Some players use the slide exclusively (without fretting with fingers), while others play licks and chords with the slide and with their fingers. There’s a useful open-C tuning in which you tune the first string from the standard A down to G (G C E G).ĭo that now, and when you strum across the open (unfretted) strings, you’ll hear a C major chord.Ī lot of playing in this tuning involves barring across all four strings with the slide, playing major chords like the top line of chord charts (below).

More good news: You only have to retune one string. You already have enough to think about, handling a slide for the first time, without making things more difficult on the fretboard. Start in an open tuning, simply because it’s easier. Old-school slide players usually tune to an open chord, partly because you get a nice droning effect when your instrument is tuned that way, but also because it’s less demanding than playing in standard tuning. There are lots of possible approaches to slide uke, but the most pressing is making the decision to retune or not to retune.

If you’re game to try it, here’s how to get started. The good news is, just about everything that can be done on slide guitar can be transferred to the ukulele. It was inevitable, given the current popularity of the ukulele, that folks would start trying their hand at slide uke. Slide sounds great when you’re playing the blues, or gospel music, but it also works wonders in country music or rock. Using a bottleneck or slide is one of the most soulful, bluesy things a guitarist can do-when it’s done right.

Ukulele blues chords