Question About Technique

[itbepopples]

Hey guys,

I finally got to the point where all my bends are the right pitch, but now I can't seem to get the other strings I'm bending past to stay quiet. I've tried left hand damping with my other fingers but then I didn't have enough strength to execute the bend. I also tried damping with the right hand but that was really awkward and killed the note I was trying to bend and sustain.


Does string gauge have anything to do with it? Action? Or do I just have bad technique? Either way has anyone else had this problem or know what I could do to fix it?

[Kap'n]

I damp with both left and right hands. After a while, it becomes intuitive.

[photoweborama]

I don't damp. I guess thats why.......

[moonpie]

Just keep at it popples....it'll come.

[Kap'n]

I damp with both left and right hands. After a while, it becomes intuitive.

Maybe that's why folks say I'm all damp.

[matsb]

Adjust your action so that the other strings wind up on the middle of the fingertips on your bending fingers as you bend. The angle of your bending fingers vis-a-vis the fingerboard also determines where those other strings go: fingers too parallell and the strings go under, fingers too "vertical" and they go under your fingernail.

Do you play with a pick? Play it as a reststroke, that is land on the string below the one you're playing (and bending). That takes care of one of the potential noice makers.

[sliding-tom]

Just keep at it popples....it'll come.

+ 1! Like all other techniques, you gotta practice them and one of these days you'll grab your guitar and it all falls into place!

[Offshore Angler]

Try moving your wrist out front a little. You want to make sure you're coming down on the strings and not across them. This will help your vibrato too. Do the vibrato from the wrist and not the fingers.

[itbepopples]

Ok I just raised the action on my Strat and adjusted the saddles and it seems to have seriously improved the situation after about only 30 minutes of practicing...needless to say I'm pleased and will just work on it like you guys suggested. Bitchin.

[matsb]

Do the vibrato from the wrist and not the fingers.

I usually think of it as the forearm (is that the right English word?) doing the job with a rotating motion. The fingers just mediate that motion and should keep approx. the same curvature throughout the bend.

And, as you so wisely mention OA, vibrato the wide r'n'r way is done the same way, the hand pivoted to the side of the fretboard, I'd say just below indexfingers' first joint.

Does anyone understand this? I'm not even sure I do anylonger... Maybe I shouldn't get a job writing manuals

And use 2 or 3 fingers bending and vibratoing for strength and precision!

[Jesse S.]

I agree - bends and vibrato should use the same motion as turning a doorknob. Although I'm not sure I always do it that way, but my bends are usually decent enough these days, so I must be doing something all right. My vibrato is terrible, though. I should really do some focused practicing on that, cause good vibrato lets you play slow and sound great! (Make the most of your limitations, right?)

Low action is seriously overrated. I believe higher action improves tone and sustain as well.

[moonpie]

Lot's of different kinds of vibrato--- fingers, wrist, forearm and all are useful.
On bends, I tend to use finger vibrato only.

[TT100]

Adjust your action so that the other strings wind up on the middle of the fingertips on your bending fingers as you bend.

Excellent advice. Apparantly, it helped too. I can't bend properly on guitars with very low action because the adjacent string slides under the bending finger and gets fretted also. Raising the action fixes it for me.

:yay

TT