hiya all ...
feel kinda dumb askin this ... but i just cant seem to manage a full whole note bend on my acoustic , half notes are very comfortably done ...but even when i push a string to it's max ..it's still a half note bend ....
cud i be going wrong sumwhere !?!
also cud sumguy tell me wat is the difference between bending the string up and down .. they both sound like an increase in pitch to me
thankin in anticipation 8)
Use two fingers. You can get the bend, but it helps to add a finger behind the fretting finger to get the extra umph you need to make the bend.
You always bend up. You can't bend down in pitch. A good rule of thumb though, in terms of physical technique, is to bend strings toward the middle of the fingerboard to have sufficient room. But the sound will always rise in pitch.
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
Bends are certainly more difficult on an acoustic. I found it to be very helpful to use more than one finger to do the bend. For example, try doing the bend with your ring finger on the note you're bending, but use your middle and index fingers behind it (towards the nut, I mean) to assist.
I'm not sure if that makes sense...maybe someone else can explain it better. It helps a bunch.
Oops...I guess I took too long typing. I think Musenfreund and I are saying the same thing. Simply use more than one finger.
Sometimes you'll bend a string in a downward direction simply because there's no room to go up (the low E string, for example). It still results in an increase in pitch.
It may also be your strings. If you have .12's on your guitar they are harder to bend. I switched to .11's and everything is much nicer. However .12's do give you a "deeper sound" that .11's do.
hiya all ...
feel kinda dumb askin this ...
The ONLY dumb question is the one that goes unasked!!
Everyone has pretty much covered it. There is a matter of finger strength as well. You are working on that.
At times I will even use 3 fingers to bend.
It goes without saying, or maybe it doesn't, that the position at which you are playing and trying to bend a string makes a difference.
The further up the neck you're playing the easier it will be to make a full bend. If you are looking to make a full bend at the second fret, for instance bending the A (3rd string 2nd fret) to a B will be very very difficult. You're too close to the nut and the string has less give at that point. Move to the 4th string 7th fret or the 2nd string 10th fret. See if you can see and feel a difference. I'd be surprised if you couldn't.
Michael
Playing an instrument is good for your soul
i can get half bends almost anywhere on the fretbrd <after the 4th fret > but full bends r a problem ....
btw .. can cheap guitar strings b a problem ?
also is dere sumtng wrong wid my technique ...
say if i hav to bend7th fret on 4th string . i put 3rd finger on the 7th fret 4th string and 2nd finger behind it on the same string ; and i use the first finger on the 5th string to mute it < a frnd told dis over to me on phone :o >>
is dis inherently wrong !?
Can I make a very friendly request that you not type like that anymore? It's distracting, and hard to read, in my opinion.
It sounds like your technique is good. It does help to mute the string above so it doesn't ring when your bending fingers hit it.
I don't think the price of the strings is an issue, just the gauge.
If you're bending the 4th string, pull it down instead of pusing up, this goes for strings 4 5 and 6.
And I must agree with Snarfy. A lot of our tax dollars went into your education. Please show us we got something for it. :wink:
Mike
Playing an instrument is good for your soul
