Bending...

Hi,

i´ve got a question about bending. When bending a whole note upwards, what do you do with the string next to one you bend ?
Almost everytime i try to bend, i get a distortion from that string. My nails on the left hand are very short and the string above the bend one is just at the heigth of the nails edge and so it snaps almost everytime over the nails edge. That makes a very bad noise...

- Do you put your fingers flat or vertikal on the fretboard for bending ?

- Do you move the string in the same direction as the one you bend, or do you lift it up (away from the fretboard) by moving your finger under that string ? Lifting it up works for me the best, with the restriction, that i can do it only with my index finger and only in the middle of the fretboard.

So, where´s the trick to reliable bending ?

When I bend upward my finger usually pushes the (top string) upward. The string usually touches just below the finger nail so I don't get much (if any) unusal noises.

There's a couple of tricks to this. one is by muting the upper string with you right hand palm lightly resting on it at the bridge. Another is to make sure as you bend upwards the tip of your 1st finger rests against the higher string while you bend the lower string up with your 3rd finger. As always, practice!