TE-106 • String Bending

[justinguitar]

Questions...

Lesson Link: http://www.justinguitar.com/en/TE-106-StringBending.php

[scabo33]

Hey justin! An honour to be finally talking to ya! i was wondering could u tell me the secret behind bending vibrato or even where to find it in your videos..i rarely see it discussed by any tutor..but i think its an awesome technique when used!

Eric clapton said he found it the hardest thing to learn in his training!

peace out
Aido
Ireland

ps congrats on the awesome carreer.

[jordan821516]

Yeah I agree.  I have been finding it very difficult to keep my target note in tune after I bend it and then try to apply vibrato to it.  Any tips or especially a video lesson would be awesome!
Thanks,
Jordan

[(The) Rock]

Well i cant do it properly my self, so some tips would be good 

But i think basically its just the same as normal vibrato (same motion as when you bend, just smaller and both up and down )
The reason its harder must then be that it puts more tension on the string when you bend it, so that its harder to control.

So i think its just about pracitse, practise and practise 

[asylum]

HI

Yes THE ROCK you have hit the nail on the head practice, practice and more practice, i battled with vibrato for a long time and somewhere out of the blue one day it just happened and that was due to a lot of practice. I cant recall exactly when i managed it it just sort of happened and at the time i thought hey  i can do this now and have not given it much more thought after that, funny how you can battle with playing something and when you get it right you just think what the hell was all the fuss about.

[person]

Live,does classical vibrato sound the same as the electric style?I can omly play the classical version.

[sanjuro]

Best way to learn vibrato: get a BB King record, listen to him play a solo, then try to imitate it.  I think technically... try to keep your finger anchored, but your wrist loose.  Not sure if that's a good description... I learned about vibrato by listening to "Live at the Regal".

[scabo33]

thanks guys..

can i just say i am very comfortable with vibrato..i even used BB king as ear training!...

but when doing a bend vibrato..its just keepn the pitch i find difficult.because once u have the note..ur shakin the pitch with a vibrato!

does everybody see where im coming from??

[justinguitar]

a vibrato lesson is coming soon!

J

[eddyg08]

Thanks Justin, I for one, really need it, I use like three techniques, and I feel all of them are inappropriate. Up and down bending, starting from down using a little wrist movement, same but from up to down, not using the wrist, and the violin vibrato, which sounds good, but somehow incomplete.

Regards,

Eddy G.
Miami, Florida ( ok, I don`t like Obama, just for the European records)

[Macco]

Well you said it should feel comfortable when you do the bend.. I practice those bends several times, and the full tone bends doesnt feel comfortable at all. I try get the bend from the tension of the wrist and not the fingers itself, but i cant get it easy.. especially on the 3rd fret its nearly impossible to get the full tone. Is it correct to push the strings hard on the board, before the bend? When i see vids it look very easy but i feel like i use to get more power in my wrist.


@ Eddy: We don`t want to discuss politics, or racial issues here

[scabo33]

thanks guys..lokkin forward to the lesson

[abernethyfj]

Thanks for that advice Sanjuro it really helped me, the idea of anchoring your finger to the fretboard. Whenever i was attempting it id lose the note either by vibratoing wayy too much or just losing contact with the string, its definately a finger strength thing so I'm just going to keep the finger gym up haha.

[Vincent]

I'm trying to sort out Wish you were here.  My first song with bends in it.

My problem seem to be in the "un-bending" portion, the meaty part of my fingers or nails kinda grab and perform unintentional pull-offs on the strings above the one I am bending during the release.

I know that practice will cure this eventually, so I'm not looking for an answer really, just wanna see if others have experienced this and its not just me...need to know I'm not alone with this problem.

[Huachiman]

I'm finding it difficult to get and hold the tone bend on my acoustic.  I definitely don't think there is any possibility of doing two tones (as you had mentioned).  Is string bending typically only practiced on an electric guitar?

[DaSilvaRenegade]

bending is definitely natural on the acoustic guitar its just more prominent on the electric. the reason being the acoustic guitar strings are thicker so they are harder to bend and either we arent strong enough to bend them or if anybody is like me afraid to snap that string. friend of mine snapped one and it got sliced into his finger so im not trying to do that. the thing about holding the tone bend is you have to use more force to get it up there. I tend to bend too far becuz i kno that while im holding it my hand loosens up and drops the pitch a lil bit.

Duo

[DeadlyChicken]

I too am looking forward to a lesson on bending vibrato..

The kind that you apply at teh end of a bend.

I think that one of teh problems is that say you do a stop step bend, up two whole frets. all well and good, now to make that into a 3 step bend, you only move up the tinyest bit more thana two step, the sort of amount you might think of for vibrato ?

so its like you have to be more accurate when bending even though the tension makes it harder.

Some of it seem easy like usign the index finger and starting with a down bend for the vibrato seems easier than bending up for virbato.

But yeah lessons and techniques would be really useful

[ufr-eagle]

@Vincent,

you're not alone guy, that thing exactly happens, when i try to bend this part of the solo 
I tried to cut my nails as short as I could, but that was not the trick. Maybe changing strings could be the solution? Or just practise as (The) Rock said  

ufr-eagle

[bobbyd]

Hi all,

I have a question about breaking strings.  I've been working on full tone bends so I can have them sorted out before I get serious w/ the blues lead guitar series.

On my electric Stratocaster my 1st string is a .010.  I've broken 4 of these now.  The string seems to only last about 10 full tone bends then breaks in the middle.  I don't have this problem on any of my other strings.  I'm using Fender strings original 150 strings.

Second question:  On an acoustic(takamine) with slightly thicker strings, would one expect to be able to do full tone bends from the 5th to 7th fret?  Is it something that takes time to build up strength?

[daviewz]

@Vincent,

you're not alone guy, that thing exactly happens, when i try to bend this part of the solo 
I tried to cut my nails as short as I could, but that was not the trick. Maybe changing strings could be the solution? Or just practise as (The) Rock said  

ufr-eagle

It is practice.  I'm learning Wish You Were Here as well and was having the same problem with coming out of the bend causing pull offs and my nails catching the next string up etc.  It was only after reading Vincent's post that I realized that I don't do it any more.  So keep practicing and you'll find the problem will stop. In my case I can't think what I did, it just went away.   I still can't play the whole thing smoothly though.  My string sliding leaves a lot to be desired 

[justinguitar]

OK - few questions here...

Bend on an acoustic guitar is hard. Simple. Take lots of finger strength and practice.

As for muting unwanted notes...

Right hand should be muting all strings above the bent string. Tip of left hand first finger should also touch the string immediately above the bent string.

1st finger should also mute all strings below the bent string.

Macco - don't push the strings into the board - just makes it harder to do the bend. Just push it up!

Hope that helps

J

[jusabuketin]

i just break the E string when practicing string bending on an acoustic guitar
Now, i got phobia bending string on both electric and acoustic guitar.
haiz...

[flyhead]

This string-breaking sounds strange. Do you bend off the fretboard often, and how is the finishing on the fret-wire ends?

[bobbyd]

The string breaking was strange.  It actually stopped for me after 4 e strings.  I think it had something to do with how I was restringing the string.

[Dash Rendar]

I noticed in Justin's lessons about playing Pentatonic scales that he recommends using 1st and 3rd fingers a lot on the LH, to faciliate bending.  For example, consider playing a Minor Pentatonic Pattern 1 (E min shape)...  I've always played the pattern with the following fingering:

1, 4
1, 3
1, 3
1, 3
1, 4
1, 4

But Justin suggests using fingers 1 and 3 throughout.  It makes perfect sense and I can see why he's suggested this.  And I also know he says not to worry about precise fingering too much.  But I was wondering: is it wrong to be doing string bends including the little finger?  I've always happily done bends using three fingers or all four, and now I'm wondering if using four is incorrect. 

Thanks.