behind the nut bends

[cobberdig]

Somehow discovered some clips on you tube showing this technique. pretty damn cool in my IMO as well neck bends etc. Apparently the style originates from tele players who don't commonly have trems fitted to their guitars.

 

Anyway heres the catch but, I thought I had a pretty good set of calluses on my finger tips from playing bass the last 3 years but after playing about with these behind the nut bends lastnight i've woken up with blisters.... but thats good it'll harden them up even more.

 

anyway feel free to comment if anyone get into this style, wants the links for the clips i found, has better links to contribute. cheers.

[captain average]

seems like you can always just bend a string normally, so i don't know what you need them for unless you're bending harmonics or open strings

[cobberdig]

yeah i agree, seems limited to harmonics and open strings. but can be cool in combo with a finger pattern on the picking hand. trems and slides can be limiting too depends on what your doing i guess. But i think regardless of what people might think of country music, i reckon the behind the nut trick is handy, canes your fingers but.

[Mark Wein]

I've used them to fake pedal steel sounds...the problem is that many guitars except for the Telecaster do not have enough space under each string to get more than a half step sharp on each string...I've also ruined a nut on a strat doing the bends...one favorite of mine is to play the open A (5th), E(1st) and B (2nd)strings together and push the b string sharp a whole step so that I make an A Major chord...another easy one is playing an open E minor chord and with your 1st finger push the 3rd string sharp one half step, giving you an E Major chord...

 

I don't do these too often, but sometimes its useful...