In today’s cigar box guitar lesson, we will use your slide to jam on a 12 bar roots/blues.  We will learn to play some chords with the slide and review 5 basic slide techniques all players need to know.  Check out the exercise videos and tabs below and download the free cigar box guitar pdf tablature of “Blues Roots Slide Jam #1.”

But first, here’s the jam in the video below.  First, slow then faster on the second video:

#1 Playing in Tune

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but your slide has to be centered right over the fret to play in tune.  It’s a good idea to practice with a guitar tuner to make sure you are playing the notes in line with the fret.  Use your ear to adjust the note but occasionally practice with the tuner until you get a good feel for it.

If you are a complete beginner to the cigar box guitar check out my post “how to play cigar box guitar” 

#2 Muting Technique

You don’t always want the sound of the slide, so the number 2 technique is to learn how to mute strings with your right hand.  Use your fingers, thumb or pick to mute the strings from ringing.  Learning how to mute the strings effectively is the best way to clean up your sound.

Here’s an excellent muting exercise to work on and master this essential slide technique.  In exercise #1,  play the notes of the G major scale on the 1st string and mute the notes as you move the slide.  Check out the video and tabs below:

#3 Tilt the Slide

The third technique is learning how to tilt the slide so you can play other strings with the slide on.  I suppose the easiest thing to do is keep the slide in a straight line, but the art of slide playing is to play notes with the slide and fingers behind or in front of the slide. 

This means having the slide on one fret while your finger is in front or behind the slide.  Watch how I apply this technique as I play a scale in 3rds with the slide and fingers behind:

#4 Play Chords with the Slide

There are not many chords you can play with the slide and fingers on a 3-string cigar box guitar, but even learning a few can add variety to your playing.

The easiest slide chords, of course, is keeping the slide in a straight line.  In GDG tuning, you will produce what’s known as a 5th chord or power chord.  This is an excellent and very useful chord as it can substitute for either major or minor.

Here are three 5th chords used in the Blues Roots Jam #1:

But wait, there is another chord you can play with your slide that is excellent for blues.  This is the dominant 7th chord but requires a slight tilt and a finger playing behind the slide. Let’s learn the three chords used in Blues Slide Roots Jam #1.

Watch how I play the three dominant 7th chords with the slide:

#5 Slide Vibrato

Ok, this last tmain echnique should be pretty easy to learn.  Vibrato means to hold down your slide on a string while you go back and forth around a note.  There are many ways to do this, but here are a few to try out.  The slow/wide and the fast vibrato:

Alright, now that you have a few of the essential slide techniques down, let’s try and get this blues roots slide jam going!  Just a few points about the tab.  A slide is shown with an angled line (/) between the notes, and a curved line means to do a hammer-on or pull-off.  Here’s the cigar box tab for the jam:

Good luck; please leave any suggestions for more cigar box guitar lessons below.

Alright, now that you have a few of the essential slide techniques down, let’s try and get this blues roots slide jam going!  Just a few points about the tab.  A slide is shown with an angled line (/) between the notes, and a curved line means to do a hammer-on or pull-off.  Here’s the cigar box tab for the jam:

Good luck; please leave any suggestions for more cigar box guitar lessons below.

For more cigar box guitar chord books, check out the Complete Cigar box Guitar Chord Book for the 3-string and 4-string.

Check back often for more free cigar box guitar lessons, and leave suggestions for future posts below.

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