Dansm's Guitar Techniques: The Slide

The Slide

The slide is the simplest technique for a beginning guitarist to learn. It gets its name from the technique: you actually slide your finger up or down the fretboard while fretting a string. A slide is represented in tab notation by this symbol:

   +   +    
e:---------|
B:-----6\5-|
G:---------|
D:-5/7-----|
A:---------|
E:---------|

The first slide is a slide on the 4th string from the 5th fret up to the 7th fret.
The second slide is a slide on the 2nd string from the 6th fret down to the 5th fret.

The slide is accomplished by fretting the desired note, picking the note, then moving your finger up to the desired higher note. Make sure you maintain pressure on the string as you slide, so the string is not muted. This is the most important part of the slide: making sure the string stays against the fretboard while you slide. You can also slide down, using the same technique but moving down the fretboard to a lower note.

The two slides notated above sound like this:
30K wav file

That's about it for slides. They are very easy to perform. The hardest parts are making sure you hold the string securely against the fretboard as you slide and making sure you slide to the right note. Good luck with this new technique!