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Acoustic Slide Guitar Lesson – Delta Blues – EP026

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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Comments

  1. 6stringer says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    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…

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  2. alex groundy says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    Hi Brian,Another great lesson, as I don’t have an acoustic at present would this work with an Electric….

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  3. Brian says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    @Redwoodlouis - yes this will work on electric as well!

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  4. econometric says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    Very happy you added this lesson using the slide, thanks Brian!

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  5. jluke says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    Another one for the arsenal.  Brian, you are lesson greatness!!

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  6. Mellowsounds says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    Wow that sounds great
    A must learn
    Thank you Brian :-)

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  7. JamieK says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    Exactly what I was looking for Brian! Thank you!

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    • Frank C says

      September 10, 2015 at 4:49 pm

      Me too ๐Ÿ™‚

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  8. fresnojohns says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    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

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  9. MJR1164 says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    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

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  10. sunburst says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    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

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  11. StreakyPete says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    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.

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  12. jontyblu says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    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

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  13. Rick C says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    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!

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  14. adambb says

    November 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    Do you have any more slide lessons? It would be great to have more. Thx

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  15. benneyy says

    August 24, 2015 at 1:58 pm

    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

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  16. William A says

    October 10, 2015 at 7:16 am

    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

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  17. doc bird says

    October 31, 2015 at 10:05 am

    Hi Brian,
    I WANT MORE! ๐Ÿ™‚
    Best regards from Munich

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  18. Danilo S says

    June 18, 2016 at 4:45 am

    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.

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  19. Michael S says

    July 1, 2016 at 7:15 am

    Great lesson Brian. What strings are you using on the Alvarez? Keep up the good work, love your site.

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  20. Sam W says

    July 19, 2016 at 6:55 am

    We need more slide lessons!!!

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  21. Alin says

    September 5, 2016 at 9:07 am

    Hi Brian. This is Tony from Austria, Europe.
    Great lesson, please more of Delta Blues Slide guitar!

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  22. AdmiralBastard says

    September 5, 2016 at 12:18 pm

    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.

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  23. john l says

    October 6, 2016 at 7:30 pm

    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…

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  24. andrew k says

    October 19, 2016 at 10:35 pm

    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

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  25. Terry B says

    March 2, 2017 at 6:34 pm

    Great lessons Brian !! How about flatpicking Carter Family style…

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    • Brian says

      March 2, 2017 at 11:11 pm

      Hey Terry – check this one out: https://www.activemelody.com/lesson/solo-bluegrass-guitar-lesson-composition-on-acoustic-guitar-ep172/

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  26. Duncan M says

    July 1, 2017 at 4:51 am

    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.

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  27. Fabio D says

    August 20, 2017 at 5:10 am

    Grazie mille! Brian.

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  28. sunburst says

    October 15, 2017 at 6:55 pm

    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!

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  29. sunburst says

    October 17, 2017 at 6:47 pm

    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!

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  30. Terry H says

    November 25, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    Great lesson!

    Thank You,

    TerryH

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  31. Cary says

    February 2, 2019 at 12:28 pm

    This is by far the best slide lesson I have ever found! Thank you so much for taking the mystery out of learning slide.

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  32. stratatatcat says

    February 20, 2019 at 8:00 am

    More slide?
    Yes please! ๐Ÿ˜Ž๐Ÿ‘

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  33. Ken Sheppard says

    August 6, 2019 at 1:53 pm

    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!

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  34. Mikoล‚aj W says

    December 1, 2019 at 11:25 am

    Yes! More slide – only one in 300, really. Pity…

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