Wednesday, May 28, 2014

String Bending Help

Dear Mr Tagliarino,
In the book "Interval Studies and Lead Guitar Technique", you discuss fret hand damping technique - I have a quick question about that.

When bending on the guitar mostly on the high E string, I find that the B string often slides under my bending (ring finger) and then the B string also rings out. 

I have been trying to figure out how to stop that. On bends, I touch the B (to mute it) with my index finger, but because the ring finger is fretting a higher fret, the B string still rings out.

I also always mute with my palm, but on a bend, the palm mutes the B string but sometimes also will mute the sound of the E string as it gets bent up.

The only thing that works but it is not so easy is that i try to have my index and middle finger helping to bend the E string but at the same time touching and pushing the B string up and away and helping to keep it from getting under my ring finger and ringing out.

I was wondering how you keep the b string from ringing out? 

Thank You so much - I know you are really busy!
Azi

Yeah Azi! Great question!

Option 3 is the best way: get under the B string and use the fingertip to push the string out of the way as you bend. It will get better with practice. You need a slight rolling motion so the string catches on your fingertip.

I actually use the same ring finger tip to do both: bend the E string, and move the B string out of the way.

While you're working on it, try adjusting your string action a little bit higher at the bridge, especially for the strings that don't want to cooperate with you (mostly the B). It also helps to have jumbo frets on your guitar - I like Dunlop 6105 frets for bending. You can really get under those strings with the big frets under you.

Thanks!

Barrett

Barrett Tagliarino

Barrett Tagliarino