If your slides keep landing you in the wrong place, or you never feel confident that you'll finish on the fret you were aiming for, these tips should help. They matter most on longer slides across the fretboard.
There are two key things to sort out, plus a practice tip to finish.
The example slide: 3rd to 12th fret on the A string ▶ 0:39
We'll use one slide throughout: the 3rd fret to the 12th fret on the A string, played with the first finger to start with.
e|-----------| B|-----------| G|-----------| D|-----------| A|--3/12-----| E|-----------|
Look at the target, not your finger ▶ 0:44
With a slide you're staying on the same string, so you don't need to visually follow your finger up the neck.
When I play the 3rd fret, I might glance at it to start. But then what I need to do is look at the 12th fret and bring my finger to meet my line of sight. I don't track my hand all the way up.
When you follow your finger up the fretboard with your eyes, you tend to slow down, and your eyes aren't really doing anything to help you. So set your sights on where you want to go and hit that target.
Lock your fingers together ▶ 1:23
I'm using the first finger for this, but quite often you'll need your second, third or even fourth finger, depending on where you land in the solo or riff. So try the same slide with your third finger.
If your hand is open with the fingers spread apart, it's very easy for that third finger to wobble around as you slide up to the 12th. It can feel like you're bumping over the frets, and you can actually lose your place on the string.
So close the hand down. When I slide, every finger behind the sliding one is on the string, but more importantly, they're all in contact with each other. All four fingers are locked together. The hand keeps that shape the whole way, and there's no wobbling as it moves up the neck.
Move your thumb with the slide ▶ 2:24
On a shorter slide, say the 3rd to the 5th fret, it's very tempting to leave the thumb where it is and just stretch the finger across. Don't. Bring the thumb with the slide, so your hand position stays the same.
On longer slides the thumb obviously has to move, since you can't stretch across the whole fretboard. But even then, you might find the thumb drifts away from the fingers as you go. You want the thumb and fingers to stay in roughly the same position relative to each other as the whole hand moves.
Practise the slide quickly ▶ 3:00
When you practise these, do the slide itself fast. Hit the 3rd fret, then get up to the 12th quickly, rather than dragging your way up. If you're following the tips above, you should be able to do it at pretty much any speed, and doing it faster, if anything, makes it a little easier. It also gets rid of that sound of every fret passing by on the way up.
But fast doesn't mean you have to leave the first note quickly. Whenever I tell students to speed their slides up, they rush off the first note, barely hold it, and miss the target.
You can hold the first note as long as you want. But when you do commit to the slide, do the slide quickly.
So take the 3rd to 12th fret slide on the A string, hold the 3rd fret for a beat, look at the 12th, lock your fingers and move the whole hand there in one go. Do it with each finger in turn, and have a go at a slide from a solo you're learning.
