String Bending the Correct Technique?

[ironhorse777]

I Just started learning string bending today. I am finding it kind of difficult to bend up to pitch. I either bend sharp or flat. I use a tuner to bend as I am unable to hear if I am bending to pitch. Will I be able to hear this better with time or do I have a poor pair of cans?

[Scootch]

Two fingers, grasshopper. Two fingers.

[ironhorse777]

Originally Posted by Scootch

Two fingers, grasshopper. Two fingers.

I just use my middle finger and ring finger for bending.

[clintj]

I use my index and ring, sometimes even adding my middle for a heavy bend.

As far as pitch, I practice that by fretting the desired note, then try to bend from a lower note until it matches what I just played. Working on unison bends will tell you if you are on pitch, too.

[fazool]

too many videos to link


go to youtube

search Steve Stine Bending

top 4 videos

[Howard Klepper]

Originally Posted by Scootch

Two fingers, grasshopper. Two fingers.

Considering that you only have four fingers and sometimes your thumb fretting, you don't want to be using two of them on a single note. It will limit your ability to play many fingerpicking arrangements that use bends.

Bending near the nut is difficult; it gets a lot easier up the neck. You might go to a lighter gauge string. But it sounds as if finger strength is not the OP's issue--he asked about pitch. Congratulations on trying to go to a definite pitch; a lot of players just smear the note and don't realize that a bend (not always, but often) is supposed to go up to an actual note. Keep playing the pieces you are learning; don't rush them and listen for pitch as you play. Control of pitch will come.

[rick-slo]

As fazool said, there are many links about bending on the internet. For example

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoXbp8oV17Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GpEwDL4TGI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkYuUMjCZZw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Hn9dJp-fk

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

Considering that you only have four fingers and sometimes your thumb fretting, you don't want to be using two of them on a single note. It will limit your ability to play many fingerpicking arrangements that use bends.

Hi Howard...

My first thought when I read the initial post was "There are several techniques I use when bending...". Your post stirred that thought again.

If doing 1/2 step (our slight) bends, one finger suffices. Full step bends take two, and I structure those around the key I'm in so there is an open string to cover a bass note while doing radical bends. If my giggin partner is covering the bass I'm good to do what I want.

[stanron]

I can think of three types of bending techniques off hand.

First, play the note, bend the string and then release the bend keeping the string pressed down. You hear the note go up and then go down. You may or may not choose to hold the bent note before the release.

Second, play the note, bend it and then stop the string sounding before releasing the bend. You hear the note go up and then stop. Again you may or may not choose to hold the bent note before the stop.

Third, bend the string, then play it and then release the bend keeping the string pressed down. You hear the note go down.

All these can be for half step or whole step bends. It's when you hold the bent note, or start with it, that accuracy is essential. Practice with a tuner will improve your ability to hear pitch.

[JCook1]

There's never been any rule that I've been aware or that says that a "bend" must be up to a whole tone. I think that if you listen to a lot of music that contains bends - blues for one - you'll find that most of the bending is done to a half tone or less, with whole tone bends happening fairly rarely. A bend is simply modifying the note a bit from the strict scale, and I think the tradition of bending strings to change the note comes originally from Africa/Asia where the style is to modify the note as you play it for expression. You can hear the same effect in singing from India and the middle east, and in instrumental playing from Africa and Asia, and not just on stringed instruments. Often the note modification is only a quarter-tone. It's in rock music where the whole tone bend occurs most often I think, because they're playing on electric guitars using ultra light strings (.011s or .010s) and very low action, so it's easier to bend to a whole tone. If your bend sounds good in the music, then it's right, you don't need to worry about bending all the way up to a whole tone. As stanron says, you don't really need to worry about the pitch so much unless you're going to hold the note for a length of time.

Jack

[stanron]

Back in the 70s I associated accurate whole tone bends with attempts to immitate pedal string guitar playing as found in country music or slide playing in blues. These bends were often played just before, just after or at the same time as a second, usually higher, unbent note.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by JCook1

There's never been any rule that I've been aware or that says that a "bend" must be up to a whole tone. I think that if you listen to a lot of music that contains bends - blues for one - you'll find that most of the bending is done to a half tone or less, with whole tone bends happening fairly rarely.

That is very true, especially on acoustic.

[murrmac123]

Originally Posted by JCook1

There's never been any rule that I've been aware of that says that a "bend" must be up to a whole tone.

Did anybody on this thread suggest otherwise? If so, I missed it ...

[JCook1]

Originally Posted by murrmac123

Did anybody on this thread suggest otherwise? If so, I missed it ...

No, but the OP was concerned about "bending to pitch," and he may have been referring to half tone or whole tone pitch. I've seen a lot of discussions about bending where it seems that quite a lot or people think bending should be to a whole tone. I was just commenting that a bend doesn't need to be to a whole tone or even a half tone to be correct in the music. It all depends on the context in the music. Certainly not a put-down of the OP or anything negative, just a comment.

Jack

[Laird_Williams]

Originally Posted by Scootch

Two fingers, grasshopper. Two fingers.

And don't try to bend with just your fingers. Keep the fingers pretty rigid and rotate your arm/wrist. Do most of the bend with the arm/wrist. Use the fingers for fine-tuning the final pitch. The arm and wrist are STRONGER and the more strength you have, the more control you will have. Also note that as you practice bending, it will get easier and your control will increase as you develop those muscles.

I tend to find that the middle finger does most of the bending (with the index finger helping a bit), while the ring finger is more about keeping the string pressed to the fret so it doesn't mute mid-bend. The ring finger still applies some of the bending force - but it is just that it is not its only job.

As a drill/conditioning exercise...For 1/2 step and whole step bends, try a slide followed by the corresponding bend.

So, for example, you are on the 5th fret of string 1.
1) Place fingers 1,2,3 on frets 3,4,5 respectively.
2) Play the note and then do a slide (whole hand) up 1 or two frets.
3) Then immediately go back to fret 5 and do a bend to the same pitch.

Remember that bends are FAR more difficult as you get closer to the nut. Start with 1/2 step bends up around the 10th or 12th frets. When those are comfortable, move those down to the 5th or 7th frets. Then start trying the whole step bends back up in the "easy" section of the neck. etc.