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Posted by: Braer May 10 2009, 09:25 PM

Hey! How should i pratice bend and vibrato? im on beginner level, and you all know how beginner bend and vibrato sounds like:P tips? will it take long practice?


Edit: Language/skennington

Posted by: Mrblomme May 10 2009, 09:39 PM

I cant tell you how to practice on it but it'll take a lot of practice till you get some "Muris vibratos".

But it's worth it!

Posted by: Frederik May 10 2009, 09:44 PM

It takes a life time
when i have nothing to do (school) i do the wrist moves for vibrato
and play some blues

-Frederik

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 10 2009, 10:09 PM

I've made a small response some time ago, it concerns bends and vibrato, so you can check it out mate:
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=23784&view=findpost&p=329234
hope it helps, cheers

Posted by: Ramiro Delforte May 10 2009, 10:29 PM

I always give a chart to my students to study the vibrato, the chart goes something like this:

Wide Narrow
slow slow
fast fast

So, that first part would be: you can play a wide vibrato that's slow or one that's fast, and the same with a narrow vibrato, slow or fast. That's the first step. The second step would be the transitions:

Wide @ Narrow

slow @ slow
slow @ fast
fast @ fast
fast @ slow

This second part is the vibrato that modulates from wide and slow to narrow and slow, or from wide and slow to narrow and fast, etc, etc, etc. Then you can change, starting of a Narrow vibrato and then moving to a wider vibrato.

Narrow @ wide

slow @ slow
slow @ fast
fast @ fast
fast @ slow


So that's the way I think it may help you organicing a little the study of this technique.

Then, for bendings it's just this way:

Example: play the fretted note on the seventh fret of the second string (F#) and then try to reach that same note from two frets behind. Repeat that same thing over the whole neck and different strings. Then you can practice bend half-steps, it's the same but instead of reaching the note from two frets behind you'll do it from one fret behind.

I hope this helps, let me know if you have more doubts or if anything of this post wasn't clear enough.

Posted by: kjutte May 10 2009, 11:37 PM

Nahhhhh... Sit down with guitar when watching TV etc, train the wrist+finger strength, it'll come in some months, gradually.
To really get a wide metal vibrato, thogh, ala zsolt galambos, you're looking at a year of training I guess?

Make sure you train them strong both up and downward motion, aswell as with index alone, which is the hardest vibrato.

Good luck!!!

Edit: and a personal note, if I was every to 'start over' I would probably use 08 strings just to get badass vibrato earlier sooner.
10+ aren't cool if you sound like a noob

Posted by: hansome21 May 11 2009, 03:12 AM

Don't think anyone said this yet, but vibrato and bends can sound extremely ugly if you don't get good at muting the strings above the one you are bending. It sounds difficult but it takes just a lil slow practice and it will make your bends sound soooo much better and very clean when you bend up and then back down.

Otherwise everytime you exit the bend your going to hear static and noise from the other strings as they regain tension.

Posted by: Frederik May 11 2009, 06:14 AM

Mute the notes with ur left index finger(like an unfretted bar chord (look at the instructors)) or do palm muting if u are bending a note with ur index (pointer finger)

-Frederik

Posted by: Braer May 11 2009, 01:07 PM

Thanks all! really helped me out! but have you guys ever seen some people pick all strings, but just the one they bend ring out? what it it called? how do i do it?

Posted by: Artemus May 11 2009, 01:18 PM

Very very important point. You can do like Frederik suggests. Personally, I use my fretting hand thumb to mute lower strings and combination of left and right hand fingers to mute higher strings

Posted by: Frederik May 11 2009, 01:27 PM

Its called raking, SRV does it a lot (he has uber muting skills). And again, mute all the other strings that the one that should ring out

Posted by: kjutte May 11 2009, 02:07 PM

It's just palm muting. It's a really cool technique to add power to the bend.

Posted by: Jose Lassaga May 11 2009, 02:24 PM

Learning a new technique takes a while. You should be patient.
Here some tips for you:

VIBRATO

-practice different vibrato´s speeds (slow, fast,sweet, heavy, etc.)
-pay attention to your favourites guitarist´s vibratos and try to play along.

BEND

-Sing the note and then try to bend the string until you reach the note you´re singing
-practice each type of bending ( half tone, full tone, 1 1/2 tone, prebend )

I hope my help was usefull Good luck

Posted by: Muris Varajic May 11 2009, 02:36 PM

I believe it's raking, yeah.
And as for muting when doing bends,
I tend not to use my index finger for support when
doing bend with ring finger per example,
instead of that I lay it across as many strings as possible to do muting.
I never actually thought of that before but I realized
what I'm doing after watching some of my earlier videos,
it kind a came naturally to me.
Of course you don't have to apply same thing cause many don't
do it that way, just sharing my personal experience.

Posted by: Oxac May 11 2009, 10:00 PM

Perhaps you subconsciously stole it from Steve Vai? I know I did

Posted by: Pedja Simovic May 12 2009, 02:39 AM

You can use bending and vibrato into any exercise, scale, mode, pentatonic scale or anything you are working on. Try to remember two very important things here :

1) When bending make sure your note is 100% in pitch with actual note you are bending into !
2) When doing vibrato make sure that its not too shaky as you still want to keep note recognizable and not make it like that string is out of tune or your guitar has intonation problems

Hope that helps !

Posted by: Braer May 12 2009, 05:11 PM

yes, helped. But how do i know how long i have to bend to get it right? I have been practicing neoclassical three-level-solo beginner, (http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/neoclassical-3-levels-beginner/), but i never feel i do the bends right

Posted by: Muris Varajic May 12 2009, 05:36 PM

It's bended long enough when you reach correct note.
Bend is not just bend, it's reaching the note,
you have to know how that note sounds like.
Per example, to train semi tone bend just play a note, listen to it
and then try to reach it by bending string one fret lower.
For whole tone bend play note and reach it by bending string 2 frets lower.
Each string AND spot on the neck demands different amount of power when doing bends
so you cannot just "remember with muscles" how much to bend,
you really need to LISTEN.

Posted by: Gus May 12 2009, 05:43 PM

I used to struggle a lot about bending (actually I still have problems, but it has evolved a lot so far)

Three things that made a huge difference:
- Using the thumb on the top of the neck, putting enough pressure so that the rest of your hand has something to move against.
- Using more than a finger to help the bending (easiest is for me is using index, middle and ring all together to bend the string)
- Muting the string above the bend ( for example, when bending 3th string upwards, index finger is on the 4th string, and I use the strength of middle and ring to bend the 3th string)

Hope this helps a little

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 12 2009, 05:54 PM

Well, it takes time to practice bending/vibrato and it is different from one person to another. Doing every fret on the fretboard with every finger is a good way to practice bends, and get a very natural feel. It depends on how much time you spend on this, but bending/vibrato is definitely one of those things that will require time to really make it natural. You can rehearse the bending/vibrato technique in one year to be perfect for example, and later on you just play, and it will refine itself, creating a smooth natural tone.

Posted by: Braer May 12 2009, 06:41 PM

Thanks all! This really helped me out!

Posted by: Muris Varajic May 12 2009, 06:43 PM

Bend on!!