Guitar Sliding Exercises to Level Up Your Technique
On the guitar there are a number of techniques that are fundamental to playing the instrument. Slides are one of those techniques. While it’s a basic technique, there’s nuance to getting it clean and crisp as you move between notes. In this lesson we cover some foundational guitar sliding exercises that will level up your technique.
What is a slide?
A slide is when you move from one note to another on the same string by keeping the string depressed and sliding your finger between the notes. It’s a functional way to shift positions on the guitar or just add a little flavor to the lick you’re playing. Seems basic, but it takes practice to master the technique so you’re sliding between notes smoothly and only sounding the intended notes.
Sliding Exercises for Guitar
Now let’s get on to the exercises, but before we do, just a note on performing the technique. For these exercises, you’re only going to pick the first note. This is known as a legato slide.
When performing the slides, you want to make sure you’re sliding smoothly between the notes and that the landing note is sounded cleanly. Play at a tempo that allows you to accomplish this.
Exercise 1
In this exercise we’re starting with chromatic slides, which means you’ll only be sliding up/down one fret at a time. You’ll perform this exercise with each finger as noted. It’s simple and straightforward, but it starts you off on the right foot if you don’t have much experience with slides, particularly with the pinky finger.
1a – Index Finger
1b – Middle Finger
1c – Ring Finger
1d – Pinky Finger
Exercise 2
With this next exercise, we take the slide technique and use it to slide up the fretboard using the major scale. This helps us build our technique by sliding between multiple frets and allows us to apply a little theory to the exercise.
For this exercise you should work through each of your fingers as you did with the chromatic exercise above.
Exercise 3
This exercise is similar to the major scale exercise above, only we’ll be using the major pentatonic scale instead. This scale requires you to span up to 3 frets on the slide, requiring a bit more precision than the 1-2 fret slides of the major scale.
Exercise 4
Now let’s take this same exercise and apply it to an arpeggio, which widens the gap between notes a bit more. This sequence requires more precision, so be sure to take your time and play accurately.
Exercise 5
Thus far we’ve only performed simple slides one direction at a time. Over the next few exercises we’ll slide to a note and return back to the original. With these exercises, you should only pick the first note. The second and third notes will be sounded from the slide itself.
Again, let’s start with working up and down the major scale. Be sure to work through the exercise with each finger as you’ve done previously.
5a – Ascending
5b – Descending
Exercise 6
Here we’re doing a slide and return using the major pentatonic scale, increasing the difficulty of the exercise just a bit.
6a – Ascending
6b – Descending
Exercise 7
Continuing with this same slide and return pattern, we apply it to the arpeggio.
7a – Ascending
7b – Descending
Exercise 8
This exercise is a bit different. Instead of picking a specific note and sliding to another note, you pick the slide itself as you slide into the landing note from below. Where you start the slide depends on what sound you’re going for, but it’s typically several frets up from the target note.
As with the other exercises, practice this exercise with each finger. Take your time as it can be a little tricky to land on the correct note if you play too quickly.
Exercise 9
Here we start applying slides to extended scale patterns where the sole focus isn’t just on the slide itself. In this situation, the slide is utilized for shifting positions as you ascend and descend the fretboard. This makes the exercise a bit more musical.
Exercise 10
In this last exercise we apply slides in a musical setting, which is the whole purpose. For this exercise I chose part of the guitar solo to Time by Pink Floyd. It’s been modified a bit to use slide as much as possible. This segment of the solo covers each aspect of the exercise above nicely, making it a complete exercise in itself.
Wrap up
Slide technique is an essential skill to build on the guitar. On the surface it’s quite basic, but it can take a little time to develop the smoothness and accuracy necessary to play it well. Put some time into these exercises and expand on the ideas here and you’ll be well on your way to leveling up your sliding technique.
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