Description
In this guitar lesson I’ll show you how to play basic, delta blues style slide guitar on an acoustic. This is played in open D tuning, and I’ll show you an easy way to tune to open D, without even needing a tuner. I also assume you know little to nothing about slide and will walk you through all of the basics, how to hold a slide, what finger to use, etc. If you’ve always wanted to learn how to play slide, this lesson is a great one to get you started!
Delta Blues Slide Guitar Lesson - Acoustic
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Thanks, Brian. Now I got to buy a glass slide. Amazing how well that guitar sounds, such a rich tone. Some really nice D tuning tunes are: Bottleneck Rag of Sylvester Weaver, Dark Was The Night,Cold Was The Ground, Evocative Slide of Blind Willie Johnson, Things ‘Bout Coming My Way, Boogie of Tampa Red… Hmm, do I see more lessons coming soon…
Hi Brian,Another great lesson, as I don’t have an acoustic at present would this work with an Electric….
@Redwoodlouis - yes this will work on electric as well!
Very happy you added this lesson using the slide, thanks Brian!
Another one for the arsenal. Brian, you are lesson greatness!!
Wow that sounds great
A must learn
Thank you Brian :-)
Exactly what I was looking for Brian! Thank you!
Me too ๐
Thank you very much Brian. This is a very good lesson. I hope you add some more slide lessons soon. Your teaching style rocks.
fresnojohns
Thanks Brian, a great lesson as always. @Redwoodlouis: try it on your electric and crank it up, you ‘ll sound like George Thorogood in no time
Say Brian, great tutorial..always enjoy your step by step detailed teachings .. I been busy ;earning other styles on all my guitars,, keep up the great work my man! You inspired me to practice and play more often. thanks again, John
Thoroughly appreciate you teaching us the ‘Secret’ of slide blues Brian. I’ve tried a number of times before, but didn’t make any headway, but now I’m making progress. One silly thing I didn’t realize was that my existing metal slide only covered 4 strings! couldn’t understand why I kept clipping the 5th string while you never did… finally dawned on me half way through the lesson :-)
Now I’m off to the village music store to buy a new slide.
Great slide lesson Brian. For years I never dulled the strings upneck (towards machine heads) with my fingers but the sound is better with damping although a difficult habit to break
Great lesson Brian! For years I have had a slide and now I can finally play with it!
I would love more lessons like this one. Maybe one in another tuning?
Thank you!
Do you have any more slide lessons? It would be great to have more. Thx
Hi Brian
Great Lesson! you made it so easy to retune my guitar to open D! something ive never done but did it first time with your lesson! i now need a slide!!
any chance you could do an Artist series on seasick steve!? i really want to learn “i started out with nothing” its a great song with a cool riff that i would love to learn.
Thanks
Love this entire series Brian. Just discovered you. I have been playing dobro and electric slide for years without much understanding of the music theory aspects-or what I was doing for that matter. More slide lessons, and electric technique would be great.
Also, I loved the David Gilmour tutorial. He and Duane Allman are my guitar heroes! Working through pedals and getting specific tones are helpful too, like on the Gilmour lesson. Thank you
Hi Brian,
I WANT MORE! ๐
Best regards from Munich
Hi Brian, great lesson as always.
I’ve practicing for two days and I’m addicted to slide now! Only thing that’s driving me nuts is the thumb…very hard to free it up! This is my new goal as I love this type of finger style Blues.
Great lesson Brian. What strings are you using on the Alvarez? Keep up the good work, love your site.
We need more slide lessons!!!
Hi Brian. This is Tony from Austria, Europe.
Great lesson, please more of Delta Blues Slide guitar!
Great work as always Brian. Your call and response lessons seem to be quite unique. I’ve learnt a ton by the way you apply theory to your teachings. Anyway man just thought I owed you some mad props at this point : ) Thanks for helping me up my game. Oh and if you feel the urge, more open D slide would be awesome.
Thanks Brian…really like the sound of my acoustic in the Drop D tuning…especially that rhythm part…new to the slide stuff…but enjoying working my way through the lesson. Only wish I had more time to work on this stuff…without having to go to work every day…come on Lottery Board ! John…
thanks brian, such a blast to play ! it would be great if there was more to this song, maybe an extended version ? or more bluesy slide lessons as this is the only one i could find by you . thanks again really enjoying all your great lessons
Great lessons Brian !! How about flatpicking Carter Family style…
Hey Terry – check this one out: https://www.activemelody.com/lesson/solo-bluegrass-guitar-lesson-composition-on-acoustic-guitar-ep172/
Hi Brian,
Any chance you’ll being doing any more slide lessons in the near future? I have found your lessons really inspiring and hope you can help me get slide sorted too. Something from the Deep South would be great. Thanks, Duncan from U.K.
Grazie mille! Brian.
This is really fun! finally found my slide, had it stashed away a few years,, I need more, the only one I have fits my pinky.. but is this lesson is very cool..finally going to learn this excellent beginner open D delta blues slide ,, I can only ask but you do so much as it is,, open G and E or just in standard tuning ..I know slide lessons aren’t for everybody but even if they are micro lessons ,tia!
I tell you I am no slide player but man really enjoy how tight and cool sounding this slide lesson is! I won’t rush this because you are so right in every detail.. 5 star rating for short but excellent slide lesson! thanks Brian!
Great lesson!
Thank You,
TerryH
This is by far the best slide lesson I have ever found! Thank you so much for taking the mystery out of learning slide.
More slide?
Yes please! ๐๐
Stumbled across this lesson while browsing through and see you’re playing an Alvarez AP66. Coincidentally I’ve just purchased an Alvarez Blues 51 CSB. A lot of guitar for not too much money and sounds great when playing slide, still getting to grips with the thumb bass but it’s coming along!
Yes! More slide – only one in 300, really. Pity…