Hacking the slide – better technique

One of my students came up with the phrase – hacking the slide – for our technique of mixing slides with hammer and pull off to play extended phrases even on a simple acoustic guitar without breaking the sounds stream.

You may have watched highly skilled players on electric guitar using amplification and Gain to play without cutting the sound stream. This is a brute force approach. This style is also less approachable for beginner and intermediate players, since high level of precision and movement ability is required.

Instead we use strategy. Carefully planned finger logic AND phrasing.

Have a long set of slides? try using pull-offs and hammer ons to boost the soundstream and to increase precision. Pull off works as a boost to the sound, kind of a semi hit without sounding like a new beginning. Personally I also like the sound that pull offs and hammer ons produce.

Examples:
Phrases from Varaveena
Kamalajathala
Alaipayuthe