Bends

Control and bending to the correct pitch are keys to a good bend.
I mostly use my forearm to bend and not just the fingers (sortta like turning a door knob).

Check out Lick 1 at the link below.

http://guitarmojo.com/sky_is_crying/

David Hodge wrote a short article in the Summer 2006 issue of Play Guitar magazine, called "Bend Strings To Your Will". It is a nice intro to string bending with some simple exercises and examples. Though the Fall 2006 issue is supposed to be available soon, I saw a few copies of the Summer 2006 issue at Guitar Center so you may be able find a copy somewhere near you.

The text of the article is not available on the Play Guitar site, but the sound files are available:

http://playguitarmagazine.com/article/PG%209/PG%209,5561,30-MINUTELESSON-1.asp

Bending to the right pitch is the single most important thing. So it's important to have a good ear or practice ear training. In the beginning you can use a tuner to see if you reach the pitch.

It's also much easier to use more than one finger when bending. I usually use three fingers. And it will hurt. If I'm trying to learn a solo with a lot of bends it hurts after half an hour of intense practising.

In my opinion, what makes a good bend to a great one is adding vibrato. This is a hard trick, because after you have reached the right pitch you have to maintain that and then add the vibrato.

A very boring, but highly effective drill:

- Choose a random fretted note (call it the target)
- Play it, and listen to how it sounds.
- Bend to that note from one fret below, slowly.
- Play the target note again to check you got the bend just right.
- Bend to that note from two frets below, slowly.
- Play the target note again to check you got the bend just right.
- Rinse and repeat

Make sure you mix up the target notes a lot - it takes a different amount of force to bend just the right amount depending on string gauge, action, how close to the nut the fret is, etc.

The reason this one works so well is that you're basically learning to do it by the sound it makes rather than the force it takes. You'll have a rough idea of force with practice so you'll always be in the ballpark, but it's the sound recognition you should be training to get bends sorted.

You should bend a little quicker every time you get comfortable with your ability to hit the right pitch, but start with slow bends and make sure you're getting the target note exactly right.

thans for the ideas. i especially like using a tuner. i hadn't thought of that. and thanks for the link to the SRV song to practice.