Hi all,
Ok, so I'm getting the hang of bending up to a given note (essentially, bend it as much as you think the string will take, then add another half inch :D), but the problem I seem to have is letting go of the bend. I get a nice bending note going up, but then when I release I get it going back down, which sounds awful. Am I releasing too slowly or something?
I think I mute the string if don't want the sound of the released bend. I stress the "think" because I just do it, I don't really think about it too much.
when I have overdrive or distortion going a bent note can get outta hand. when I play clean I love the natural decay of that unbending string. I think part of David Gilmour's sound is that.
muting (I use my palm almost all the time)or any other thing you can come up with will work.
Invention is a lot of what guitar playing is all about.
When you are releasing what kind of sound are you getting? I kind of have the problem where when I release a bend I get the sound of it scratching against the frets on my acoustic.
In Space, no one can hear me sing!
It's not a buzz or 'noise', it's the note 'returning' to the unbent sound. For example take Eric Clapton's 'Layla'. The famous riff has 12 notes, the 8th of which is usually bent up. My problem is I get the note bending up, but the unbending 'adds' an extra note! Geddit?
Ah, I see. Have you tried muting that particular string right before returning the string to it's original form? Either palm or fretting hand should do it like DogBite said.
In Space, no one can hear me sing!
What I do for the "Layla" riff is do the bend with three fingers (index on 11, middle on 12, ring on 13 playing the actual note). At the top of the bend I release pressure on the ring finger and guide the string back down using the other two fingers. I keep the ring finger lightly touching the string because I have to play that note again at the bottom of the bend.
At least that's what it feels like I'm doing. Like Scrybe said, this seemed to come automatically and I wasn't even aware I was doing it. If I concentrate I can keep the pressure on the finger and get the bend-down effect like you're getting unintentionally. You can even do down-bends where you mute the bend up and play the bend down for a different effefct.
Heh heh I read the first para of mmoncur's post thought I'd post a +1 to that. I don't consciously work at this, it just happens, but I can either include the sound of the released bend or not, depending on what I'm playing. Having noodles last night with this thread in mind, it seems I mostly mute the release bend with my fretting fingers if I don't want it to sound. Sometimes I do it with my picking hand - I find that way easier for bending up to a note then getting it to cut out quickly, a slightly different sound.
What I do for the "Layla" riff is do the bend with three fingers (index on 11, middle on 12, ring on 13 playing the actual note). At the top of the bend I release pressure on the ring finger and guide the string back down using the other two fingers.
That does seem to make it better, thanks. The problem I have now is that my fingers get underneath the strings above the high E and get all tangled; it's not the greatest guitar in the world and the action is pretty high once you get to the higher frets.
When releasing the bend / string back to its original position, you need to mute the string from sounding. It took me a while to get it right - I normally mute the string with my pick just before going back down. The pressure is fairly minimal - just enough to deaden the sound. I find you can also take some pressure off the string with your fingers to mute the sound on the way down.
You realy need a low action when playing up the higher frets, as like you said, hitting the other strings ruins the cleanliness of the sounds.
