[Saeed AlSuri]

Hello there everybody ... or should I say Guitar players ..

I don't know where should I put this post in .. so I figured recording is a good place ..

Now if any body noticed the many member of this forum .. associate my playing with Santana ..

but in fact if any body noticed .. I don't use .. Bending in my playing Guitar ..

So my question is .. is their any way to learn adding bending in my solos or playing in general ..

thought I should ask here since we have many accomplished guitar players in our forum ..

I'd like to add bending to my playing .. and get it to a level it comes naturally in the playing ..

Any tips .. 

Thanks guys ..

Cheers ..

[ShinyThang]

Francis Liquorice of the Enid gave me the only tip on note bending that I've ever had; bend with the third finger and put the 2nd & 3rd behind it to give strength. I think this one tip got me started. It's not easy to put vibrato in using that method but it may help in some instances.

Other than that I watched my own guitar hero, Dave Gilmore on Youtube. He has a lovely bending technique which is sometimes a combination of bend and whammy bar

[Michael]

I'm not exactly the greatest guitar player myself, so I can't really give you any tips on the technique, but for getting the bendings to come naturally to your playing I'd consciously try to replace as many note changes as possible that you usually do with slides or hammer-ons with bendings. hopefully sooner or later you will do them automatically without thinking about it

[diademgrove]

Here is a lesson from Justin Sandercoe on string bending. I've found he's a very good teacher. The video gives you a step by step guide

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/TE-005-StringBending.php

[Saeed AlSuri]

Thanks guys ..

I think Micheal .. did understand my problem .. the bending how .. I know .. but the bending when and where .. is the problem ..  I need to make it natural to the line of notes I play ..

I need a way to add the bending here and there as a practice to get it working in solos .. something like a riff or a scale to practice were I can add bends .. that sort of thing .. you all use bending any tips ?? during practice ?

Cheers ..

[NicBDA]

If you have the technique down (Justin Sandercoe is a very good free online teacher!) Michael's idea is the best to follow, use in place of hammers and slides every now and again.

A lot will be feel of the song. Will a smooth change of pitch sound better than legato or a slide? then go for a bend. You can even bend to the next note in a scale then fret and play that note on another string (check some of Justin's blues licks videos). Bends are often repeated in a row (look at Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love solo as one example (there are many).

You can also use them to accent notes, or to bend from outside notes back into the scale. or even to make some funky sounds, think Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water, the slowly released bend at the end of the solo.

For practicing I tend to pick a scale box then bend into the next box. Just make sure the bends are accurate!

Hope that helps some!

[Saeed AlSuri]

Some nice tips NicBDA ..

Thank you .. just to be clear [

quote author=NicBDA link=topic=5395.msg47375#msg47375 date=1377003027]
For practicing I tend to pick a scale box then bend into the next box.
[/quote]

you mean fro one scale t o another or one note to other or fro octave to another .. 

I need if you please a short example ..

Thank you great help ..

Cheers ..

[diademgrove]

Hi Saeed,

I thought you wanted something a little more basic, my apologies.

Justin does a blues lead guitar course where he introduces a number of licks with bends and shows you how to use them.

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/BL-000-Blues.php

You could also write an exercise in the first and second position of the minor pentatonic scale. First play it as you normally would with no bends. Once you can play it try playing it with bends on the G,B and E strings without leaving the first position. So, for example, in Am the D not on the high E string would be played by bending the note D up a tone, etc.

Hope this helps,

diadem

[Saeed AlSuri]

Thanks diadem ..

There is much here to absorb  ..need few days to try ..

Thanks a banch diadem ..

Cheers

[Boydie]

Hey SAEED

The vids should see you fine but if you want a few quick tips I would suggest the following as a starting point...

Start off with just trying to bend the 3rd (G) string (hee hee - I said G String  ) as it will be easier to control being in the middle of the neck

Aim to bend the string so that increases in pitch by a tone (ie 2 frets)

I would then move on to trying to bend the 2nd (B) string by a tone (ie 2 frets)

To start with aim for a clean bend WITHOUT vibrato - this will help develop your accuracy when trying to hit the note 2 frets above (which you can check by playing that note before and after)

Practice the bends on different positions up and down the neck to get a feel for the different tensions - ie it is more difficult to bend near the nut and easier further up the neck


To make it a little more practical lets look at the most common string bends

Lets assume we are using the good ole C Minor Pentatonic scale

C minor Pentatonic Scale
e|-------------------------------------8--11--|
B|------------------------------8--11---------|
G|-----------------------8--10----------------|
D|----------------8--10-----------------------|
A|---------8--10------------------------------|
E|--8--11-------------------------------------|


IMHO the most useful string bends to incorporate into your playing style will be:

 - Bending at the 10th fret on the G String - so that it sounds like you are playing the 12th fret

In this case you are bending the 4th degree of the scale (F) up to the 5th note in the scale (G), which gives a satisfying "resolution"


 - Bending at the 11th fret on the B string - so that it sounds like you are playing the 13th fret

In this case you are bending the b7 (Bb) up to the root note (C), which also gives a sense of resolution/release

I would suggest learning the intro to "Black Magic Woman" as a masterclass of Santana using string bends

This all sounds very wordy but it should make sense when you grab your guitar and I think you will instantly recognise the sound of the bends

Good luck!

[Saeed AlSuri]

Thank you Boydie ... for the comprehensive lesson .. great stuff .. 

thank you for the great effort .. and the diagram tab .. 

OK .. sounds great .. I did some practice with few lines .. found the the G string is the easiest and fastest to learn .. I used the 3rd an first fingers for bending even the four .. no problem there .. I think I'll get the hang of it when I'll write a Blues song ..  .. then I have to bend every other note in the riffs solos Intros .. alllos .. 

Thank you again guys .. great forumies ..

Cheers ..

[GTB]

Hi Saeed,
sorry if this is already covered in the links above, or if it's a little too obvious, but your string gauges will influence what you can achieve too.  If you have a 'jazz' set up with big fat strings and maybe a high action you'll find it a lot different from a low action shredding set up.  Also, if you have a floating bridge and you are bending one string whilst simultaneously holding another you should hear that 'other' string's pitch go lower as the bend goes higher.

I too very much admire Dave Gilmour's string bending technique, I think he (eventually) goes up 4 frets in Another Brick in the Wall) at one point - so make sure you have some spare strings handy too :-)

GTB

[NicBDA]

Some nice tips NicBDA ..

Thank you .. just to be clear [

quote author=NicBDA link=topic=5395.msg47375#msg47375 date=1377003027]
For practicing I tend to pick a scale box then bend into the next box.

you mean fro one scale t o another or one note to other or fro octave to another .. 

I need if you please a short example ..

Thank you great help ..

Cheers ..
[/quote]

Diadem's last paragraph summed up what I was getting at nicely so using the Am pentatonic scale and for ease of bending take the top string
e---5----8

So play the A to the C by what ever technique you like, slide, hammer, pick, then bend the C up a tone to D (the next note on that string, which would be part of the next box shape (CAGED))
So
e---5----8b(10) bend the 8th fret C to sound like the 10th fret D.

Hope that clears it up for you

[Saeed AlSuri]

OK NicBDA ..

Thank you again for the example ..

and thank you gays again for great tips..

By the way from last night I'm watching a video of Eric Clapton live show in Motreux Jazz Fastival 1997 .. he has great bending ways .. really amazing guitarist ..

Cheers ..

[Stephen Palmer]

Mike Oldfield has a unique technique, check out this fascinating recent interview.

http://www.innerviews.org/inner/oldfield.html