I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules. I think the real test would be in what you are doing immediately after the bend and if muting with the pick/finger makes that harder or not possible.
As a rule of thumb when learning anything new from Justin’s lessons, I tend to do exactly as he says. Then later one may learn more options and adapt things to suit yourself. So I’d suggest practice that muting with the edge of the palm technique as taught.
But I am just another advancing beginner.
@Richard_close2u Richard, can you add to or correct my reply; thanks.
I went through that topic and found this gem I’ll nominate that for the ‘Most helpful tip’ award in learning to hear a bend. And I can use this same trick to hear the D to E interval with a little adjustment. Maybe my ears are a little better tuned that I thought
Very similar to what I was saying to you or Gordon a few weeks back. Take time repeatedly switching between the note you are going to bend and the target note. Either just fret source and target back and forth, slide to the target, hammer the target. Work on those movements repeatedly to get that target pitch in your head, then bend. Wash rinse repeat. If I can play the Unison on the string below, I will hold the bend and check it that way. Also look at where you are bending the string to at the fret, does a B string tone bend end up with the string under the D string. Maybe not exactly but in that region. Look when you bend and use those references along with your ears.
Indeed I have been doing this two things since you mentioned them to me in my ‘What are you learning now’ topic.
I had been taking note of this as well. I thought it might be ‘cheating’ but I’m OK with anything that helps me on this path.
What this adds is to give the practice a musical and super familiar context viz the Smoke on the Water riff. Rather than just playing the 3rd note in the riff, bend up to it from the second note.
I immediately tried on my acoustic and was astonished. I know that riff so well in my head, having heard it 100s if not 1000s of times that in the context of first note, second note, bend to third, I could immediately hear it.
And I think using that ‘trick’ for a while and eventually dropping the first note will help to train my hear to hear a tone interval from one note to another.
After changing guitar I am having to revisit my bending technique as whilst on the old guitar I thought I could bend OK I am now struggling to bend on the high E string.
One of the things I’ve noticed is on the old guitar the action is higher and so it is easy for the finger to push up the string above (e.g. the B string where I find it hardest). On the new guitar the action is lower & I’ve noticed it’s often the high E string hitting and pushing the B string up which then means my finger must increase force to prevent the E string sliding back to normal position.
But I find it hard on the new guitar to ensure the finger pushes the string above instead of the string I’m bending pushing it. After revisiting many bending technique videos the way I have solved the problem is to ensure I’m bending from the finger tip and not flattening the finger. By bending from the finger tip I find the finger pushes the B instead of the E string hitting and pushing the B.
I’m writing this post as it seems to me a key part of reducing force needed in bends is ensuring the bending finger bends the string above and it is not the string you are bending hitting the string above and bending it. I’d be interested to hear if other people (especially on low action guitars) find the same thing (i.e. it’s the finger bending the string above) or if I’m adding 2+2 and getting 5. Thanks.
Yeah, that’s one of the problems with having a very low action and why I set mine a bit higher to suit easier bending. The other option that I also use a lot is to move the phrase higher up the fretboard so that I can bend the B instead of the e then you also have the option of bending towards the e instead of the G; it all depends on what works best for you. Myself I would raise the action a bit at a time until it’s OK, it won’t really affect the open chord area much (except perhaps a full barré F chord) so worth trying. Very low actions are more for the speed demons, very fast legato playing and tapping with lots of hammer ons and pull offs, it’s not really the best for blues players!
thanks @DarrellW. I was thinking this could be a good option. As someone that is usually inept at any kind of DIY assuming you’d take the guitar to a professional to set the action?
Leon, setting the action on an electric can be fairly straight-forward, not too demanding at all. And given you may want to experiment, perhaps take a look in YT for instructional videos on setting the action on your type of guitar.
No not really, a lot depends on what guitar you have - if it’s got a Floyd rose or similar trem it’s more complicated, most are fairly easy if you follow an online method and just go a bit at a time.
What are your two guitars? Action isn’t the only factor that comes into play on how easy a guitar is to do bends on.
Fret board radius is a bigger factor, so is scale length. The smaller the radius the harder it is to bend. A 7.5" radius 25.5 scale Fender Strat is alot harder to bend than a Gibson LP with a 12" radius 24.75 scale. Having your guitar set up to optimize for bends will make a huge difference.
Since my high E string broke while I was practicing my bends , I have ptsd whenever I try to bend on that very string
It is worth mentioning that it’s my 1st time that a string snaps in the middle of my practice session, and I think the reason is more related to the string being old than the bending technique (but still, I’m scared to bend that high E string for a complete tone )
I’m using thicker strings now (from 9 to 10 gauge for the thinnest) for a change (wanted to explore how it feels in the sound and in the touch) and It wasn’t surprising to see that the bending is a bit harder but I’ll get used to it
I broke a shed load of e strings when first starting out bending. Mainly 9s but at least 1 10.
So I had been putting new strings on (spares or breaking into new sets) and it still happened. That made me think it was not the strings just me, so I slowed everything down and eased into each bend to get a better feel of the action and movement require. I should add I also ordered a batch of 10 individual 9s just in case. A guess what ? Since they arrived, not one broken string when bending !!
Every time I get a new guitar, in the beginning I’ll be breaking a lot of strings during bends - but after a while it always stops happening. I’m pretty sure it actually has to do with microscopic burrs on the frets that wears on the strings… eventually enough to cause them to break. But after enough bending it all smooths out. Usually I can even feel/hear that the string scrapes over some of the frets when bending… where others are totally smooth.
Perhaps this is not at all what happens, but I have no other explanation
What I’m trying to say - don’t, generally speaking, be too afraid of bends and expect them to cause string breaks. Even a 9 string should be pretty strong, I doubt many people would be able to snap them… and especially not with 1-2 fingers
This evening I worked through Justin’s bending technique video and it was unexpectedly hard for me to bend up a tone. I’m not talking about playing a lick, just bending strings in isolation. I don’t know the string guage as they were on the guitar when I bought it. A second hand Yamaha Pacifica Mike Stern PAC-1511MS, incidentally, if that means anything. I’ll get the micrometer out tomorrow and measure the strings.
Can I think about fitting lighter strings to aid learning at the stage in at?
That’s really a matter of personal preference. Lighter strings will definitely make it easier to bend up a tone, especially on the middle two strings if that’s something you do a lot.
The problem I have with lighter strings is that they easily slip underneath each other when I do big or fast bends. It feels like I have less control and unwanted string noise gets in the way more often. My fingers are quite big though, so maybe this is less of an issue for you.
String gauge also plays a role in the overall tone and sound output, especially on an acoustic guitar. But that’s a different story and probably less relevant. At this point I’d recommend choosing string gauge based on technique / playing preference.
John,
I replaced the 9 gauge strings on my strat with 8 gauge and it was MUCH easier to do string bends. Buy some spare 8 gauge high-e strings as you are likely to break a few. Cheaper than buying full set when you only need one string.
, I have ptsd whenever I try to bend on that very string 
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