Slide down - what am I doing wrong?

Rocker

It is not a major problem but still a bit of a difficulty for me.  When playing the Pink Panther theme, I start with an F#5 and slide up to G5.  Then G#5 and slide up to A5.  No problem.  For the intro I would like to slide back down, from A5 to G#5 and then from G5 to F#5.  For me the slide down does not work, and if it does, it sounds much less clear and definite than the slide up.

I spent about 10 minutes trying to get it, the up slide is fine, the down slide fail.  Any idea how I might solve this minor niggle or am I expecting to do something that may not be possible.  I have sufficient strength in my left hand thanks to playing bass but some part of my technique is letting me down.  And I cannot figure out what or why.

Thanks guys.

Roland

When you slide along a string some of the vibrational energy is lost. There’s a point where the string moves from contacting one fret to contacting the next, and for that very short period of time the string is terminated by the soft flesh of your finger.

When you slide upwards the vibrating string also loses a percentage of its energy corresponding to the change in length. Effectively the energy in the length of string between the two frets is lost. Since you’re moving up there is a compensating factor that the shorter string requires correspondingly less energy to ring out. When you slide down the string energy is spread over a longer length, and the sound becomes quieter.

So when sliding down you need to put more energy into the string, and minimise any loses. The way I do it is two fold. First, by pressing a little bit harder, so that the time gap between leaving one fret and contacting the next is minimised. Secondly by using vibrato to put some energy back in.

LastMantra

Can you slide down on a single note OK?
Sliding down works the same as sliding up for me.