the modern sounds of Sonny Landreth, they all have a common bond starting with just one note. Take your time with this one – this is the foundation of good slide technique and intonation. Pay attention to your tone, and stay relaxed. If you can get a really good feel for the basic principles in this lesson, then everything you build on that will sound great!
Pentatonic Scale
That’s right, folks! Your friend and mine, the Pentatonic scale! In this case we’re using the notes of the E Minor Pentatonic scale on the first string, but these ideas apply to all of the pentatonics, on any string. And we can use these ideas in ANY STYLE OF MUSIC! Most of you have used this scale before in blues and rock, but pay close attention to the plucking and muting, as well as your intonation. Start by targeting each note and separating them by resting your finger back on the string before plucking the next note. Memorize the names and locations of these notes as well. I guarantee you’ll need them to navigate sooner or later!
One Note Two Strings
Now we’re starting to move into the rest of the strings, while also adding another finger on our plucking hand. You’ll notice where the musical idea came from, but by adding notes and slightly different technique, we can get some great new sounds. This is based on the earlier example, but there are two important advances; with your plucking hand you’ll be resting with your thumb, and then actually plucking with your index and middle fingers. At the same time, make sure that your slide is acting like a movable fret on top of the strings and that BOTH notes are in tune.
See-Saw Lick
Come on down to the Slide Guitar Playground! This gets us playing a little faster, with a new plucking hand technique. This will allow you to play single notes on adjacent strings, which will be very useful for both solos and accompaniment. This will be very important when we’re playing over chord progressions. As an added bonus, you can play this over any major OR minor chord. Take it slow and repeat the exercise many times. Start by separating every note at first, so each note is clear and concise. Then you can get your mojo workin’! You can hear this in the slide guitar sounds of Chicago Slide masters like Elmore James and Robert Nighthawk.
Allman See-Saw Lick
This takes you back to the Fillmore with a lick that combines our “See-Saw” principles with a little extra mojo from Brother Duane. We’re starting with familiar territory and adding another principle that will shake things up a bit. Pay careful attention to how to phrase the slide up to the 15th fret position, and the muting before you return to the 12th fret position. Remember that your plucking hand is responsible for all of your articulation, and that means that you need to control HOW you play the things that you intend. Duane Allman’s approach retained all the fire and passion of the classic Slide Guitar Masters, but it was also a great leap forward in terms of precision, largely due to his plucking hand technique. For inspiration, listen to the Allman Brothers Band “At Fillmore East”.
+ 17 more lessons
Reviews
11 results
pab14
Verified buyer
10/26/23
Oldie but goodie
Older video but still relevant and worth watching.
TASGuitar
Verified buyer
10/28/21
Improving my slide technique
Good stuff. Always wanted to work on my slide technique. Now here's my chance!
agustinolmoscanto
Verified buyer
10/27/21
Great lesson, covers some materials often forgotten in other slide guitar courses
david476
Verified buyer
07/19/21
it shows techniques which are all new to me in a great learning path with a great teacher all in easy to understand aproach
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