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Play Blues Guitar 7: Slide Approaches

Diversify Your Blues Guitar Chops with this Blues Learning Path Core Course

Marty FriedmanTommy EmmanuelSteve VaiEric GalesEric Johnson

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Play Blues Guitar 7: Slide Approaches
TrueFire

TrueFire

Educator

blues

Genres

About this course

Welcome to Play Blues Guitar 7: Slide Approaches for intermediate to late Intermediate students of blues guitar.

This Blues Learning Path core course is presented by 5 top TrueFire educators: Sonny Landreth, Andy Aledort, David Hamburger, Mike Zito, and Richard Von Bergen.

The Slide Approaches curriculum is comprised of select blues guitar lessons from the educators’ existing TrueFire course libraries.

One of the qualities that attracts all of us to the guitar is the virtually infinite range of styles and techniques that are possible on the instrument. Having a grasp on a wide variety of styles and techniques not only broadens your musicality, it opens the door to many more playing opportunities with other musicians. You’ll gain more clarity on the instrument overall and expressing yourself on it will become a richer experience. The video guitar lessons in this core course will diversify your skill set and help take your playing to the next level.

Play Blues Guitar 7: Slide Approaches is organized into 4 sections. In the first section, you’ll work on the basics of Slide playing. In the second section you’ll jump into playing in standard tuning. In Section 3 you will learn a batch of licks and solos, and then in Section 4 you will study with one of the masters - Sonny Landreth.

When you’ve completed the lessons here in Slide Approaches, you’ll find lessons focused on fingerstyle techniques in Fingerstyle Approaches, also a Play Blues Guitar 7 core course.

The educators demonstrate all of the key examples over jam tracks (where and when applicable) to simulate a real-world application, in a musical context. All of the key examples are also tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes.

You’ll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop or slow down the tab and notation as you work through the lessons. Plus, you’ll have all of the available jam tracks to work with on your own.

Take as much time as you need to work through each video guitar lesson before moving on to the next lesson. If you want to dig deeper or wider into any of the topics covered in this core course, check out the recommended supplementary courses in your learning path where you’ll find more examples, techniques and insight from top TrueFire educators.

Grab your guitar and let’s get started!

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What you'll learn

  • Master slide guitar techniques
  • Master solo blues guitar techniques
  • Basic slide guitar techniques
  • Learn blues slide licks and solos
  • Develop percussive right-hand rhythm skills
Release date: 09/14/2016 • 2h 37m runtime
intermediatelate intermediateadvancedguitarelectric guitarslide
Start Course
Sample lessons
Slide Vibrato
Slide Vibrato
Overview
Slide Scales in Open E Tuning
Slide Scales in Open E Tuning
Overview
Playing By Position
Playing By Position
Concept 8
Skydog Shuffle
Skydog Shuffle
Performance

What's included

42 lessons • 21 charts • 11 Jam Tracks

Play Blues Guitar 7: Slide Approaches
Welcome to Play Blues Guitar 7: Slide Approaches for intermediate to late Intermediate students of blues guitar.

This Blues Learning Path core course is presented by 5 top TrueFire educators: Sonny Landreth, Andy Aledort, David Hamburger, Mike Zito, and Richard Von Bergen.

The Slide Approaches curriculum is comprised of select blues guitar lessons from the educators' existing TrueFire course libraries.

One of the qualities that attracts all of us to the guitar is the virtually infinite range of styles and techniques that are possible on the instrument. Having a grasp on a wide variety of styles and techniques not only broadens your musicality, it opens the door to many more playing opportunities with other musicians. You'll gain more clarity on the instrument overall and expressing yourself on it will become a richer experience. The video guitar lessons in this core course will diversify your skill set and help take your playing to the next level.

Play Blues Guitar 7: Slide Approaches is organized into 4 sections. In the first section, you'll work on the basics of Slide playing. In the second section you'll jump into playing in standard tuning. In Section 3 you will learn a batch of licks and solos, and then in Section 4 you will study with one of the masters - Sonny Landreth.

When you've completed the lessons here in Slide Approaches, you'll find lessons focused on fingerstyle techniques in Fingerstyle Approaches, also a Play Blues Guitar 7 core course.

The educators demonstrate all of the key examples over jam tracks (where and when applicable) to simulate a real-world application, in a musical context. All of the key examples are also tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes.

You'll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop or slow down the tab and notation as you work through the lessons. Plus, you'll have all of the available jam tracks to work with on your own.

Take as much time as you need to work through each video guitar lesson before moving on to the next lesson. If you want to dig deeper or wider into any of the topics covered in this core course, check out the recommended supplementary courses in your learning path where you'll find more examples, techniques and insight from top TrueFire educators.

Grab your guitar and let's get started!
Slide Guitar Essentials
In this section you will tackle the basics of slide playing - learning vibrato and muting, and dig into open E tuning riffs from Robert Johnson and Elmore James to get you started.

TIP! One of the best pieces of advice I ever got as a player, was to "learn it - then do it your own way". At first that seems counter-intuitive. Afterall we are trying to really nail the lessons we are working on, and once we do that… then we are supposed to change it? YES! Throughout history players have been borrowing, or outright stealing others licks and ideas, and then changing them to make them their own. Basically you have to start somewhere as you are developing your own voice on the guitar, so it makes sense to learn something that is already pretty cool, and then put your own spin on it. Try it out, learn a new lick or pattern, but then instead of just moving on to something else - look at how you can tweak, adapt, extend, change and make it your own.
Slide Guitar Essentials
Slide Guitar Essentials - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort and is sourced from Slide Guitar Power.

In this section we will address all of the essential elements of playing slide guitar, starting with the slide itself, whether to use a slide made of glass, such as a bottle or bottleneck type slide, or metal, such as chrome, steel or brass, or ceramic. Another essential decision is which finger of the fret-hand to wear the slide on: either the middle or ring finger, or the pinkie (though, very occassionally, the index finger has been used). The string action, the height of the strings in relation to the fretboard, is another important aspect of playing slide guitar, as is the choice of string gauges. We will also address proper slide guitar technique, which includes an investigation of proper intonation, right- and left-hand muting techniques, picking with the fingers, the pick or with both (hybrid picking), using a capo, and how to develop proper slide guitar vibrato.
Slide Materials
Slide Materials - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort and is sourced from Slide Guitar Power.

The very first decision to make when picking up slide guitar is what type of slide to use. There are many different materials to choose from, primarily glass, metal and ceramic. Another unusual choice is a Sears Craftsman spark plug ratchet, favored by both Lowell George of Little Feat and Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band. As one could imagine, a metal slide has a sharper, more cutting tone to it; this is specifically why a metal slide is favored by Johnny Winter. Glass slides, such as bottlenecks cut from glass bottles, or small glass bottles such as that favored by Duane Allman (discovered when his brother Gregg brought him a glass bottle filled with a cold medication called Coricidin) yield a much warmer, smoother tone. Ceramic slides are also popular, and used occassionally by players such as Warren Haynes. Personally, I like ceramic slides better for acoustic playing, as the surface is generally rougher than glass or metal.
Wearing The Slide
Wearing The Slide - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort and is sourced from Slide Guitar Power.

Along with picking which slide you prefer - metal, glass, ceramic, etc. - you need to determine the best finger on which to wear the slide. The most commonly used fret-hand fingers for slide guitar are the pinkie, the ring finger and the middle finger (the index finger is used only very rarely, such as by slide guitarist Dave Hole from Australia). I got my start with a metal slide worn on the pinkie, in emulation of my primary slide influence, Johnny Winter. Johnny was influenced to use a metal slide on the pinkie by the playing of Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Wearing the slide on the pinkie also frees up the other three fret-hand fingers to use for fretting chords and playing riffs that are fretted conventionally. Duane Allman started the trend of using a glass bottle-type slide on the ring finger (as done today by Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks) and wearing the slide on the ring finger has an affect on the overall fret-hand movement, especially when adding vibrato. It also limits one's ability to fret notes conventionally. Wearing the slide on the middle finger frees up the ring finger and pinkie for fretting, and is favored by slide greats such as Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder and Dickie Betts.
Right and Left Hand Muting
Right and Left Hand Muting - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort and is sourced from Slide Guitar Power.

When it comes to right-and left-hand muting techniques, no one is better to study than Duane Allman. When playing slide, Duane fingerpicked exclusively, using his right thumb, index and middle fingers to pluck the strings. A major element in the uniqueness of his sound was his right-hand muting techniques: while one finger picked a string, the other two were used for muting, i.e., when a string was picked with the thumb, the index and middle fingers would rest lightly on the higher strings, muting them; when the index finger picked a string, the thumb would mute the lower strings; and when the middle finger was used to pick a string, the thumb and index fingers would be used for muting. This technique afforded Duane's slide playing unparalleled clarity and precision.
Slide Vibrato
Slide Vibrato - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort and is sourced from Slide Guitar Power.

Along with using glissandos, sliding up or down to a specific note, the technique that most evokes a vocalesque quality on slide guitar is vibrato. Repeatedly moving the slide back and forth (higher and lower) along the length of the string creates the sound of a slide vibrato. The width of this movement, as well as the speed, this is every player's choice; just keep the center of the vibrato movement over the fret for proper intonation.

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Reviews

8 results

George C.

Verified buyer

06/04/25

This course is top-notch, as any of the others I have purchased. And the convenience of being able to learn and practice anywhere at any hour, to review, and with text and tracks. If we stop and consider the cost for each lesson just once through, it is a fraction of what it was before the internet, and even driving to a lesson, taking it once only, and I am also a teacher. What I garner from the lessons, I can impart, and teaching confirms knowledge.

cthames

Verified buyer

01/19/25

Good Variation

Five great teachers with different approaches to teaching. Covers easy to more difficult concepts but overall excellent introduction to slide playing.

10YearsGone

Verified buyer

09/17/24

Play Blues Guitar 7: Slide approaches

Been playing guitar for decades and been wanting to learn Slide & this has been a great experience and with understanding and if you are like me it’s definitely worth getting🤘

Stratotao

Verified buyer

08/21/22

Great lesson!

It sure helps me a lot.

rbroeg

Verified buyer

07/14/20

Good for some new licks

I picked this up on a $5 sale. For that price I am not out much if I don't like it. This is a collection of different teachers. I already had a number of these lessons from other slide courses I bought. But for the price I am getting a few new ideas so it wasn't a loss.

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