Jump to content
HAPPY NEW YEAR, TO ALL OUR HARMONY CENTRAL FORUMITES AND GUESTS!! ×

How to bend "correctly"?


Recommended Posts

  • Members
Posted

Hey guys,

 

I've been playing guitar properly since January this year. So much to learn about the guitar, its almost overwhelming, modes, scales, chords etc.

 

Anyways I seem to have a addiction to bending but I notice everytime I bend and come down the strict my finger almost flicks the string above it making it ring. So if i was bending the B string all the way up to say a full step or even half step, and then coming back down, the G would start ringing, so it's getting really annoying.

 

I see on alot of youtube vids that when you bend usually its with the ring finger and supported by your middle and index finger, and its done at a angle so your bending with your wrist not your finger muscles. Well tried that and my tone seems to be cutting out early (when i try and vibrato when bending), and yet again hitting the upper string when coming back down.

 

My teacher told me to use my index finger to almost bar mute the rest of the strings as Im bending with my ring and middle. Now it seems to work better actually allows me to bend from my wrist alot easier and when I vibrato, it appears to have more control aswell, however it's next to impossible to get my index into position to bar everytime and as soon as I do a bend, especially if the index finger is used to fret prior to a bend. For example going from fret 12 to 14 then a bend is to me nigh impossible to get my index from 12 to a bar/mute possition across the fret board in a split second and still have strength and accuracy to bend with just my middle and ring. However my teacher insists this is the right technique.

 

So how is bending/vibrato done correctly, what are your opinions and advice?

  • Members
Posted

Everything you have said is right.

 

"My bending fingers sound other strings" is a universal problem. The answer is "do whatever you can to stop it from happening, work at this gradually".

 

Muting by other fingers, changing the angle, the "part" of your finger you use to bend the string, palm muting etc etc are all things you have to do.

 

If you pay attention to this and do your best, you will find suddenly your fingers "know" what to do and it becomes easier. IE you play with it consciously for a while, then the subconscious kicks in. It is annoying till this happens...

 

GaJ

  • Members
Posted

Oh - that business about getting a bar-mute with your index finger: sounds like hard work. My various non-bending fingers all help with muting depending on the actual bend, but going for a full bar mute with the index is pretty rare.

 

(In fact, the only time I do that is when I'm raking the muted strings a-la-David-Glimour)

 

Usually it's enough to touch one or two "other" strings with a finger or somefink.

  • Members
Posted

 

How to bend "correctly"?

 

 

As with most anything guitar, there are lots of different approaches that may work. In general, I'd suggest these:

 

1. Use wrist rotation for the bending motion. The only time I might use finger extentions or contractions would be if I'm holding down some other notes while bending one, such as to copy pedal steel type sounds.

 

 

2. Mute any-which-way you can to prevent sounding other strings while releasing bends. Fingers, thumbs, pick, palms, ect... whatever it takes.

 

 

3. BEND IN TUNE. (Or if you're bending out of tune, do it in control for a specific purpose.)

 

 

 

 

For good bending practice try to copy vocalists pitch inflections as accurately as possible.

  • Members
Posted

BTW, I found "Sing and See" to be a wonderful tool for getting bends nailed.

 

I just routed my guitar into the mic input of the PC and Sing & See works fine.

 

At first I argued with myself that you should learn to do it by ear, but reality for me was that it was _fantastic_ having a little trace on the screen showing me my bend and whether it was hitting the note right.

 

I reckon that when you have this, you also get feedback for your ears to learn what is right, if they aren't so great at that to start with.

 

GaJ

  • Members
Posted

As with most anything guitar, there are lots of different approaches that may work. In general, I'd suggest these:


1. Use wrist rotation for the bending motion. The only time I might use finger extentions or contractions would be if I'm holding down some other notes while bending one, such as to copy pedal steel type sounds.



2. Mute any-which-way you can to prevent sounding other strings while releasing bends. Fingers, thumbs, pick, palms, ect... whatever it takes.



3. BEND IN TUNE. (Or if you're bending out of tune, do it in control for a specific purpose.)





For good bending practice try to copy vocalists pitch inflections as accurately as possible.

 

Yes. Yes. Yes. and Yay!!! :D

 

I was examining my own bending technique earlier and the wrist rotation is there fully. Partially, this is a side-effect of moving one (or two) fingers in opposition to the others - but it also allows leverage (more from the wrist thus less needed from the finger).

 

I also noted that the tip of the bending finger was being purposely placed against the next string (in the collision path of the bend) so as to mute it. Being a palm-muting player, the other strings were mainly muffled by that process.

 

Finally, in conjunction with what you say - always aim for pitch and when you can do that then aim for microtonal variations (between pitch) with conscientious control. The most obvious place to start is to aim for a 1/2 or full step in the bend. You can train your ears by hitting the 'target' note and then bending to it from the 'source' note. It really works wonders. :thu:

  • Members
Posted

Back to the process, nothing mutes as well as pickhand fingers. One finger each on the 4 high strings and the thumb across the bottom two. Keep 'em in place moving only the one plucking. You can also pull adjacent strings out the way if you have to.

  • Members
Posted

I am self-taught so I cannot offer 'correct' technique advice, but there's two things that helped me once I figured them out.

 

First, palm muting was my savior for the problem of adjacent strings ringing after a bend. I use my fretting hand a bit also, but palm muting got me 90% of the way there. Palm muting on some guitars produces way more noise than on others (strat is way noiser than tele), so I got used to moving my palm closer to the bridge, which helps correct that problem.

 

And second, if you bend too close to the fret, you won't get the same sustain and clear tone. That may be why you weren't getting good results when trying different fingers and angles with bends.

 

Also, high(er) action greatly assists my bending technique.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...