So far, Justin mentions sliding up or down a string in a few different places, but says this is mostly for people who are more advanced and beginners should probably play X without the slide for now.
Does anyone know if there is a specific lesson where he covers this in detail, or does he just expect us to try it occasionally until we are good at it? I looked ahead to the next grade and didn’t see it anywhere in Grade 3, but the titles aren’t very helpful (i.e., specific).
The technique seems pretty simple and I’m probably doing it right, but I don’t want it to be one of those things where there’s some not-so-obvious thing I’m not doing and thus picking up a bad habit with it…
I was actually quite surprised that we didn’t cover sliding, pull-offs, bends, and vibrato by the end of Grade 2. I expected we would at least be introduced to them. I don’t feel like I’m quite ready to move on to Grade 3, but so many of the songs that I want to practice for Grade 2 use these techniques and I feel like I should at least be having a go at them at this point, so I’m looking ahead in the course for them.
I’m just into grade 3 (about 1/3 in) and haven’t seen a lesson or even a section that gives specifics on sliding. I have been concentrating on a lot of songs that use sliding in and out of a note, so have had to just try it and listen for if I like it or it sounds generally like the original.
I found my finger tips got pretty sore deep in the tissue for a couple weeks, then got better. I also found that I started to be able to get the slides to sound nice and can throw one as an embellishment without a bunch of thought after about 4-5 weeks.
I concentrated on licks that used slides in songs I want to play. Worked them until they sounded like I wanted. That’s all I really did and I think things sound ok now.
You might want to have your practice use different length slides (1 fret, 5 frets…) as well as sliding into a note/chord and out of one. Pay attention to maintaining enough pressure to keep the volume where you want it. Sliding toward the head will require holding firm, where sliding toward the body will maintain the volume a lot better.
I’m in the same place in the course as you Joshua and am doing a little sliding in a couple of songs, plus I tried it when learning the Wonderful Tonight intro lick. It’s not too tricky so I’d say just go fr it with sliding.
The slide in the Cocaine riff however is a different beast, sliding whilst holding the power chord shape is doing my nut!!
I also don’t remember seeing a lesson dedicated to slides, but one tip that Justin gives in various videos is this: when you slide, keep your eyes fixed on the fret that you’re sliding to. Don’t try to follow with your eyes your fretting hand during the slide. This is the best way to stop at the right point.
Yah, I can imagine how to slide just strings 2 and 3, but how do you do that while allowing the dotted 1/4 note on 4,5 and 6 to ring? Or am I missing something altogether, like my hands are too small…
What I noticed: no string sliding lessons, but it’s easy enough.
Pull offs / flick offs are in Grade 3 but there’s not a specific lesson on them, just exercises, but if you search you can find a lesson on them on the website.
Bends are in the intermediate grades, which are far more pick-a-path. I did a lesson on them in grade 4 (with some digging).
Vibrato is at the end of Grade 3.
With all this stuff I’ve taken the approach of “give it a go” when encountering it then learning the proper technique later.
