The History of String Bending and Gauges

String bending is a technique that was founded by blues and country music players who wished to mimic the sound of bottleneck guitars, and later on, pedal steel-string guitars. Since then, bending has become a standard technique in the playing of guitars, because it provides a greater texture to the sound, as well as conveying a bit more emotional dimension. The main factor in how much you can bend guitar strings is in their thickness, otherwise known as gauge. String gauges are given in decimal form that is printed on all packages of strings that you might buy.

Weighing all of the pros and the cons for each of the types of thickness or each type or style of the string is really going to be a matter of your own personal taste. You are going to want to take into account that thin and lighter gauge strings tend to be more pliable and therefore easier on your fingers, they are also much more likely to break over time with your continued use. They are also much more likely to create a much shorter sustain, to have a smaller volume and they can also be troublesome because of the degree to which they are capable of stretching which means that it can be harder to keep them in the right tune in comparison to higher gauged strings.

Thicker strings on the guitar are capable of lending you a much richer and much warmer tone, and they can be tuned down without flopping around in the way that lighter gauged guitar strings might. Some people that play are capable of maintaining that the higher thicknesses are simply sounding better in comparison to the lower quality, thinner strings.

Bending the Guitar Strings

Here is a look at one of the most widely used and most basic techniques for modern guitarists that are looking to bend strings. This is typically achieved by way of playing a string and then pushing said string up using the fingers in order to create a change in pitch. You should be keeping in mind that most of the pushing should be done by moving your wrist upward in order to achieve said change in pitch, and if you want to give more strength to the bend you should be allowing your unfretted fingers to go behind the finger that you are using to bend the string. When you create more strength in your bend you will be able to create a greater level of accuracy in the bend as well. You can also produce the bending in a mechanical fashion with the use of an instrument known as a tremolo arm.

Photo Credits: woodleywonderworks

Originally posted 2009-10-30 03:54:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Categories:

Acoustic Musical Instruments, Guitars, Playing Tips, Strings

Tags:

bottleneck, country music, emotional dimension, fingers, gauge strings, guitar strings, guitarists, music players, pedal steel, personal taste, pitch, steel string guitars, texture, thicknesses