Slide Guitar Opens Up A Whole New World Of Sound, Soul, And Expression

Hey, it's Colin from Riff Ninja...

Some time ago I had a long chat with a friend of mine -- I'll call him Rob to protect his identity. Rob had been playing guitar for over 20 years. He knew his chords inside and out, could play plenty of classic rock songs...

But there was something eating at him.

"Colin," he said, "I hear these slide guitar parts in my favorite songs -- you know, the Allman Brothers, George Thoroughgood, even some Lynyrd Skynyrd -- and I think 'Man, I wish I could do that.' But every time I try to mess around with a slide, it sounds like garbage."

Maybe you can relate to Rob's frustration.

And here's the thing -- you may not have realized it before now, but some of the most famous songs on the radio over the last 50 years have featured slide guitar:

These songs all feature quite a bit of slide guitar work -- it's a sound you simply can't get by any other means.

Here's what I told Rob: Slide guitar isn't harder than regular guitar -- it's just different. And once you understand the fundamentals, you'll wonder why you waited so long to learn it.

What Is Slide Guitar?

Over the years, players have used pretty much anything and everything as a slide: every kind of bottleneck, lipstick tubes, knife blades, aspirin bottles, lighters, pipes and many other things. Different materials create different sounds, and every artist has their own preference.

Slide guitar brings a new dimension into your playing -- it quite literally opens up new tones, combinations and sounds on the guitar that are impossible without a slide! Because slide can give you infinite control over the pitch of your guitar, it lends itself to playing with lots of emotion and expression.

There's something special about the slide that makes people turn their heads to see what's going on.

“Slide isn’t hard — it’s just different. Once you get the feel, it becomes second nature.”

Why Most Players Struggle With Slide Guitar

In my 45+ years of teaching guitar, I've seen the same mistakes over and over again:

Players grab some random bottleneck, tune to whatever open tuning they found on the internet, and... screech. Nothing but fret noise and out-of-tune disasters.

Then they give up, thinking slide is "too advanced" or "not their style."

But here's the truth I've learned: There's no right or wrong way to play slide guitar. Bonnie Raitt uses old medicine bottles. Duane Allman used Coricidin bottles. Derek Trucks uses a Jim Dunlop slide just like I do.

In the end, it's simple:
Does it sound good? That's what matters most. 

That's what matters. And I'm going to show you how to make it sound good, step by step.

Theory Will Only Make You More Creative

Now, I know some of you might be thinking, "Colin, I don't want a bunch of theory. I just want to play."

I get it. There's lots of talk about how learning too much theory can ruin your creativity or your natural feel for an instrument.

I totally disagree.

The theory will only make your creativity better. It's not there to slow you down. You have to understand this -- it totally lines up mathematically with your guitar.

And that's exactly how I teach slide guitar. Practical theory that you can use immediately, combined with real-world playing techniques that get you making music fast.

What You'll Learn in "Essentials of Slide Guitar"

I've boiled down the most powerful, most important aspects of learning to play slide guitar into a complete 3-hour course. You'll discover the amazing joy of merging rhythms and riffs together, all while using a slide in open tuning.

This isn't beginner guitar -- I'm assuming you can already play chords and know your way around the fretboard. But it IS beginner slide guitar, which means we start from the ground up with proper technique.

Good Solos Always Start With Rhythm

Now, here's something quite a few people jump right into trying to play slide guitar without first taking the time to understand: one of the most important keys to a good slide guitar solo is first understanding the rhythm part intimately. Then you'll be able to craft those cool solos that really work off the rhythm and the melody!

In the Essentials of Slide course we'll look at a few different rhythms, especially variations of the classic "Boogie Woogie" shuffle patterns that are so incredibly popular in slide blues.

What You'll Master In This Course

Open D Major tuning is one of the most popular tunings for slide guitar, so in this three-hour course we'll focus on that tuning exclusively. As an extra bonus, all the licks you'll learn also apply directly to Open E Major tuning as well.

By the time you've worked through this instruction, you'll have a complete slide guitar toolkit:

More Than Just Videos

Look, I could just show you some licks and send you on your way. But that's not how I teach.

This course includes a complete PDF reference guide with all the theory, charts, and tablature you need. Originally I was just going to cover the tab for a few riffs, but it quickly grew into a solid discussion of the important points we cover in the video.

You'll get:

Think of it as your slide guitar reference book -- something you can print out, mark up, and use for years to come.

This Course Is For You If...

This is NOT for total beginners. You should have some experience with guitar before tackling slide.

My Iron-Clad "No Weasel Clauses" Guarantee

No questions asked. No hoops to jump through. No "weasel clauses" that make it hard to get your money back.

I stand behind all my guitar lessons because I've seen what happens when players finally "get" slide guitar. It's pure joy.

Your success with RiffNinja guitar lessons is completely guaranteed.

Remember My Friend Rob?

He's the one I told you about at the beginning - frustrated that he couldn't get slide to sound good after 20+ years of playing guitar.

Well, six months after taking this course, Rob sent me a video of himself playing a beautiful slide version of "Layla." His tone was clean, his intonation was spot-on, and most importantly... he was grinning from ear to ear.

"Colin," he said, "I finally sound like the guitarist I always wanted to be."

That could be you.

The techniques are all here. The step-by-step instruction is waiting for you. The only question is: how much longer do you want to wonder how they get that sound?

Click below to get instant access to "Essentials of Slide Guitar" for just $50 $35:

You'll get immediate access to all instruction, the complete PDF guide, and my personal guarantee that this will transform your playing.

There's no time like the present to start your journey playing slide guitar!

Keep on Rockin’

P.S. The Essentials of Slide Guitar lesson will not only teach you how to play slide guitar from the ground up, but it will also greatly improve your confidence on the guitar as well as your ability to improvise a guitar solo (even when not playing slide!).

What Other Guitarists Are Saying...