Slide Guitar Solo in Open G Tuning

This solo uses the tuning of open G. You should tune your strings to:

String Number	6	5	4	3	2	1
Tune to the note of…	D	G	D	G	B	D
Tune down this number of frets	2	2	0	0	0	2

This is a popular tuning for slide guitar & ensures that any accidental open string notes will be in key (as long as the backing track is in G, which in this case, it is).

When playing slide, place the slide on your 3^rd finger & use your 1^st & 2^nd fingers to mute the strings behind the the slide, Using your 1^st & 2^nd fingers in this way prevents any unwanted overtones being generated by moving the slide up & down the strings. See photo:

It is important to remember two things when using the slide:

1. Do not press the strings down – you should “glide” along the strings. Pressing down will give a horrible rattly sound. You may want to raise the action on your guitar slightly to give the strings more clearance.
2. Aim the slide at the fret wire, not the middle of the fret as this will lead to the notes sounding flat.

Here is the tab for the solo:

Click here to listen to the solo.

Click here to download a backing track

This solo relies heavily on the G chord created by the tuning at the 12^th fret, the C chord at the 5^th fret (and the17th), and the D chord at the 7^th fret. When recording the solo, I simply aimed the slide at the relevant fret for each chord to coincide with the chord sequence of the backing track. Once at the correct fret, you can just “noodle around” safe in the knowledge that all the notes are going to sound pretty good. This is all I did, really! You can also get a very bluesy 7^th chord sound by going 3 frets above the “home fret”, on the top 2 strings, for each chord. For example, in bar 10, whilst the backing is on a D chord, I go from the 7^th fret (where D is located) to the 10 fret.

Hope you have fun with this one.