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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Practicing Bends
Posted by: Qenzoz Sep 10 2012, 05:26 PM
Hello, all you mighty people out there! 
I've been wondering how to actually practice bends efficiently, I've been thinking about maybe using a tuner and then try and use that to bend it up to the right tone.
Other way is I play with the original track/piece and just try and get my bends to sound the same way, else I just count on my ears and hope they aren't totally ruined, or try and feel it.
I also get that bends are a lot about feeling, but I'd like to get to the point where all my bends are in pitch if I want them to be in pitch 
Cheers & thanks in advance! 
Tobias
Posted by: MonkeyDAthos Sep 10 2012, 06:27 PM
i got this one exercise from paul gilbert, where you play a scale in one string, but instead of picking the notes, you do it bending them
Posted by: carminemarotta Sep 10 2012, 07:32 PM
Alex suggested to use a tuner and I likes that way. As MonkeyDAthos said you can bend the noets on the scale, but it implyes a good ear
(what I don't have)
Carmine
Posted by: Socky42 Sep 10 2012, 07:43 PM
bend, then play the note you intended so it sounds like 2 of the same note?
I dunno, thats just something I always did.
Posted by: Christophe Sep 10 2012, 07:54 PM
I dunno, thats just something I always did.
I'm used to this technique too.
Posted by: MonkeyDAthos Sep 10 2012, 08:01 PM
There is also a cool one i like to use , for example if you are in C u bend to D the go down to C# the go back to D then release in C
Posted by: carminemarotta Sep 10 2012, 09:02 PM
...and like MonkeyDAthos signature says, do not forget the face! Seriously
Carmine
Posted by: MonkeyDAthos Sep 10 2012, 09:19 PM
Carmine
that's the secret ingredient
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Sep 11 2012, 06:54 AM
I tend to agree with the one implying the tuner Anyway, bending - the nice juicy one, comes with time so don't get frustrated because it's not as you hear it in Zakk Wylde's playing for instance. It'll come, but you need to give it some time and work on your ears. For instance I have seen Guthrie do a nice exercise - he played 4 descending chromatic notes and then he bended up to the highest of them and went down going through each half step in the same way as we would've picked notes on different positions That's what I call bending control!
Posted by: Qenzoz Sep 11 2012, 08:13 AM
Thanks for all the tips
And yeah Cosmin, Govan is seriously a great bender, I've tried doing that half step chromatic bending he does, and all I can say is that it looks a lot easier than it is to actually play it!
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Sep 11 2012, 08:50 AM
And yeah Cosmin, Govan is seriously a great bender, I've tried doing that half step chromatic bending he does, and all I can say is that it looks a lot easier than it is to actually play it!
It's all in the ear man, nothing more! Work on it till it gets there!
Posted by: bleez Sep 11 2012, 09:07 AM
Bends have been one of the main things Ive been working on since signing up here. It can be frustrating because it looks sooo easy when you see good guitarists hitting great bends with ease.
Ive gotten a lot of help from Cosmin regarding bends and his lesson 'the voice of your guitar' is a great one to practice them.
Posted by: Ben Higgins Sep 11 2012, 09:24 AM
Qenzoz ! First of all, make sure your guitar is in tune and then before you bend, play the note that you're bending to to keep it in your mind. You can do it on the same string or an adjacent string. Using the same string means it doesn't matter if your guitar isn't 100% in tune.
-Let's say that you're playing D on the 7th fret, G string. You want to try bending a whole tone, so play the note of E on the 9th fret. Then try bending to it.
-Keep repeating with any intervals that you want to practise. It's a good instant way of using trial and error and feel to hone your ability to reach the desired sound. After a while, you fingers will instinctively know how much pressure to exert to reach a whole tone, semitone etc..
This is a great lesson for bending because the techniques are just isolated, no other melodies to distract you:
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/String-Bending/
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Sep 11 2012, 03:32 PM
Ive gotten a lot of help from Cosmin regarding bends and his lesson 'the voice of your guitar' is a great one to practice them.
Thank you man
I am still waiting for that recording
Posted by: bleez Sep 11 2012, 06:25 PM
LOL! Im on it mr cosmin sir
Posted by: DeGroot Sep 11 2012, 07:07 PM
My bending is very inconsistent sometimes. It has improved from when I first joined GMC though thanks to some good advice. I had a habit of not releasing to the note to original pitch, if you know what I mean. Sometimes I question my ear though. I work in a loud environment so that is my excuse. 
Playing a note and then bending up to it is effective training. It has helped me to a least improve a bit. I'll play a note then bend a half step, whole, and whole & half step. I also sometimes play a bend and then look up at the tuner on my monitor to see how accurate my pitch is. All stuff I have picked up from GMC instructors.
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Sep 12 2012, 07:05 AM
Playing a note and then bending up to it is effective training. It has helped me to a least improve a bit. I'll play a note then bend a half step, whole, and whole & half step. I also sometimes play a bend and then look up at the tuner on my monitor to see how accurate my pitch is. All stuff I have picked up from GMC instructors.
DG - Can you practice ear training as early in the morning as possible? That's when the ears had a good rest and they can pick up things much more easily
Posted by: Ben Higgins Sep 12 2012, 09:04 AM
DG - Can you practice ear training as early in the morning as possible? That's when the ears had a good rest and they can pick up things much more easily
He does ! He listens out for when his wife puts on the coffee machine and then he rushes downstairs !!
Posted by: DeGroot Sep 12 2012, 01:42 PM
DG - Can you practice ear training as early in the morning as possible? That's when the ears had a good rest and they can pick up things much more easily
Very good point, Cosmin. It is probably best for me to work on this in the morning and with some fresh ears.
Well, gotta run... I think I hear the coffee maker!
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Sep 13 2012, 08:36 AM
Well, gotta run... I think I hear the coffee maker!
Oh
Well, DG, ask your wife to get a musical coffee maker - when the coffee is ready, you will have to name the interval it will produce, otherwise NO COFFEE! Posted by: Ben Higgins Sep 13 2012, 10:00 AM
Well, DG, ask your wife to get a musical coffee maker - when the coffee is ready, you will have to name the interval it will produce, otherwise NO COFFEE! Excellent idea !! It will do really difficult, horrible ones for you too.. like a major 7th out of nowhere !!
Posted by: DeGroot Sep 13 2012, 01:54 PM
I can see this musical coffee maker actually working ... I haven't had coffee yet and can imagine at least guessing over and over 'til I got it right. Though if I couldn't get the answer right it would make for a very long day 
Posted by: Ben Higgins Sep 13 2012, 05:36 PM
... I haven't had coffee yet and can imagine at least guessing over and over 'til I got it right. Though if I couldn't get the answer right it would make for a very long day It would really suck if you'd just woken up after a hard night and you can't have a coffee because it's making you guess the intervals to the Super Locrian mode or something !
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Sep 13 2012, 06:22 PM
I would love to see that!
Posted by: MonkeyDAthos Sep 13 2012, 06:44 PM
DG - Can you practice ear training as early in the morning as possible? That's when the ears had a good rest and they can pick up things much more easily
what if u wake up like at 2 pm, does that count as morning?
Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Sep 14 2012, 07:09 PM
If there's someone waiting with hot coffee, IT IS
Posted by: Max Sokolov Sep 14 2012, 08:05 PM
Oh, I just finished working on my new lesson devoted to bends!
It contains a song, full of bends and some extra exercises.
I'll be published soon, hope I'll like it!
Posted by: DeGroot Sep 15 2012, 07:24 AM
I will agree with that!
It contains a song, full of bends and some extra exercises.
I'll be published soon, hope I'll like it!
Nice! Look forward to hearing your newest lesson Max.
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