Blues Lesson: Learn Jontavious Willis’ Take on “Poor Boy, Long Ways from Home”

Here's an open-G arrangement of the traditional blues tune "Poor Boy, Long Ways from Home"

Slide Masters: 6 Guitarists Who Play Bottleneck Style in Fresh and Unexpected Ways

Six acoustic guitarists show the wide range of concepts, sounds, and inflections that can be brought to life with slide technique.

Exploring Slide Guitar Outside of Blues

While slide guitar is perhaps most commonly associated with the blues, it can be used to excellent effect in a range of other styles.

Learning the Nuts and Bolts of Blues Slide Guitar

Here are some tips from contemporary players Jontavious Willis, Kelly Joe Phelps, and Jimmy Page that can teach you a lot about playing blues slide guitar.

Video Lesson: An Intro to Bottleneck Blues

Learn the basics of acoustic slide guitar

Getting Started with Slide Guitar

The slide allows the guitarist to find the notes between notes—those places between the frets where the slippery quality of human emotion runs.

Guitar Lesson: Simple Acoustic-Blues Tips That Can Improve Your Bottleneck-Slide Technique

From the March 2017 issue of Acoustic Guitar | BY PETE MADSEN THE PROBLEMYou find that you can’t get a powerful sound playing bottleneck slide—your tone is thi... Read More...

Great Acoustics: Bukka White’s 1933 National Duolian

From the May/June 2020 issue of Acoustic Guitar | By Greg Olwell From his first records for Victor in 1930, Bukka White—who preferred to be called Booker—pl... Read More...

Video Lesson: How to Play Bottleneck in a Range of Styles

From the July/August 2019 issue of Acoustic Guitar | BY PETE MADSEN Slide/bottleneck guitar can evoke flavors ethereal and lyrical or aggressive and bombas... Read More...

Gear Review: MagSlide Magnesium Guitar Slide

From the July/August 2019 issue of Acoustic Guitar | BY PETE MADSEN The most common materials for bottleneck slides are steel, brass, glass, and ceramic. I... Read More...