If you answered ‘yes’ without reading beyond the title, you probably need a long nap, right now. If you're overwhelmed by the endless reams of information that pop up when you google ‘learn slide guitar’, however, I may be able to help.
If you're looking to web searches and YouTube videos to help you master slide guitar techniques, you'll find thousands of resources, many with conflicting advice on where to start. As a slide guitar teacher, I can tell you that a lot of this will be confusing and unhelpful! If you want to learn to play slide this year, focusing your efforts in one place will give you the structure and expertise you need to become a confident player in a short time - and my Get Going with Slide Guide is a good start.
I've been where you are, an aspiring player who wants to master slide. I've spent many years studying and exploring slide techniques and I've worked hard to bring this together in a way that makes it more accessible for you.
My top tips include:
Just start. You can learn to play slide on any guitar and you don't need to get distracted by gear at this stage.
Focus on sound. We begin with finding ‘the sweet spot’, and getting a clean sound that we can work with.
Take time to explore. We look at holding the slide correctly and exploring open tunings, learning to be guided by what we hear.
Learning slide won't take forever, and you can fast track the early stages if you want to join me in Slide Success or Slide Success Foundations. Just a word of warning - slide playing is addictive! It's the perfect combination of musical exploration and emotion, and you may not be able to put it down…
Pick up your Get Going With Slide Guide here to get started.