Best Lessons on Bending & Bent Vibrato?

Playing Technique
#1

I’ve spent so much time on my picking over the past few years that I’ve neglected this aspect of my playing. Now that I’m playing in a cover band that does a ton of 70’s bluesy rock stuff, I’m running into a lot of bending licks.

I don’t think my bending and my vibrato on bent strings is terrible, but it could definitely use improvement. Anyone have any links to a good video lesson (or any kind of lesson) on this?

Bending is one of those things that can really separate players. It’s one of the first things you learn to do, and every guitarist can do it…yet someone who does it with complete control will immediately turn heads. I want to get there.

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#2

This always comes to mind to me :slight_smile:

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#3

I am insulted now Tommo :rofl:

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#4

Haha oops, I forgot to mention that the title did not apply to you… but it certainly applies to me :rofl:

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#5

The Guthrie string bending masterclass videos are also great.

Once you start thinking about targeting a particular note/notes with your bends rather than just bending for something to do you’re already half way there.

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#6

I can do the EJ “wiggle” vibrato pretty well but I often find myself still rushing the slower warbly style of Gilmour. I play with 9s to 10s usually in E/Eb so light touch goes a long way in keeping the note consistent in volume while applying vibrato.

Bending just takes practice, If i’m in a box I haven’t played in a while and bend some weird stuff as I’m exploring I might over/underbend. Ben Eller talks about practicing bends with a tuner so you can check the pitch of the note as you bend to the top. That’s great but only part of it for me though as the best players don’t just bend to a note but usually apply slight vibrato to the note once they reach it.

#7

The video of Ben Eller that @tommo posted is awesome. Great vibrato tips. I ‘speed watched’ it so maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see him address adding vibrato to a bent note though. Bent-note vibrato is hard.

Here are some ways to get good bent-note vibrato happening that I found really helpful over the years.

Mechanic:

The forearm needs to be rotating and driving the movement when you’re applying vibrato to a note that’s bent. What Ben Eller calls the ‘wrist’ vibrato might have some wrist involved, but this is primarily a forearm rotational movement. Please someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I can’t think of anyone with awesome vibrato (in the bent-note context) that doesn’t have the forearm as the driving force of the motion.

String Tension:

One thing that helped me a lot was doing a half step bend since there is less tension. Just to keep it simple, I’d practice the vibrato as a series of semi-fast half step bends and releases. Once you get that going, move onto full step bends. Then 1 1/2 step bends. They’ll all come in the music we play so we need control over each, plus the sheer variety helps with the motor learning.

Another thing that will help fighting the tension of the string is to bend near the middle of the string, which will always be at the 12th fret lol!!! We of course need to be able to bend anywhere, but if you just want to master the technique we need to find the easiest way to do it, then build on that base. So the easiest way to start would be bending the 12th fret 1/2 step.

Speed:

I’d try vibrato at a bunch of different speeds to help with control. Plus, depending on the context, the vibrato should be appropriate regarding its speed. I remember practicing intentionally trying to make the vibrato sound like 16th notes or triplets. This was all just to get the feel of it though. We of course shouldn’t really need to think like that when we’re playing real music.

A good goal, just off the top of my head, is to try to make a vibrato sound like triplets at 120 bpm. That’s a nice usable vibrato. It isn’t sea-sick chorus-y slow, and not Kirk Hammett screeching dying cat fast. I feel like this is analogous to when we pick, finding a speed above the threshold of where string hopping is possible. If you can do a vibrato at 120 triplets, you’re probably not going to be able to do it with an inefficient technique.

Lastly, this isn’t a ‘lesson’ because there’s no instruction, but I can’t think of anyone with more command of vibrato than the great SRV, and here’s a song where he does many different types of vibrato, both bent and unbent:

Plus, doing that with 12’s or 13’s or whatever he played with…damn.

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#8

My issue with vibrato on bent notes is that I “lose” it somewhere after a while. After a few repetitions of the vibrato I somehow run out of room or something.

I’ve tried to practice this more and more but as you guys know, bending and especially vibrato on bent notes hurts. I think that’s what makes it particularly hard. And of course I don’t mean hurt in the sense that it will cause injury, just that it’s an expensive muscular process.

#9

Personally I think the only issue in bending is bending to the right note.
The best excersice is play the note you want to bend too, then bend up to that note, it becomes automatic with practice. Everything inbetween is all based on either the exact tune you’re playing, or if it’s not a perfect replica then just doing it by feel. It’s just like playing random notes, if you end on the right note in key, any bs you chuck inbetween that can seem interesting and quirky, even if you don’t know what you’re doing. As long as there is a standerd resolution, anything goes.

#10

To be fair I haven’t focused on it as much as say alternate picking, but I still miss bends if not one of my “spots” and not something I can just easily bend up to. For how long I have playing I should probably go back to the woodshed. Not sure if others have the same experience.

#11

I think bends are the easiest thing to gain a true feeling of, you can so easily replicate it with your inner voice and match that with the bend and express yourself. It’s a very smooth rise in pitch compared to fretting notes.

I find predicting what pitch/note my fingers are about to land on is way harder than using bends, bends match our voice a lot, And why they can be so expressive.

#12

Yeah I’m talking more ones where it is muscle memory rather than hearing where you are going. That is something I need to spend more time on.

#13

How I developed my vibrato was listening to my favourite players who have vibrato I liked and then practiced emulating them. Three of my favourites are:
Michael Schenker:


Yngwie (“Suffer Me” Alcatrazz)

Steve Lukather:

So - who are your favourites? I’d be keen to know! Then see if you can emulate them!

#14

Have you tried filming yourself? It might be interesting for you to see what it looks like at the point where you feel it’s working, compared to what it looks like when you lose it.

Did you see my suggestion to try first 1/2 step bends at the 12th fret? That should alleviate some string tension. I think this is important because you need to start with what feels easiest to make sure you’re doing the motion correctly.

You may find that certain strings feel easier to bend than others too. For me, the B string always ‘felt’ easiest. Whether that’s in my mind or not, focusing on that string so I could really internalize the proper movement helped a lot.

You could also try practicing bends tuned down 1/2 step. Or try lighter gauge strings. Plenty of guitarists with great vibrato use light strings. Sure SRV used crazy heavy strings but I think he was exceptional.

Bottom line is, if something feels hard, we shouldn’t brute force it. Yeah all this stuff takes work and dedication, but nothing should be a chore. I firmly believe most (all???) of our heroes weren’t constantly punishing themselves by playing things that felt difficult constantly. They’re all just super intuitive and were quick to arrive at an efficient way to do things.

I literally spent years getting my vibrato right and it shouldn’t have taken that long. It’s the same old story with me lol! I’m stubborn and thought ‘practice makes perfect, I’ll get it eventually’. I was doing the motion wrong though. For whatever reason it finally clicked for me. That open/closed door example in the Ben Eller video is what was missing on my bent-note vibrato. Once I got that down, it started to take care of itself.

In general, I think it’s great that you’re concerned about wanting a good vibrato. I LOVE Troy’s site and think it’s the best thing that ever happened to guitar instruction. Shredding is awesome… Even so, I’d rather hear a slow guitarist with excellent vibrato than the world’s craziest shredder, if that shredder had poor vibrato. I know that’s a personal opinion but at least it’s a popular one LOL! Otherwise, Eric Clapton wouldn’t be so popular haha!

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#15

Guthrie Govan’s masterclass is an ideal starting point:

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#16

Check out Jeff Watson’s Star Licks vid. he makes a critical point on pivoting with your fingers in front of your wrist…

Jeff Watson (Night Ranger) - Instructional Guitar Video - YouTube

#18

I must admit that I have always struggled with bending. I thought I was good at it until my old band started recording and I found that my bending pitch was almost always slightly flat.

I even got told I sound like Kirk Hammet who was back then known as a notoriously bad bender.

It’s a hard thing to learn. Especially if you’re playing different guitars alot like today I played my strat which has high tension strings so requires more force to bend, then my LP it’s of course low tension so requires roughly half the force for the same bend.

I find that you have to use your ear. That’s the only way to do it. When practicing I play the note I’m aiming for then bend up to it using my ear.

I can play Slash stuff pretty well which has a lot of pentatonic blues bends on the top strings and these I think are the easiest to do because if you’re slightly short you can get away with it.

If you’re playing melodic lines where the pitch has to be right then it’s tricky, but your ear and feel are the only way to do it consistently.

Blues i think you can get away with being off pitch, as blues is all about expressing emotion through bending or vibing between the notes and there’s plenty of room to express yourself and find your own voice in there.

#19

What gauge string to you have on your strat that make it that difficult?

Of all the guitar techniques, bending and vibrato benefit from have a degree of hand/finger strength.

It is ear/feel and pitch control, but you have to have strength in your fingers so bend consisitently.

Learning proper pivoting and fret hand placement is critical to a good vibrato. Watch the Jeff Watson vid i posted above

#20

I have the same gauge strings on my Strat and LP, just the LP of course is shorter scale so he strings are shorter and therefore easier to bend.

Finger strength, well that’s a real problem for me currently, because I have finger joint problems, pain and swelling, so I am trying not to bend at all, but it’s hard.

Also, I have already gone down to 9s (9 to 42) on the string gauge and I had Skinny Top Heavy Bottoms before which are 10s (10-54). I may even go down some more if I continue to have these finger problems.

Back in the day I had much more strength in my fingers and hand but still found bending to the right pitch a problem, still I guess I managed to get away with it most of time.

I wrote this one melody line in the band with a bend on the 3rd fret of the G string and I really wish I never wrote it because that was the hardest one to do, had to be spot on to sound right.

When you start thinking ‘Oh no I’ve gotta try and nail that bend 6 times again tonight’, it takes the fun out the gig. I was too ambitious with my lead writing alot of the time which meant I was trying to play really hard stuff at every gig and messing it up. I learned to write easier lead sections as time went on :slight_smile:

#21

Sorry about your hand issues. Not sure if anyone mentioned this in your post, but have you tried Krill oil?
Drinking enough water, and taking a good multi? Your body need a good amount of potassium/magnesium.

Have you tried removing a spring from the Strat? You might want to go down to 8s for a while. Tuning down to e flat?

You may want to consider a Yngwie strat. The guitar requires almost no tension to play, especially with his mixed gauge set. I had one, its a great guitar, but just not for me. The tension is just too low, and the scalloped neck, just too much give… but this sounds like a perfect fit for you.