strange technique

[kill em all]

Can anyone help me with this. The tab I have in GUITAR WORLD says that Randy bends his headstock when he holds out those natural harmonics in "crazy train". Is this just a difficult trick or am I grabbing the headstock in the wrong place? I grab below the tuners, toward the neck but it just doesn't feel natural and it's hard to get my hand back in position for the next chord. ANyone have suggestions?

[Cryptic Excretions]

Bending the headstock? That's new to me.

[kill em all]

It was new to me too but I figured since Randy was playing without a tremelo and doing all kinds of crazy stuff to make up. Like bending during taps and hammerons with the tap hand. That he could bend the headstock (can't be good for it). Check him out man.

[Cryptic Excretions]

And that's why it seems abstract to me. A wooden headstock would most likely just break before it'd bend. I dunno, maybe I'm missing something. I am a sheltered moron, after all. So, you never know.

[R. Shackleferd]

Perhaps you could just push down on the strings above the nut for the same effect?

[crazyguy]

I don't think it's possible to bend a headstock, but what I sometimes do is hold the top of the headstock with my left hand while pressing onto the upper horn with my right. I dont use a tremolo so this is a nice sounding substitution.
The GW could also mean that you bend the string at the headstock. Actually, I believe this is exactly what they mean. Basically, you do some taps on one string with your left hand while bending it above the nut with your right.

[Superhuman]

I would say he grabbed the head stock and slightly bent the nect a la Hendrix... he definitely used a trem for some stuff though, that just can't be done without a rubber neck... then again, the trademark Randy Rhoads Jackson style guitar has no trem system at all...

[equator]

If I understood correctly; you are asking about the technique known as "bend behind the nut". Where you press the string towards the headstock.

[ACH]

He is pushing or pulling on the headstock but it gives a slight bend to the neck. Pulling the headstock you go sharp, pushing it you go flat. This is a real old school trick thats been around since I was a kid. No it's not good for a neck, especially a set neck. :cool:

[HDJ]

You can get slight vibrato or a slight bend by grapping the headstock.....

It's mosty done with fixed bridge guitars....I use that technique everyonce in a while with my SG.

Everyone who reads this, hit a natural harmonic, grab the headstock with your left hand and the body of the guitar with your right hand (vice versa for southpaws) and hold it away from your body. Just simply shake the guitar and it slighty bends the neck to give a slight vibrato.

[Willdridge]

He is pushing or pulling on the headstock but it gives a slight bend to the neck. Pulling the headstock you go sharp, pushing it you go flat. This is a real old school trick thats been around since I was a kid. No it's not good for a neck, especially a set neck. :cool:

to add to ACH...

If you're descriping the technique I'm thinking of, I think you'll find it's only possible with certain guitars. Newer guitars tend to have their necks firmly fitted to the body; however (whether by design or just lack of planning) some older guitars would allow you to push the neck away for the body, slackening the strings to produce a tremelo affect...

From my experience it is most common with fixed bridge guitars, but I'm not aware of any newer models that have this as an "standard feature"...

[kill em all]

Thank you all, and I tried bending behind the nut. Sounds the same to me. He used a Les paul for this with no vibrato but that was live, I don't know what he recorded with. I think I'll just bend behind the nut even though I figured out that "sharp-flat" "push-pull" headstock thing. Thanks again.

[quickfingers]

i woudlnt say i do it to any particular gain in my guitar playing, but bending the headstock workds mildly well in bending a note. it wouldntnt snap the neck unless youre andre the giant, and im sure the strings and springs are putting 10 times more tension on it every second than you could put on it with your hand.

[equator]

Using your fretting hand, fret a single note or a chord, play that note or chord; and then, using your picking hand press a string behind the nut to hear it change the pich.
Pressing and releasing the string really fast, reproduces the vibrato effect.
Pressing the string very deep against the wood gives you a bend with longer sustain.

[rockonn91]

It's mosty done with fixed bridge guitars....I use that technique everyonce in a while with my SG.

yeah im thinking this is what it meant. i do this to my sg alot too.. hit an Echord and push out with my palm- slacking the strings for a tremolo sound.

im always afraid ill break the neck tho :o i dont trust myself :rolleyes:

[Bill Boyd]

Sounds like a neck bend to me, not too much pressure unless you have a Maton guitar like Tommy Emmanuel plays. Heart did this in the song Barracuda. Just enough to throw the pitch and tickle the ear. :)

[VHLO]

I guess the guitarrits of stone temple pilotsdo the same thing bending the neck on a les paul

[Mikekalasheh]

It's definitely not good to bend your headstock...you can create the effect randy did by doing that...but you can do the same thing alot safer with a tremolo bar, or like someone mentioned, bend the strings below the bridge. If you try to bend your actual headstock, which in turn would **** with your truss rod and neck...you have a chance of eventually ****ing up your intonation. Not worth it.

[3fingeredblues]

It's definitely not good to bend your headstock...you can create the effect randy did by doing that...but you can do the same thing alot safer with a tremolo bar, or like someone mentioned, bend the strings below the bridge. If you try to bend your actual headstock, which in turn would **** with your truss rod and neck...you have a chance of eventually ****ing up your intonation. Not worth it.


I've been doing neck bends for years and have yet to have a problem. I've been repairing guitars professionaly for eight years. It not a serious issue in my experience. I guess it is possible to get carried away, but neck bendind isn't used to try to replicate a serious Van Halen style dive bomb, just for sublte vibrato, or a slow detuning. You won't mess up the truss rod by using this technique unless you go WAY overboard with it. That said, I probably wouldn't try it with a hollowbody guitar(like a ES-335), or acoustic. And of course I'd think twice, although I've done it outta habit, before doing it with a vintage peice. If your guitar feels sturdy you should be ok, but if it feels flimsy, just use your head. It can be a cool technique, and looks awesome on stage....the audience will think your just a guitar animal!! haha