How to Play Slurs
Source: Kids Guitar Lessons

Slur Notes:
The proper name is to slur a note, but in guitar speak, you hardly ever hear it described that way. Guitar players will almost always call them slides or to do a slide.

What a Slide or Slur Note Is:
This is a rule that is seldom broken: A slide consists of usually 2 notes. The first note is played with the RH pick and the second note is sounded by the slide.

Let’s play a slide:
Take a look at the diagram above. Look at the TAB notation. In the first measure, place your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the 1st string. Now hold that finger down, and without picking slide the finger up to the third fret and let the note sound. Try this several times. Be sure to delay just a bit to give the first note of the side the full one beat of the quarter note before you slide. This is called a Forward Slide, because we are sliding from a lower note to a higher note.

Let’s try another one: In the second half of this measure we are going to perform a Backward Slide. Keep your 1st finger on the 3rd fret of the 1st string. Now slide the 1st finger backward to the 1st fret of the same string. Again, delay this a bit for the quarter note, and let the second note ring.

Second Measure: In the next measure we are going to use a different finger, same string. This time place the 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the 1st string and slide this finger up to the 8th fret and let it ring. Slide fairly quickly and smoothly, and hold the finger once you reach the 8th fret. Repeat this until it sounds very smooth.

For the second half of the measure, we will again do a Backward Slide. With your 3rd finger still on the 8th fret, slide it backwards or down the neck to the 5th fret and let it ring. Practice sliding up and down on this measure until you have it down very smoothly.

Here Are Some Additional Slide Facts:

A slide can start and any fret and end on any fret. In other words you could slide from the first fret to the 12th fret if you like – go ahead try that.

Slides can be of varying lengths of time. Think of the pair of notes just as if they were both played. You could have 2 eighth notes, 2 quarter notes etc. The only difference is the second or slide note is not played. We will give you additional advice when we encounter one of these.

Slides can be more than a single note that slides. You could play a double note and slide both the notes up or down to another fret.

Another word for the slide or slur is a term you will hear more in later lessons. A slide or slur is part of a little family of notes called an ornamentation. Just think of this as “fancy” or putting ornaments on a note, to spice it up, or add a different sound.

As we get into additional lessens we will include slides or slurs into the music, very gradually and give you great tips on playing them in the Tab Notes. Also be sure to come back to this lesson and review slurs again to try and get an understanding as to how they work.

Tags: how to play a slide, how to play slurred notes, playing slides on the guitar, slur notes

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