Bends and root notes

[The Beast]

Hi Desi and others,

2 questions:

1-

I was listening to the techniques part about bends. Ive been doing bends for a few years now. The way I was doing upward bends on the 1st-2nd-3rd strings was with my 3 fingers on the string in order to have more strenght. But often it grips the upper string by mistake and produce unwanted sounds. With your way (using the index to mute the strings) Im not able to do a full bend though.

Do you think I just lack strenght to do it the proper way ? Ive noticed that with your way of doing it I have difficulty wrapping my thumb at the same time.

Any tips ?

2- You say in the book that its just necessary to learn the notes on every fret of the 6th and 5th string for theory purpose but you also say that if you want to play a solo and emphasize the minor or major quality you should play around the root notes. So would you say that at a certain point it becomes necessary to learn all the fretboard to know every possible root notes ?


Thanks. Jam on.

Beast

[DesiSerna]

It takes time to develop the strength and touch necessary for good guitar bend technique. Be sure you're practicing on an electric guitar with light gadge strings (high E .009 or even .008). Bending on an acoustic guitar is nearly impossible unless you string it with light gadge electric strings. Other than that, be patient and keep at it.

Lead guitar players can emphasize chord tones by using chord shapes, arpeggio patterns, and octaves. As taught in Fretboard Theory, these things originate off of strings 6 and 5. Most players do better when they visualize shapes and patterns on the other strings rather than trying to memorize the actual note names.

[The Beast]

Thanks man, Ill keep it up with your bending technique (using the index to mute).

Have a good one,

Beast

[The Beast]

Hi Desi,

I was watching the pentatonic DVD again, the part about bends. When you're doing a bend, do you mute it at the end (eg: putting your palm on the strings) ? Watching the video I think you dont mute the bend at the end but Im not sure. I know that when we dont mute a bend at the end theres a little bit of release sound (which seems ok to me).

Whats your take ?

Beast

[DesiSerna]

There are many variations of the bend. You can bend and mute, bend and release, bend and shake, etc. Listen to Chuck Berry on the intro to "Johnny B. Goode" (when the band kicks in) and you'll hear that he does not let the bend ring so that you hear the release. Listen to Eric Clapton on "Wonderful Tonight" and you hear the bend released. Listen to Ace Frehley at the beginning of "Firehouse" and you'll hear several bend and releases before he re-picks the string.