I have trouble with bending notes

I really don't know what I'm doing wrong... I can't even bend a full note some of the strings... Does anyone have any tips or lessons ?

Are you just starting out? Because I also had problems with bending when I started to play guitar. There's not much else you can do but keep practicing and your fingers will eventually begin to go things that you never thought possible as they become stronger.

One thing that I noticed when I was learning to bend was that other better guitarists would use two or three fingers on the same string when bending. But it was a while before I was able to use that technique. Again, it just took practice.

No I’m not starting out….well I’ve been playing from 2-4 hours almost everyday and I think that I’m a fair guitarist with the time considered. The thing is that I almost never bend fullnotes when I play. Only halfnotes with pinch harmonics sometimes. I’ve mainly trouble with bending the high E string. Ok.. sure I can bend fullnotes on it (I do use more then one finger sometimes ), I was exaggerating in my last post, but I surely can’t do it in a fast pace.. I goes very slowly. Before I wrote my last post I was trying to learn the solo part in Pantera – a new level, and I came to realize that there is a serious lack of technique in my bending. I’ve heard that stevie vai can do very big bends does he use any technique in particular ? Well... It’s probably just a practice thing as you said but anyways. And sorry about the launguage I’m from sweden.

heh I got it :-) all it took was 20 minutes if practice.
Still intressted in Steve vais technique though

How thick are your strings? It can be really difficult to bend whole steps or more if they are higher than 10's (the 6th strings gauge). I use either 8s or 9s. 9s are in between how much life u can get from them and how goo their tone is...

Try Bending bass strings. ;) Wheww!!

You will get it with some practice. Just need alittle strenght in your fingers. Can you do vibrato and wide vibrato?? Shouldn't neglect those, and practicing them with help you get quicker with your bends.

I started out with a cheap "Nylon Strings" spanish guitar , and I learned to bend on it ... That's where I think my finger strength came from (I can bend up to 8-frets & I use .010's gauge strings , no kidding).

Usualy for bigger bends , you should always use help from other fingers ... The strongest bend you can do is to bend with your ring finger with help from the middle , and hopefully the index (if it's not busy).

I don't think Steve Vai uses any special bending technique (considering the freting hand) , but he sometimes helps his bending with the tremolo bar (you can bend up to umpteen frets this way, no matter what gauge you use).

If you're still having problems (after a couple of months or so), you may have to sacrifice tone for a lighter gauge strings .

Don't forget about the vibrato thing "noticingthemistake" mentioned ... It can be more important than bending itself.

[Edited by SLY on 07-05-2003 at 12:53 AM]

8 frets thats cool ! Well right now I've a sting shortage... well I've been to lazy to take the bus downtown to buy strings so I actually have a D string where the B string should be.. the other's are fine but the B(D) string ís in the way even when I bend the high E string... maybe I should buy thicker strings for my other guitar(well after I've bought a new b sring obviously :-)) and practice bending on it then it might be easier bending the other guitar with 0.10 gauge.

yeah and I've no trouble doing vibrato... but what is wide vibrato ? Its a bigger vibrato but how big ? over a full note ?

Originally posted by Niklasl
yeah and I've no trouble doing vibrato... but what is wide vibrato ? Its a bigger vibrato but how big ? over a full note ?

Depends on the person, but wide vibrato is just what it sounds like. You just do a vibrato wider than you normally do. Most vibrato is a 1/4 bend, wide vibrato is a 1/2 bend or (semi-tone). The way I play them is to measure on the guitar, a semitone bend is bending the string up til it touches the next string(respectively). If you take a look when you play a normal vibrato it's about half that, so wide vibrato would be bending the string up and down til it touch both surrounding strings. Hopefully that makes sense. :)

There are three techniques for executing vibratos:

1) Shake your hand horizontaly (left and right) , without bending the strings ... Usualy used with Classic (nylon strings) guitars , similar to the violin vib technique ,but gives a smaller effect on guitar.
2) Bend the string up and down with your fretting finger .
3) Shake your hand in a swinging cemi-circular motion , this will also result in bending the strings , but can be faster and wilder.

Vibrato itself isn't a big problem , but when doing it to a bent note can be a little harder at the beginning.
There's a lot of great examples in Dimebag's solos , also check Zakk Wylde's.

You forgot the pressure you push down on the fretted string. ;) This will also cause a vibrato effect. Although it is less favored on a fretted string, the technique is used to cause a vibrato effect on an open played string. By pushing on the string rapidly between the bridge and tuner locks.

I only use the first one for getting a perfect pitch to a flatter pitch, by sliding back and forth from one fret to the top of the previous fret. Rather than other methods that vibrate from perfect pitch to a sharper pitch. A cool technique. :) On the other hand the effect is rather small.

I dominantly use the second one, the third sounds alittle hard to control. Being accurate and in tune with pitch bending can improve a players technic. Not obsessively just with some control and aural knowledge.

We also forgot the trem bar :p .
For open strings & natural harmonics , I always do the job with my trem bar.

ahhh yeah! trem bar. "duh"..LOL

Another cool thing about the tremolo bar: you can bend a string that's been made flaccid by the bar many tones easily and then release the tremolo arm and hold the bend with the result that you get a massive bend that would be painful to in a more conventional way. You can bend 3 tones this way. Ouch!