You’ll want to wear the slide on either your pinky or ring finger. The key to keeping the unwanted noise down is to mute the strings behing the slide with your index and middle finger to keep it clean. One trick while playing is to keep your thumb on the back of the neck lined up with your middle finger making sure to keep the slide straight up and down parallel to the frets. Standard tuning slide playing is definitely harder than with an open tuning but it sure is convenient to not have to retune all the time when going back and forth. G is an easy key to play in standard tuning because you at least have the open d, g, and b strings to make a G chord. Most important in my opinion, besides lots of practice and listening to slide players, is muting the strings behind the slide. Makes a big difference! I would recommend listening to some Allman Brothers, there’s some great licks to pick up. Hope this helps.

Don’t stress about open tunings. Standard tuning gives you a minor chord across the E, B & G strings and a major across the B, G & D, and that is enough sound for electric slide.
The main note slides to use are the ones you bend in orthodox lead; min3rd-maj3rd, 4th-5th, 6th-7th 7th-oct, plus root-min3rd, 3rd-5th, 5th 7th, 7th-oct. Go easy with other upslides and any downslides.
The best slide I ever had, until I lost it moving house, was a Sparkplug wrench from a socket set with the rubber grip taken out. But they usually have turned finishes that are too rough, that one had been ground instead.

If you want to slide in 440 tuning then I suggest lots of practice, Most sliders use open tuning, like G, and work their finger picking around that.

lots of practice, and you gotta feel what your playing, and get creative.

You have several choices…

* Sign up for a guitar course during one of your semesters

* Find a guitar instructor off campus

* Ask if an on-campus professor whose concentration is guitar can/will give you private lessons after school days

* Visit

Good Luck!

Try the Metal Method series. It starts off being geared towards the blues-based rock stuff. They also have a forum where you can go and ask questions and whatnot.

It sounds as if you aren’t pushing hard enough, just a beginners mistake. No worries, just practice, build up callouses and it will be easier.

+ 1 to chonchobos comments

I’d also add these players to check out.
Derek Trucks
Lowell George
Ry Cooder
Bob Brozman
Bonnie Rait
Jeff beck

I’d also recomend checking out Kirk Lorange for lessons and support
his site has heaps of lessons based on hid own plane talk theory.
Here he is on you-tube

Well, you are in college…you have many people around you with ample guitar skill, try and have one of them teach you.