how to become comfortable with bending?

[Still.ill]

any solo with a bunch of bends and fast notes stumps me

[1001gear]

Hmm. I've never heard of that problem. You must not have any aptitude.
If you must learn those particular solos you're just gonna have to take 'em one note at a time, say as quarter notes at 60 bpm. Or do something lame like practice individual bends real slow. I hate spazzes.

[Still.ill]

well i've been playing for like 1 year

[1001gear]

A whole year? Take up drums.

[Virgman]

any solo with a bunch of bends and fast notes stumps me

 

It's not easy to totally mimic someone else's playing.

 

It's ok to inject your own style and feeling into a song or solo. This is what makes you unique. Nobody is interested in another SRV clone or another Yngwie.

 

Improvise over a blues and use your ear when you bend. If it sounds good it is good. Listen to BB King and Albert King.

 

Generally, when you bend, wrap your thumb around the neck to give you leverage.

Playing fast takes years and for some, never, so don't get too caught up in it.

 

Shredding is not in style anymore anyway. It's passe.

[1001gear]

Ok, while you plot revenge, lemme say I've been tugging at the strings for over twenty years. I started on 9s and gradually - and rather proudly progressed through 10s, 11s, and 12s. I'm still not fast but looking back, by the time I was at 11s, bending 9s and 10s proved effortless.
I'm now on 14, (I skipped 13 for superstitious reasons) 18 , 22, plains and these barely go a half step but that's another story.
The only point is go slowly. Take all the steps. Finger speed and bend strength are two different techniques and need to be addressed separately. There's also the element of accuracy that requires considerable attention.
Take lessons.
Learn stuff you can play.
Develop your patience and study habits.

[mosiddiqi]

...take it slow. Try this exercise: Play an A note on the g string at the 14th fret. Listen carefully, get the sound of the A note in your head. Then, play a G note on the G string at the 12th fret and bend it up a whole tone to A. Does this sound the same as the A note at the 14th fret?..it should, so if it doesn't, keep repeating, comparing the A note against the G note bent up to A..gradually, it'll become second nature.

[hjcooper]

...take it slow. Try this exercise: Play an A note on the g string at the 14th fret. Listen carefully, get the sound of the A note in your head. Then, play a G note on the G string at the 12th fret and bend it up a whole tone to A. Does this sound the same as the A note at the 14th fret?..it should, so if it doesn't, keep repeating, comparing the A note against the G note bent up to A..gradually, it'll become second nature.

 

 

you should probably also focus on the FEEL of the right amount of bend. For example, bend the G string at the 12th fret up a whole tone WITHOUT playing it. After you've bent it up to where you think the A is, then play it and see how close you get. Eventually you'll get it by feel

[Deeprig9]

 

you should probably also focus on the FEEL of the right amount of bend. For example, bend the G string at the 12th fret up a whole tone WITHOUT playing it. After you've bent it up to where you think the A is, then play it and see how close you get. Eventually you'll get it by feel

 

 

Until you change strings!

 

The way I was taught bending, way back in the early 1990's...

 

First finger (index) on the B string, say, 5th fret.

 

3rd finger on the G-string (7th Fret) with your middle finger on the 6th (even though you can't hear the note, using two fingers gives you more strength).

 

 

Pluck the 5th fret B string that the index (1st) finger is on, let it ring, and while it's ringing, pluck the G string and slowly bend up with both 2nd and 3rd fingers until you've matched the tone of the first note you picked.

 

That way, you can hear both simultaneously for accuracy.

 

And that's a "Full Bend".

 

It's also a very popular lick in older rock and blues. It leads to many Chuck Berry licks which sound sick when overly distorted and thrown in a modern rock song. Definately gives street cred to your abilities.

[Deeprig9]

Furthermore... as a rule of thumb, always use 2 fingers to bend, for strength.

 

The only time you won't use two fingers is when you simply can't get 2 fingers on the string in time because of whatever crazy improvisation or lick you are coming out of. And that's when you use one finger, and that's what makes guitarists make funny faces when the play solos. Don't believe me? Spend an hour on youtube and tell me I'm wrong!

[stratitude]

Don't worry if you can't do bends completely correctly after only a year. Even though it's a fundamental skill for playing rock and blues, it's also an advanced skill. It requires a certain amount of strength in the fingers that you have to develop. It's a skill that you can spend your guitar-playing-life refining, and will become one of the most distinctive things about your playing.

The first thing to do is making sure that you are doing it right, that is to say using the right muscles in your hands and arms, and then practice doing that. If you don't feel you know how to do it correctly, then make sure you do before you do any more practicing! If you have a teacher, ask them. If you don't, check online for some videos.

Once you have the knowledge of what to do, all you need is experience. Speed is a side effect of fluency, and you will get there much quicker if you keep this in mind, rather than making it your goal.

[kmarsh]

Hmm. I've never heard of that problem. You must not have any aptitude. If you must learn those particular solos you're just gonna have to take 'em one note at a time, say as quarter notes at 60 bpm. Or do something lame like practice individual bends real slow. I hate spazzes.

Nice

[1001gear]

They have fights over stuff like this all the time. I was obviously just ribbing the guy you self righteous moron, etc, yada, yada, yada... (this BTW is just a common scenario and in no way reflects the feelings or intents of 1001gear and its affiliates...)
Generally I just think it's bad science to pick up an instrument and cut a beeline to all the cool stuff you want to do. And completely unrealistic to believe that advanced material should be easily manageable. The OP mighta been kidding as well. Anyway it's a relevant tact, I just went for it in that spirit.

And of course the smilies,
:poke:



some people go by those,

[kmarsh]

They have fights over stuff like this all the time. I was obviously just ribbing the guy you self righteous moron, etc, yada, yada, yada... (this BTW is just a common scenario and in no way reflects the feelings or intents of 1001gear and its affiliates...) Generally I just think it's bad science to pick up an instrument and cut a beeline to all the cool stuff you want to do. And completely unrealistic to believe that advanced material should be easily manageable. The OP mighta been kidding as well. Anyway it's a relevant tact, I just went for it in that spirit. And of course the smilies, :poke: some people go by those,

Alrighty, then. Sorry for my own harshness there. Hard to tell intent, and I hadn't noticed your helpful comments a few posts later. I'm a noob myself and have a lot of the same kinds of questions as the OP (but generally just lurk and keep 'em to myself). I would think EVERY noob would want cut to the chase and try cool stuff... bad science or not, it's just human nature.

Anyway, you all have great suggestions. For me, bending hasn't been as mucha a problem as rhythm and phrasing (and chord stretches with stubby fingers).

[3red]

wrist

[Still.ill]

the tips of my fingers just hurt so much after practicing solos a lot... like im trying to learn this solo right now... but i started out an acoustic

 

 

 

 

my guitar came stock with 10's on a 25.5 inch scale... so maybe i'll replace them with 9's... how much easier will it be to bend them?

[kmarsh]

the tips of my fingers just hurt so much after practicing solos a lot... like im trying to learn this solo right now... but i started out an acoustic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mA-RmNkiAM&feature=related my guitar came stock with 10's on a 25.5 inch scale... so maybe i'll replace them with 9's... how much easier will it be to bend them?

 

 

If they hurt, then your body will "heal" them by building up callouses after a week or two, and then they won't hurt so much. I just moved up from 9's to 10's... Not that I want to debate which gives better "Tone" (Clapton uses 9's, so they must be OK for him), but I think I can get more of that, sharp, SRV-style punch/attack with the 10's (Now if I could only PLAY like SRV, I'd be all set!).

 

It IS a lot easier to bend 9's, but depends on whether the difference in sound/feel is important considering how you play and what you play. And even for a specific gauge, different brands/types of strings seem to vary in how easy they are to bend.

[Still.ill]

If they hurt, then your body will "heal" them by building up callouses after a week or two, and then they won't hurt so much. I just moved up from 9's to 10's... Not that I want to debate which gives better "Tone" (Clapton uses 9's, so they must be OK for him), but I think I can get more of that, sharp, SRV-style punch/attack with the 10's (Now if I could only PLAY like SRV, I'd be all set!). It IS a lot easier to bend 9's, but depends on whether the difference in sound/feel is important considering how you play and what you play. And even for a specific gauge, different brands/types of strings seem to vary in how easy they are to bend.

 

 

how much easier???? people told me 10's in Eb tuning feel like 9's but i can't tell that much difference in Eb

[kmarsh]

how much easier???? people told me 10's in Eb tuning feel like 9's but i can't tell that much difference in Eb

I think i's a slightly bigger difference than tuning down a half a step ... but it only costs 5 bucks to find out for yourself.

[stratitude]

Changing the gauge will make it easier to bend, physically, but the principles of bending in tune and such will still apply - make sure you can do these things first - in the long run they are the more difficult things to achieve than the physical strength required. You may even already have the strength you need, and you just need to to practice to get it.

 

Personally I don't notice much of a difference between 9's and 10's. I do between 10's and 11's though. Go figure. I believe they also make 8's, if you want to try the lightest gauge.

[Still.ill]

I think i's a slightly bigger difference than tuning down a half a step ... but it only costs 5 bucks to find out for yourself.

well is it more like 2 steps, 3 steps?

[Virgman]

 

well is it more like 2 steps, 3 steps?

 

 

Still.ill,

 

Don't waste your time with tuning down and all that BS.

 

Play your damn guitar. Practice for crying out loud. Use your ear. Persist.

 

That plus time is all it takes.

 

Come back to this topic in ten years.

[Still.ill]

Still.ill, Don't waste your time with tuning down and all that BS. Play your damn guitar. Practice for crying out loud. Use your ear. Persist. That plus time is all it takes. Come back to this topic in ten years.

 

 

i am trying bends are becoming easier but i think i'll still get some 9's next time because i dont know many (famous) people who play 10's in standard

i mean surely playability outweighs tone

[hjcooper]

9's are definitely easier to bend for me than 10's. But I like the feel of 10's under my fingers. I also find that 10's tuned down to Eb are still stiffer than I like. So I'm going to try some 9.5's tuned down to Eb. If that doesn't work out then I'm sticking with 9's. I do have one guitar with 10's that is my "workout" guitar. I like big bends and wide vibrato and I don't believe in fighting the strings for them.

[mhoward]

Some of the exercises mentioned above are great, but there's nothing as motivating to me as learning how to play a song that I've admired. I think a great song for practicing bending is Jeff Beck's "Cause we've ended as lovers". There's a very accurate tab online. The song is quite slow so the focus is on the quality and accuracy of the bends.