Bends

Ok! I've been playing for a while now (a year) but I got some problems when bending. If I bend up or down (mostly when bending up) I always hit the 3rd string looking from the the one that I bend and it always gets picked when bending back. So how can I get rid of that?

String control is something that is slowly developed throughout the time you play... it's not something you really sit and practice (or atleast most people don't)... It's something that at first you have to make sure you pay attention to until it becomes subconcious.

Try to mute the string that you most commonly sound when bending with one of your free fingers on your fretting hand... or possibly palm mute the string with you your pick hand. Those are two general ways to go about it. mess around with those two ways and see which one may work for you. It may feel uncomfortable at first but it should get easier as with everything else.

Work on muting with both hands. If you wanna learn a solo that will force you to learn try "Hotel California" by The Eagles.

For big bends, I use my ring finger to bend, and then kida barre my first finger across to mute everything else. I also use the palm of my fretting hand to mute strings most of the time anyway...

I did sit and practice it until I eliminated all unwanted noise. It takes some thought and some time, but it works...

Thanks for all the info guys! I came upon the barre method some time ago, when I really started to think about my bending problem, but then I thought that it's too hard when playing bit faster. I guess it's gonna be the same like alternate picking. When I was learning alternate picking it seemed to be damn hard, but now I'm morer comfortable playing alternate than just one way picking. :cool: