1/4 note.. =(

[Inisfail]

Hi!

In the Dream Theater tablature-book for Metropolis pt:2, Petrucci often do a 1/4 bend. How the h**l is I supposed to when I'm bending correct? Has anyone else seen thist before? I know quorter-notes exists in a lot of music, mostly from India and Middle-east/Norht-east Africa.

[The Ace]

Bends are a strange thing. Unlike Piano, Clarinet, saxophone or most other instruments, guitars can often hit notes in between the actual "named" ones. If our ears were adapt enough, we could make the guitar have an infinite number of notes.
I have a couple of solutions for you...
1) a 1/4 bend shud be half the distance from one fret up. You can train your ear to find out half the distance between notes. try playing a note on the 1st fret, then on the third. now sing what u think wud be in the middl. Play the note on the 2nd fret to see if u r rite. Once you get good at this, try to do it with larger (1st fret and fifth fret) and smaller scales (1st and second). Now try to do it with the note u r bending, and 1 fret above it. This may not work, its just a guess.

2) Try to see the distance that you bend for a 1/2 bend, then only bend half that distance, this will work if your guitar has really good intonation, and you are precise on your bends.

Good luck man!

[Pantallica1]

You could also try a chromatic tuner to see if you are exactly right. Once you get used to the distance of the bend it should come easier then.

Just a thought....

[Hammurabi]

..or listen to the song and play it like you hear it :)

[Inisfail]

Hm.. Gotta work on it, I guess.. Good suggestions guys! Thanks!

[TheWizard]

but by 1/4 bend doesn't he mean bending to a note in between two notes

so if your bending 7th fret G 1/4 it would be a tone in between D and D#

or half of a half step

just bend half the distance you do for a 1/2 bend

[Inisfail]

Yeah, guess so.. Before I read the tabs, I thought those bends were vibrato. Well, I suppose it doesn't matter..