Guthrie cool bend

axisus

I know that Guthrie Govan isn't everyone's cup of tea, but for me he is a unique force of nature, a complete one off. I was just checking out this new video, and he does a fantastic bend at 48 secs, where he goes up in 3 distinct (fast!) stages, and then comes down the same. I'm not saying that it isn't out there already, but it is certainly something that I have never heard before! If you watch just that, best to come in about 10 secs before.

guitarfishbay

Chris Poland does bends like that too. Cool bend.

guitarfishbay

Aidanspaghetti

Nuts!

monquixote

Guthrie does quite a bit of that multi step bending. It's really frigging hard to do. 

I've been trying to incorporate a much simplified version into my playing. Bending up a semitone then another tone for example in Dorian the major 6th up to the minor 7th and then push it up another tone to the tonic or the 2nd up to the minor 3rd then up to the 4th. 

You can also do it the other way and bend the tonic up a tone to the 2nd then up a semitone to the 3rd and back etc.

It sounds really cool, but it's very hard to pitch it accurately coming down.

sweepy

the 2 stage bend was and is a cornerstone of Gilmours playing , probably nicked it from Larry Carlton , as he did the second solo from Brick in the Wall pat 2, check out Steely Dan's FM first .

not_the_dj

Anyone else here to discuss Guthrie's Cool Beard?

http://www.cornfordamps.com/images/lounge/_DSC8532_lg.jpg

ThePrettyDamned

Immense player.  

Not a big fan of his music for the most part, but I'd love to have some of his chops. He seems very in touch with the music all the time - his arpeggio based stuff is always on the money. 

Gassage

@axisus

Lovely clip- re the bend- never heard the Perfect 4th bend in another brick? Pretty similar trick.

ThePrettyDamned

Gassage said:

@axisus

Lovely clip- re the bend- never heard the Perfect 4th bend in another brick? Pretty similar trick.

Broke my first string trying to ape that on an epi SG. 

ThePrettyDamned

Actually, I'm going to try to write a lick that uses this.  

Bloody difficult though.   I'm sitting here trying and my intonation just falls to pieces.

monquixote

Might be obvious, but practice it at the 12th fret where it's easiest.

ThePrettyDamned

monquixote said:

Might be obvious, but practice it at the 12th fret where it's easiest.

Yeah, my goal is to go for a 14th fret bend to G then to A then back down again.  It would actually be useful, too - I have an idea in B minor/e minor pentatonic, and that would give me a really nice way of turning a b minor arpeggio going up into a descending d major arpeggio.  

However, I just broke the high e on the bend. 

BAWLS.

ThePrettyDamned

Broke right in the middle, too.  First time that's happened for years!

Gassage

ThePrettyDamned said:

Gassage said:

@axisus

Lovely clip- re the bend- never heard the Perfect 4th bend in another brick? Pretty similar trick.

Broke my first string trying to ape that on an epi SG. 

Read loads of interviews with Gilmour where he points out he recorded in on a LP but due to scale length he bends up and then pulls up the final 1/2T on the strat trem live.

ChrisMusic

@ThePrettyDamned - try doing the bends on the G string which usually has the lowest tension, B is next and top E is usually the highest tension.  The G is a thicker string and will probably take a bit more punishment too, and a bit less like a cheese wire.

If you are trying wide range bends then take it easy and work up to the wider intervals.

It absolutely kills the flesh in the end of your fingers, until they adapt.  Little and often and work the tension up slowly to avoid injury (and time off playing).  The same applies to strengthening the muscles too.  Finger muscles are comparatively small and very easy to injure.  Having come back to playing after years off, I had no capacity for any of this, but I can now pull perfect fourth bends, a little imperfectly sometimes, using 10s.  Intonating the 2nd, 3rd and 4th multi-bend is a bit hit and miss for me at the moment, seems harder going down, but getting better with practice.  Just keep on keeping on  

Great video BTW.

ThePrettyDamned

Gassage;408976" said:

ThePrettyDamned said:



Gassage said:

@axisus



Lovely clip- re the bend- never heard the Perfect 4th bend in another brick? Pretty similar trick.










Broke my first string trying to ape that on an epi SG. 







Read loads of interviews with Gilmour where he points out he recorded in on a LP but due to scale length he bends up and then pulls up the final 1/2T on the strat trem live.

Yeah, I think that's the approach I'll take to this sort of work.

@chrismusic good advice! It has killed my fingers. Most bends I do are semitone, I really like the sound that gives where most recorded guitar bends I hear are a whole tone up. So going for a 3 semitone bend is pretty hardcore for me right now! I'll keep at it.

BigMonka

not_the_dj;408012" said:

Anyone else here to discuss Guthrie's Cool Beard?

http://www.cornfordamps.com/images/lounge/_DSC8532_lg.jpg

Isn't it weird that there was a thread the other day with someone asking about an old guitar with a 'thumbs-up' as the headstock. I'd never heard of one but there's one in this pic too :-o Like waiting for a bus then 2 turn up, lol.

sweepy

I know its the old Fnarr Fnarr joke, but it really is all in the wrist when it comes to those big multi step bends , my method of teaching them was to, for example play  fret 12 on the high E , then play the 13th fret (F), get that sound in your head then play the 12th bent to achieve the F, then play fret 14 to set the F sharp all the way up to G. The setting of "target" notes really does improve your string bending . Guitarists such as Larry Carlton and indeed Gilmour often started solos on a tone or tone and a semi-tone bend dropping down in semitones, tricky, but when you get it right

ChrisMusic

A couple of good exercises.  Just a suggestion for you @ThePrettyDamned, I know it is seriously not your style, but maybe you could create something unique from it, with a bit of lateral thinking.  Give a few of the things which Greg Koch shows a try, punishing bend exercises if you are not used to them.  It is really easy to tell if you are off key with them too.  Just don't try too hard and pull a muscle, seriously.  It is music after all, so why not give it a try ?

Check it out between 58mins and 65mins into the Copenhagen Guitar Show 2013 clinic.

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/411721/#Comment_411721

nickp

I also really like the bend with a slide up to a higher bend that guthrie does at about 1:25.  I've heard it before but "note to self" must go home and practice them