A particular method of playing the guitar. Instead of altering the pitch of the strings in the normal manner by pressing the string against frets, a metal or glass slide is placed upon the string to vary its vibrating length and pitch. This slide can then be moved along the string without lifting, creating continuous transitions in pitch (glissando effects and deep vibratos).

Slide guitar is most often played:

• with the guitar in the normal position, using a metal or glass sleeve on one of the fingers of the left hand
• with the guitar held horizontally and using a solid metal slide called a steel held in the left hand (usually referred to as lap slide or lap steel guitar)

Creating music with a slide of some type has been traced back to primitive stringed instruments in African culture and also to the origin of the steel guitar in Hawaii. Near the beginning of the 20th century, blues musicians in the Mississippi Delta popularised the bottleneck slide guitar style.