Low or high action for string bending???

Jericho

This is something that's been bothering me for a few weeks now and prompted by this post from XRB

X-rated Bob wrote:He told me to raise my action to make it easier to bend the notes – James Burton told me to lower it. Jimi was a nice, shy, handsome man, quite charismatic.

I'm just starting out on bending strings (I'm learning Wonderful Tonight) and everytime I bend the strings, I catch the strings above the one I'm bending i.e. my fingers go under the strings above the one I'm bending so that the (non-bent) strings are above my fingerips.... sometimes catching my nails (which are very, very short) leading me to believe that the overall action may be too high.

I'm thinking I need to lower the action a little so that those non-bent string go under my fingertips...everytime I've seen someone bend strings, this is what I see happening. Looking at online forums (quotes are from another thread responding to someone who had a similar query), there's plenty of disagreements....so which one works for you?

whenever i bend on guitars with low action, my fingers always catch the string above the one i'm bending, so i end up playing a SRVish 2 string bend instead of just one.

Sounds like maybe too much finger "pad" in contact with the string, as opposed to fingertip.
If you're laying your fingers too flat, when you push across the fret to do that bend you're just gonna scoop up the next string right along with one you're hitting. If you can get a little more arc happening in the fretting hand fingers so the tip is coming down clean on the string with good pressure, you'll be more likely to just push the next string out of the way as you bend.

Maybe raise the action a tiny, tiny bit and get up on the fingertips a little more often. Either way, it's not rocket science, if you work at it you'll figure it out eventually whatever set-up or technique you use.
Everybody does it a little different.

This is a personal technique or physical problem of the user, not the guitar.
Even with action so low that the strings are almost laying on the fretboard there should be no sound coming from adjacent strings that are coincidentally bent.

Out of curiousity - you are always going to grab more than one string when you bend, you have to.

But it sounds like you are saying you are hitting more than one string with your picking hand, otherwise you wouldn't be hearing more than one string.

I have personally picked up a style where I mostly up-pick (right or wrong). I can tell you that one advantage is in bending strings - you usually hit just the right one.

This may not work for you, but your problem is not one I have. If I want to play a two string (SRV-style) bend I have to work really hard to get it.

PeachyDragon

Good question. It's tricky. You dont want the adjacent strings to hit your nail/or lean on the nail since the nail is hard and can cause sound upon release, and you also dont want the strings to slip under the finger tip because the WILL make a sound then. I try to catch them on the actual tip of the finger inbetween those extremes. I like doing rasps on many of the bend which means hitting 1 or two muted string before the actual string I want to ring and that hightens these problems. I tend to bend with 2 fingers and sortof use my index finger just to mute the strings I dont want ringing... good luck on this issue. Anyone else got any ideas?
I was listening to Innuendo by Queen and even heard a little blip in there somewhere which probably happened due to this. Sometimes leaving little errors in istn too bad. Marty Friedman has waaaay more issues in this regard. His playing is actually rather noisy when you listen to him isolated.

AlanRatcliffe

Practice - that's all.

The reason for raising the action would be to stop strings from choking on higher frets during bends on a Fender guitar with a smaller fretboard radius.

Bob-Dubery

Two things....

1) There's a great clip on YouTube of Jerry Donohue talking about his various string bending techniques. He talks about one that started off as an accident but that sounded so good he practiced it until he could do it at will. It's the sort of thing you're talking about - he bent the B string up, then as he bought it back down he snagged the G string and so as the B string returned to normal the G was sharpening. He liked it so much he made it part of his technique and can now do it at will.

2) How are your fingertips coming down on the fretboard? The more nearly perpendicular you can get them to come down, the less the area your fingertips will take up.

StephenG

I found it was the kind of frets themselves.. some Strats and my Jazzbox have jumbo frets, which makes string bending a breeze - both with lowest possible action set up...

some of the other strats do not have jumbo frets , they got mediums i think, and i then found it harder to bend one string in isolation.

EttieneB

I guess its trial and error....whatever works for u works be it high or low! I'm with Alan its just practice practice practice!

Gearhead

It is common belief that getting hold of a string to start bending it is easier with medium action than with low acton. High action takes too much effort for comfortable playing, never mind bending. Catching other strings is going to stop being a problem all by itself - the more you focus on the good note, the less of the wrong one comes out (palm mutes help, too).

Keira-WitherKay

like alan mentioned ..the radius of the fretboard in my books makes the difference from the instruments perspective..... and obviously string guage , but the rest is just technique ......

and pay special attention to hitting the "target" note you bending to and not overshooting the pitch ....... cos i know a few young players who play awesomely TILL they bend then it's all out of pitch .... either flat or sharp ...... and it spoils their playing

PeachyDragon

Yeah, many students struggle to bend notes. A note about string guage: a thicker string doesn't need to be pushed as far
in order to get the same difference in pitch so it might not be all bad... but only up your guage once you are used to the previous guage.
Don't skip to a heavy guage. I've had carpal tunnel syndrome years ago... NOT FUN!

I've never played a Fender guitar, but am I correct in assuming that a flatter neck is easier to bend notes on?
I've never been able to test this "fretting out" issue for myself.

Keira-WitherKay

PeachyDragon wrote:
I've never played a Fender guitar, but am I correct in assuming that a flatter neck is easier to bend notes on?
I've never been able to test this "fretting out" issue for myself.

yes the flatter the better ......

some early vintage fender have a 7.5 radius which is a narrow neck with an extreme arch (radius) on the fretboard which snags the strings modern fenders have mostly 9.5 and yes it makes a huge difference

singemonkey

The opposite problem can really occur if your action is too low (as mine is accidentally on one guitar, and unavoidably on another which has super-low frets). Strings above the one you're bending can slip under your fingers. Then they start sounding against the frets and typically sound when you release the bend too.

With blues style bending at medium action you want to push the other strings as you bend. But they should be high enough above the frets that they don't sound when you do this. It's one of the reasons heavy strings are so hard to bend. It's not the string you're bending, it's all the others you bend with it. Bending the other strings is unavoidable beyond a half tone bend.

Regarding what Keira was saying about accuracy: practise bending to pitch without striking the string, and then strike it at the top of the bend. Then check the pitch against a fretted note of equal value. On pitch? No? bend to the correct pitch so you feel where it is and try again. You should ultimately be able to bend to pitch without hearing the rise in pitch - since this is a pre-requisite for a pre-bend/release.

Also remember your bends will sound much tighter if you dampen the string after reaching pitch and holding that note for the required time value, rather than letting the pitch fall again as you release - the seagull noise - which just sounds messy.