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#1
06-13-2016, 07:44 PM
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Bending
I'm having trouble doing unison bends. When I bend, the tips of fingers want to dig into the strings above and it mutes the bend..and it hurts -- does anyone have any tips ???-- also, my thumb doesn't reach around the neck to have my thumb hanging over top of neck, so I just put my thumb where it feels most confertable-is that okay??
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#2
06-13-2016, 08:12 PM
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Most times I don't try unison bends unless I am on an electric with light strings - .010 maximum on the high E. thin neck, my thumb ends up anchored over the top to gain leverage, but not so I can't move. I only try to do this on the top two strings - the B and E. If you are going to bend a lot, light strings are your friend..
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Brian Evans Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia.
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#3
06-13-2016, 08:30 PM
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I agree that unison bends are a LOT easier with lighter gauge strings... realize, however, that when you are bending the note, you want to be using the fretwire (almost as a slide) as you press down and bend... you don't want to be "digging in" to your fretboard; that will cause some troughs to form in the wood, as well as not getting you where you want to go...
I have 12's on my 6 string acoustic guitars, and I generally only bend 1/2 step (i.e. B > C)... occasionally I will employ a whole step bend but not as a common practise, not on my acoustic guitars...
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"Home is where I hang my hat, but home is so much more than that. Home is where the ones and the things I hold dear are near... And I always find my way back home." "Home" (working title) J.S, Sherman
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#4
06-14-2016, 02:24 AM
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These bends are a technique done more on electric guitars than on acoustic, and electric guitars often have lighter strings too. I used 08 and 09 top E strings on electric as opposed to 11 and 12 on acoustic.
Yes you will run into the next string. Try and angle your nail so that it lifts unwanted strings rather than pushes them over. Big frets help with this stuff. Smaller frets make it harder. Good luck.
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#5
07-04-2016, 02:06 PM
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Yes taller frets help for sure.
If you have low frets, too low string action will make these bends difficult and will force you to apply more down force to make the bend. Otherwise your fingertips will slide over the top of the string too much. Ideally you want your fingertips to get somewhat behind the string without applying excessive down force.
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#6
07-04-2016, 02:12 PM
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Yes, mostly an electric trick. Billy Gibbons showed me his SG one time and said he uses custom made 6s on it that he has made in Mexico, now that is light but there's a secret right there. He's not going to wear himself out trying to get tone, he lets the amp and guitar do it. Strings are not everything when it comes to electrics.
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Dump The Bucket On It!
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