How in tune are you bends?

PeachyDragon

I've known for a long time that my bends on guitar weren't always very accurate.
For that matter, I'm not brilliant at tuning by ear either and it's probably related.

But even if I drilled it every day, would it make a difference? Every gauge string has different properties
when it comes to bending, so bending on the B string will be different that bending on the G string etc.
And when you change your general string gauge across the board, bends your bends tend to be wrong
for a few days after that for the same reason.

I've even heard guitarists that I consider great going slightly sharp on bends live.
Your opinions? How accurate can one get? What's the best exercise?

epictring

Try sticking to a certain gauge and brand strings so you don't have to adapt each time you restring. Just keep playing and concentrate on those bends, it would probably help if you concentrate on learning a few solos for a month or so.

Leave your tuner at home! You'll soon start knowing how a in-tune string sounds like. (I'm also guilty at this, we are spoiled with tuners)

that's my 2c!

PeachyDragon

epictring wrote: Try sticking to a certain gauge and brand strings so you don't have to adapt each time you restring. Just keep playing and concentrate on those bends, it would probably help if you concentrate on learning a few solos for a month or so.

Leave your tuner at home! You'll soon start knowing how a in-tune string sounds like. (I'm also guilty at this, we are spoiled with tuners)

that's my 2c!

I play tons of learned solos with many bends, and I teach about 20 students a week, so I get enough chances to tune guitars by ear. ?
But it rarely gets better. An American Strat is much easier to tune by ear than a Squier with old strings though. There are many nuances to overtones and vibrations that also influence that tuning skill.

AlanRatcliffe

Who said your bends have to be in tune? ? Blues bends often aren't and a lot of other cultures' music styles also are not. It's a good way of getting tension.

But if you do want your bends to resolve to a specific note, the most important thing is being able to hear when it is right by how it resolves with the notes the other instruments are playing. It's all part of learning to listen to yourself, instead of just playing the notes. If you're listening, it doesn't matter what gauge the strings are or how old they are, you'll be able to bend to the "right" note every time.

I find the best way to practice it is to record the phrase without the bend - with the starting and ending notes of the bend instead of the bend itself. Then loop it and play along with it, practising not only reaching the right note, but doing so at the right time. If you don't have a looper or recorder, you can do it with a delay, alternating the two phrases. I used to do this a lot when I was trying to get a handle on fretless guitar and it really helps.

Scorched

What Allan is saying about not always having to bend in tune: =

Keira-WitherKay

well yes some truth in that all bends needn't be perfectly in pitch BUT they must be musical.......... my pet hate is hearing some guitarist bend out of pitch solo after solo without it sounding musical ........ there's a huge difference

it's all in your ear ........ and like they (numerous great players) say ..."if you can hear it in your head / or sing it .......you can play it "

a technique to use is when playing hear the bend in your head before you play it( kinda like pre planning the phrase before playing it ....which you can do as improv ...on spur of moment ...(ever seen players singing along to their own solo's , their lips moving while they play ... ? thats what they doing ) . and then it's easy to hit the target pitch once your head knows where you going ....... and of course if you have bad pitch then it's a problem ........... but most (not all) people can train their ears to be more pitch perfect ... and of course that takes effort .... but worth it ......

and remember you don't need "perfect pitch" ( some people are just blessed) but just "relative pitch" , which means if you hear one note you know what the intervals will sound like if you take it up or down from that note you hearing .....

PeachyDragon

Thanks for the great replies.
Allan, that sounds like a great exercise.
Listening is a big part of it. I've always had "slow ears" despite being qualified and semi-professional.
I find myself looking back at 13 years of practice thinking: "Doing Paul Gilbert's and John Petrucci's
exercises are great for skills and technique but ultimately you need to practice things that
give you the skills of the musicians you want to sound like."
I've also heard very sterile guitarists who were technically good but had no soul, mostly due
to lack of articulation and bends.