How to play slide guitar like the world's greatest players

Figure 2. George Harrison

After the Beatles broke up, Harrison’s slide technique literally soared. His instantly recognizable style was characterized by impeccable intonation, a fresh melodic approach and eschewal of blues clichés, and a very creative and tasteful use of overdubbed harmony slide parts. 

Harrison played in standard tuning and wore his slide on his 4th finger. Playing in standard tuning requires very careful string damping, since, unlike in an open tuning, any notes inadvertently sounded on neighboring strings can in many cases sound “off key.” 

Because of his usage of standard tuning, Harrison’s style was much more monophonic and linear (playing along a single string) than that of a typical blues slide player. Harrison loved to overdub harmony slide parts too, so we’ve included some in this example.