Sliding exercises

Adam Steffey is one of the great sliders, and this exercise is inspired by his style. It's a whole break in G, but it's mostly just repeating licks to get your fingers into shape for Steffey-style sliding. Listen to him doing something like East Tennessee Blues, or just about anything really. Notice how I vary the note order slightly over the G chords to add interest. Experiment with sliding or not sliding wherever it's possible to get different effects.

Note how I use the open E string to facilitate the movement up the fretboard for the D position towards the end of the 4th measure - but there are other ways to do that, equally valid. It ends with a classic bluesy, sliding G lick. Get this up to around 240 bpm and you can wow the crowds.

I try to work these kind of new licks into just about all my breaks for a few weeks until I really get them solidly under my fingers - after that I try to pull them out only when they will actually sound tasteful.