To hook or not to hook...

1) I've been reading a lot of differing opinions on whether you should hook your thumb over the neck or not when doing bends. Some people seem to say it's essential to getting good bends, others seem to say that it's unnecessary and will slow down your playing. So which one is true? So confused!

Neither of them are "true" or "false"; its just what works for you during your playing. I hook my thumb over quite a lot (I know others do as well - I'm sure Vic does!) as I have quite big hands. Do what works for you.
15b17r15p12 (bend up to 17, release bend to 15 and then quickly pull off to 12)

I always wind up accidentally plucking the b-string during the release/pull off part because it gets "snagged" under my bending finger. Any tips on how to avoid this?

To contradict what I just said, I would advise getting your thumb behind the neck, and getting your freting fingers as close to 90-degrees to the fretboard was you can. This way, the edge of your finger/nail will be pointing straight down, and so the other stings can't get caught under it.

Pete

The way I do it is I hook my thumb, bend with the 3rd finger (and the 1st to give the 3rd finger some support) and mute the B string with the first finger at the same time.

The trouble you are having with that particular lick has nothing to do with your thumb at all. I think most players wrap their thumb over for bends, I do. I don't think altering your thumb will affect this B string problem.

Perhaps your action is a little high, so when you bend the high E up the B strings travels up on top of your ring or pinky (whichever finger(s) you are using for this bend). So when you release, the string pops off your finger sounding this bad note. When I perform this bend the B string stays on the tip or slides under my bending finger. It does not travel up on top of my fingers at all. I do bend the B string up quite a bit. But when releasing the B string does not pop. I don't have to mute the B string at all. But that's how I do it, everybody is different.

When the E string is back to it's normal position I give the string a little downward tug or pop to perform the pull-off.

Most people would perform this bend with the ring finger with the middle finger assisting. I like to perform this bend with the pinky with both the ring and middle fingers assisting. Either way is OK, I am just kind of a "one finger per fret" type player. Use whichever finger you prefer.

Didn't really want to talk about myself, just thought you might like to hear how others perform this.

Cool, thanks for the advice guys! Sounds like trying to mute with the right hand isn't the answer... I'll practice muting with my left hand.

Wes: When I bend the E-string up, the B-string isn't traveling up on top of my finger... it tends to slide under my bending finger. And because it's also under my bending finger, when I go to release and pulloff, I wind up accidentally plucking it too. It sounds like I should concentrate on releasing the bend fully before I do the pulloff. Only problem is that it's a really fast release and pulloff (they're both 16th notes) so I think I wind up rushing it and probably start pulling off before I've fully released the bend. I'll try doing it slower and see if I can get this right.

Thanks again!