Bending strings and whammy.

Genoscidal

New member
Whats the difference actually? Kinda wondering how slash managed to bend e strings so well.. yet not needing to use e whammy as les pauls have fixed bridge.. how do they do that? haha. Eg sweet child o mine solo.. or was he using a whammy pedal or sth.. When to use a whammy and when to bend strings.. what's e diff? haha
 
whammy for cool stuff

but u see, whammy can go both ways, up pitch and down pitch. bend only go up pitch.
 
haha.. tts e only diff ah... so i can substitute note bendings with whammy's? Hmm how to know when to use what? issit written in tabs?
 
they sound different to begin with, and you do need time to grab the whammy bar.

if having an exact replica of the tab is not your cup of tea, by all means substitute it.

usually bends and whammys are distinctly identified in tabs, but their notation tends to be different in different tablatures. there's always usually a legend for you to follow.
 
bending is more accurate because u dunno when u will overpull the bar. on the other hand, ur left hand controls the string bending so u will know when ur hitting the pitch and ur right hand can then concentrate on picking...

why use whammy? bending sounds faster and smoother imo. unless ur can pull until nice nice, but chances are u pull too fast (over hit) or too slow...
 
Actually, Tany, using the whammy bar can be as accurate as your fingers.. you'll get used to it..

In anycase, not all can bend to the right pitch with the fingers, let alone use a whammy. ;)
 
i think bending is more common... whammys can add a very nice ambience to a song(just a little), just my point of view...
 
Accurate bending is all about having a good ear.

Strings have different tensions all over the neck, furthermore different strings have different thickness further complicating the whole equation.

If you want to be accurate at bending try this simple exercise. It's very simple, logical and most of all effective, probably the only exercise I've relied on for bending.

Play your origin note, ie. the lower note you start from, then fret your target note, ie. the note you want to bend up to. Then BEND AWAY! Try your very best to bend up and hit the target pitch. And then familiarise yourself with pitch intervals, ie the distance between 2 notes, half step, whole step, one and half, 2 whole steps, heck maybe even further than that.

Oh yeah, whole step is 2 frets, half is one.

Do this, repeat and apply.

I sincerely feel this approach is much better than the, whole step is this much strength type of approach, just doesn't make sense when you think about it.

Takes a lot of practice but it's hella worth it, it's an extremely important technique to master. To me electric guitar is just not electric guitar without bending, nothing like hitting a screaming bend and shaking it all over the place like there's no tomorrow!

And trust me there's nothing like hearing someone bend out of pitch, especially if you have a sensitive ear. PURE AGONY ;)

Think finger nails on a chalk board. :)
 
best advice I can give: Use your ears!
If you're one of those who can't play and focus on the sound at the same time, record down your playing and review it later.
 
hmm well whammy is gd for dive bomb..
or making the harmonics sing (depress or pull) of flutter the bar..

it can be replicated but im not sure of the degree of the pitch
ps- slight delay will go a long way..

thats abt it...another thing, if u worry that ur gitar will go out of tune ..
then..thats another issue...

pactice not only bending...double stops are gd for strengthening ur fingers as well...try a 4 fret bend if done correctly...the stings wont break...trust me..
 
whammy is used to make dive bombs and u can use it to make a bird chirping sound, tom morelo uses it. your pitch ggoes up and down

Banding- pitch goes onli up. for the three last strings, bending is better downwards and three first strings bending is better upwards
 
Refer to an earlier thread I started about Whammy Tricks. Dive Bombing is not the only whammy technique out there.
 
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