Big Bends....

Hootsmon

c/w nice widdley wide vibrato,ala start of PARISIAN WALKWAY .......one,two or three fingers?

Danny1969

3 fingers for me, 15th fret B string

richardhomer

As many fingers behind the bend as possible - in other words, if you're bending with your second finger, support it with your index finger - if you're bending with the third, support it with the second and third.

The only player I've seen who does a lot of big bends, but just uses one finger is Eric Clapton. It seems to work fine for him.

octatonic

To do it 'correctly' it is a wrist action with a finger being supported by the one behind it (usually 3rd being supported by 2nd).

There are other ways to do it, of course, but the further you stray from doing it correctly the more likely you are to have hand problems down the line.

I frequently do pretty big bends with my 4th supported by the 3rd and 2nd supported by the 1st, but I've also had hand surgery as well.

viz

Single post

viz

Double post

octatonic

viz said:

You play over the top of tfb? Nice  

I never used to, then I met Dario, who played it all out logically and set me straight on it.

My thumb moves depending on what I am doing.

When bending it goes over, then doing fast runs it is in classical position, in line with the 2nd finger if you look through the neck/fretboard.

He was absolutely right and I play that way now.

Clarky

octatonic said:

To do it 'correctly' it is a wrist action with a finger being supported by the one behind it (usually 3rd being supported by 2nd).

There are other ways to do it, of course, but the further you stray from doing it correctly the more likely you are to have hand problems down the line.

I frequently do pretty big bends with my 4th supported by the 3rd and 2nd supported by the 1st, but I've also had hand surgery as well.

this....

use as many fingers as you need / as the lick leading into the bend will allow

keep your fingers still, stiff and as straight as possible

anchor your hand on the underside of the neck [with the bit between the thumb and 1st finger] to function as a pivot

the bend comes by rotating the wrist [so the power comes from the forearm rather than the fingers]

where possible [general rule, but not absolute] pull the 3rd to 6th strings downwards, push the 1st and 2nd strings upwards..

Clarky

btw - vibrato is exactly the same technique because it is lots of smaller bends one after another...

so master one and you can master the other..

Teetonetal

2nd finger supports the 3rd finger for the bend, 1st finger lies flat diagonally behind the 1st finger to sweep and mute unwanted string noise. Using all 3 fingers as support is not needed and opens you up to string /handling noise.

Perfect.

Teetonetal

octatonic said:

viz said:

You play over the top of tfb? Nice  

I never used to, then I met Dario, who played it all out logically and set me straight on it.

My thumb moves depending on what I am doing.

When bending it goes over, then doing fast runs it is in classical position, in line with the 2nd finger if you look through the neck/fretboard.

He was absolutely right and I play that way now.

and yes to this.

57Deluxe

ALWAYS bend from the wrist...