Bending Steel Article Thread

[Koala]

Hey Eric, just want to congratulate you on your bending article. As you said its not an A-Z guide on bending but it is informative as well as very well laid out and exemplified with pics and soundfiles. Great job man.

I forgot to say, it just sounds killer when Thorsten rakes into explosive bends.......love it. Kickbutt Thorsten!

[EricV]

Thanks,
glad ya like it. Videos would have been even more helpful, but right now, I don´t have the gear for that... maybe in the near future
Thanks
Eric

[forgottenking2]

Loved it! We didn't have anything on bending here so it's a nice addition, and it's always cool to see how other players do things and compare it to your own playing, so the article is not just for paople who had never bent a string in their lives but all of us can benefit from it. Great work from both of you guys. It was specially pleasant to see the contrasting style in vibrato technique from Eric's subtle and warm vibrato and Thorstein's dramatic, muscular and energetic style... Great article, keep it up guys.

Regards,

[EricV]

Hey there,

thanks ! I like your review of the article. And that was another reason why I asked Thorsten to provide soundfiles... to show how much tone and vibrato of two players can differ.
As I stated in the "Quest For Tone" article... its part of your voice and will set you apart. When Thorsten plays through my rig, on my guitar, he still sounds like him, when I play through his stuff, I still sound like myself.
Thanks
Eric

PS. Just to avaoid confusion, we merged two threads here... both were about the new article.

[Thorsten]

Hey Eric!

Thanks for letting me take part again in one of your great articles...always a pleasure, buddy!

I particularly liked the one on feeling the bends...that´s really a great exercise.

Keep up the good work and c ya soon...

TK

P.S. Please let´s not get into any dirty "bending" jokes, o.k. ;) ?

P.P.S. Yo Koala, I always kick butt when bending...(doh!)

P.P.P.S Hi FK2, I just love that word Thorstein! Did you know that my real name is Thorstein Schwarzenschnitzel?;) JK...

[flathead]

I always hear how 'so and so' has good vibrato, but could someone post a clip of what bad vibrato sounds like?

[Thorsten]

Originally posted by flathead
I always hear how 'so and so' has good vibrato, but could someone post a clip of what bad vibrato sounds like?

Just listen to any C.C Deville solo!:D

Seriously, I think it always sounds bad when the vibrato´s too fast, a mistake that many beginners do very often. Good vibrato should have a human touch to it, just like a singer would use it.

TK

P. S. No offence to C.C., I love Poison!

[forgottenking2]

Oops! Sorry I misspelled your name Thorsten (and believe it or not I just re did it I first typed Thirsten :p ) No, seriously, sorry about that. Killer chops you have Mr Schwarzenschnitzel :p JK

Laterz,

[hellogoodbye]

Looks good with those pictures!

The only thing I miss is an explanation/description of the technique of vibrato. I can bend easily, but have big troubles with vibrating a bend note. The problem is that I don't know if I should do that with my, finger (using the muscles of my fingers) or with my wrist/hand (keeping the fingers stiff and move my wrist/hand up and down) or with my complete arm...?

I usually beand mainly with my fingers. But when I try to do a vibrato I often let the strings slip, or I can't press them enough. I tried it by moving my wrist up and down but it felt strange...

Any tips on this?

[chris]

Originally posted by Thorsten
Did you know that my real name is Thorstein Schwarzenschnitzel?;) JK...

Cool... are you any relation to our new Govenor of California ;)

I haven't read this article yet but I did download and listen to the sound files.. Sounds great guys. Eric, I just love your tone as I've stated before. Is this the Laney Amp? You use a lot of Mids too don't you?

I'd love to have a copy of the tab for the version of "Amazing Grace" you played too. I think snufeldin will need a copy of this also for his next gig at chapel :D

[Zatz]

WOW!

Multimedia support + extremely professional performance just rock!!! Thanks Eric and Thorsten! Special thanks for mentioning unison bending I was recently asking about ;)

AMAZING ARTICLE!

Zatz.

[Koala]

LOLOL Thorsten!
hellogodbye, you should try to bend from the wrist as that provides a lot more strength and control. To add vibratto to a bend use your fingers and some wrist.

Hope this helps

[Bizarro]

Awesome article!

The soundfiles are top-notch! I was just playing along with them... ;) I need to practice more :eek:

[Jeansen]

hello..really great article there..i tought that i've had enough with my vibrato and bend but ..man..listening to those clip and saw that article..i realized that i'm not that good yet.thanks..
but why there's no double string bending technique? :) it really common in rock style ...,isn't it?

[hellogoodbye]

Originally posted by Koala
hellogoodbye, you should try to bend from the wrist as that provides a lot more strength and control. To add vibratto to a bend use your fingers and some wrist.

Hope this helps
I'll give it a try. But somehow I don't know HOW exactly to move my wrist... Should I just my wrist or also the arm/elbow a little? But anyway, I need to keep the fingers stiff, if I understand it right...?

Another thing: in another thread I said I never knew what to do with my bending fingers end the other strings: if I had to get those fingers over or under those other strings (which often happened by accident). Now I can clearly see on the pictures Eric has al of his fingers over the strings, also because... he's got some pretty low action! My strings are a lot higher than his.

Now I could lower the action, but that is not (yet) really possible since I still got my old guitar... So I wonder: for all those players with high(er)action: I guess it's still the best things to get your fingers over the other strings? So you also mute them?

It's still quite a problem to mute the other strings, specially when you do a vibrato: because you also bend the other strings along with the sounding string they get close togethers so you really have to be very precise when you mute them with your left or right hand... But as usual practice, practice and practice will do the trick, I suppose...

[EricV]

Originally posted by Jeansen
hello..really great article there..i tought that i've had enough with my vibrato and bend but ..man..listening to those clip and saw that article..i realized that i'm not that good yet.thanks..
but why there's no double string bending technique? :) it really common in rock style ...,isn't it?

There isn´t ? Do you mean bending two strings at the same time ? Cuz, when it comes to bending techniques involving two strings, the unison bend and oblique bend do just that.
If you mean licks that involve bending two strings at the same time... well, as I said at the end of the article. This is no be all, end all complete dictionary of all bending techniques. It´s supposed to cover the basics and some special "tricks"...

Bending two strings at a time is kinda similar to bending one, but you wanna use the whole flat part of your fingertip to grab and bend both strings. This might need some serious muting
Eric

[forgottenking2]

Interesting approach Eric... I do it diferently though, I kind of use the "suportive fingering" approach and use a different finger per string, then I just bend and kinda have the fingers help each other... so it's sort of an oblique or unison bend except that I do bend the other string instead of keeping it still... it has worked for me, I don't know if it's technically wrong, I'll try your approach though.

Regards,

[Koala]

Originally posted by hellogoodbye
I'll give it a try. But somehow I don't know HOW exactly to move my wrist... Should I just my wrist or also the arm/elbow a little? But anyway, I need to keep the fingers stiff, if I understand it right...?



The best explanation Ive heard for bending was given by someone in here some time ago (szulc maybe, not too sure). When you bend your wrist should move as if you were opening your shower tap (the left one). Mimic doing so and then apply it to the guitar, your wrist rotates with your arm.
About fingers remaining stiff they practically dont move except for adding vibrato to a bend, or for exceptionally quick fine tuning in case yo under/over bend.

Hope this helps,

[hellogoodbye]

Originally posted by Koala
The best explanation Ive heard for bending was given by someone in here some time ago (szulc maybe, not too sure). When you bend your wrist should move as if you were opening your shower tap (the left one). Mimic doing so and then apply it to the guitar, your wrist rotates with your arm.
About fingers remaining stiff they practically dont move except for adding vibrato to a bend, or for exceptionally quick fine tuning in case yo under/over bend.

Hope this helps,
Ah, yes, that's a nice one! I can work with that!

Still... it's quit easy for me to bend with just my fingers... Is that bad? I mean, will it bring me in trouble later on, when I develop my technique and speed more and more...? Will it block the development or are there also real good pro's who bend with just the fingers?

[Koala]

I guess if it works for you, then it is alright. But im assuming you play with .9`s or light strings, if you at any chance haev to play 12`s and 13`s fingers just wont do it or theyll get real tired, real quick.

[hazerfazer]

Another thing: in another thread I said I never knew what to do with my bending fingers end the other strings: if I had to get those fingers over or under those other strings (which often happened by accident). Now I can clearly see on the pictures Eric has al of his fingers over the strings, also because... he's got some pretty low action! My strings are a lot higher than his.

Now I could lower the action, but that is not (yet) really possible since I still got my old guitar... So I wonder: for all those players with high(er)action: I guess it's still the best things to get your fingers over the other strings? So you also mute them?

It's still quite a problem to mute the other strings, specially when you do a vibrato: because you also bend the other strings along with the sounding string they get close togethers so you really have to be very precise when you mute them with your left or right hand... But as usual practice, practice and practice will do the trick, I suppose...

I have also been having issues with this. Obviously when your action is really really low they are going to go under your fingers like the string you are bending. But if a little bit higher or as you get higher on the neck, they will be "caught" by your fingertips and not against the fretboard. How do you make this transition? I have a feeling it is very much a callousing thing that makes the strings stay put when they should and vice versa but any opinions on this? And don't say muting because I know all about muting and it doesn't apply in every situation. Any help?

Thanks.

P.S. I have made about 20 threads in the past six months on various forums about this so please answer my specific questions.

[EricV]

Well, muting certainly is one aspect of it, but to get to the "high string" action part: on my main guitar, I have a pretty high string action ( I dont even notice anymore, but when Marcel Coenen played it, he commented on it like "Dude, that´s some really high action you have there" )
What happens when I bend the string is: when I bend, I don´t fret the string I am bending with the very tip of my finger. Its a part a bit below the tip. So when I bend, the next finger first gets kinda caught a bit above the other string, then slides down the finger and rests next to the other string.
I dont know if this makes any sense... I never paid much attention to that, so I just observed it closely for the first time. But I noticed that when I i.e. bend the B-String, the G-string doesn´t get caught on the tip of my fretting finger permanently, but slides down and eventually rests to the one I am bending.
I don´t know if this helps any, but take it for what it´s worth
Eric

[hazerfazer]

This happens to me in the lower frets but most of the time when it does that it makes noise. Like it's not really a slow sliding down my finger to rest on the frets, rather it snaps off quickly creating a "clicking" sound that even with muting is still apparent. :(