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  #1  
Old 12-13-2001, 03:02 PM
jkillips jkillips is offline
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Question String Bending

I'm a blues guy at heart, and love listening to guys like Stevie Ray, Buddy Guy, and Clapton. Anyway, when I play electric, I bend an awful lot.

Now that I'm at law school, though, I "just" have my Taylor with me. Mostly, I play fingerstyle blues and instrumentals on it, but I'd also like to work on my blues lead playing.

Anyway, I have the hardest darn time bending up a whole step on most parts of the fretboard. I use .11's on my electrics, so I'm not sure why it should be so much harder on my 414 (strung with 12s). Any suggestions, other than to just keep doing it?

Thanks,
Jason
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Taylor 414-CE ("Nicole")
Taylor 522-CE 12-fret (DADGAD, etc.)
1969 Gibson C-1 Classical ("Daisy")
2007 Walden G570 ("Colleen")
Fender Standard Stratocaster ("Belle")
Epiphone Les Paul Standard ("Smokey")
Kit-built Tele-style ("Hazel")
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  #2  
Old 12-13-2001, 03:13 PM
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bnjp bnjp is offline
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I believe I'd try some extra lights and see what happens. Also try tuning your 12's down a half step or two to loosen the tension on the strings a little.
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  #3  
Old 12-13-2001, 03:31 PM
GordonHLau GordonHLau is offline
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Jason,

The wound strings on electric are usually nickel which have significantly less tension than the same gauge bronze acoustic wound strings. Also most electric strings have an unwound smaller third string. Add it all up and electric mediums have approx 45 lbs less total tension than acoustic lights (standard tuning, 25.5" scale neck). That's a lot, over 25% less tension. Check out D'addario's ( http://www.daddario.com ) website to compare tension, string by string to see how much difference there is between the electric mediums and acoustic lights.

GL
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Old 12-13-2001, 04:42 PM
Shea Shea is offline
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Hey Jason. My instructor taught me to use 3 fingers when you have to bend up a whole step. Your ring finger plays the actual note on the fret, with your middle and index finger right behind it on the same string. Just use all 3 to bend that string where you want it. It feels awkward at first, but with a little practice it feels comfortable and makes those notes much easier to bend that far.

Shea
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  #5  
Old 12-14-2001, 05:13 PM
jkillips jkillips is offline
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Those things are starting to make some sense. I always have used two or three fingers to bend, but I thought I was just imagining things when I thought that the strings felt so much heavier on my acoustic. I guess, in a way, they are. I'll take a look at some lighter strings. However, will that kill my tone?
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Jason
-----------
Taylor 414-CE ("Nicole")
Taylor 522-CE 12-fret (DADGAD, etc.)
1969 Gibson C-1 Classical ("Daisy")
2007 Walden G570 ("Colleen")
Fender Standard Stratocaster ("Belle")
Epiphone Les Paul Standard ("Smokey")
Kit-built Tele-style ("Hazel")
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  #6  
Old 12-14-2001, 05:40 PM
Bob Womack
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Another factor:

What scale-length electric do you play? If you are playing a Gibson (24.75") or similarly-scaled electric and move onto a Taylor (25.5") you will really feel the difference. Even with exactly the same gage string, the longer scale requires more tension to bring the string up to pitch. Conversely, after playing longer scale instruments with heavier strings, you'll find bending on a shorter scale instrument to be easy: The strings will feel like chewing gum.

You might want to get a Baby. With its short scale, when properly adjusted, it feels more like an electric.

Bob
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  #7  
Old 12-14-2001, 08:47 PM
jkillips jkillips is offline
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Actually, I have both a 24.75 Epi Les Paul and a 25.5 Fender Strat. I don't have any problem with either of those, even when strung with .11s. Maybe I'll just have to "hit the weight room" and work on my finger strength. It'll probably make me better in the end, anyways.
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Jason
-----------
Taylor 414-CE ("Nicole")
Taylor 522-CE 12-fret (DADGAD, etc.)
1969 Gibson C-1 Classical ("Daisy")
2007 Walden G570 ("Colleen")
Fender Standard Stratocaster ("Belle")
Epiphone Les Paul Standard ("Smokey")
Kit-built Tele-style ("Hazel")
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