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Thread: String Bending

  1. #26
    Registered User EvanElk's Avatar
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    Default Re: String Bending

    Andrew Marlin does some string bending to pretty cool effect in my opinion...
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  2. #27
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    Default Re: String Bending

    I have use string bending quite a lot in the past. It is an effect, not to change a note 1/2 step up. It took me a while to bend both strings the same, you need to press firmly on the fretboard against the strings and don't try to go too far. It has a nice effect if done correctly.
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  3. #28
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: String Bending

    I like it when Rich Del Grosso does it.

    But my advice is: If you dont like it, don't do it.

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  4. #29
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    Default Re: String Bending

    Quote Originally Posted by Rex Hart View Post
    After reading a comment on a different thread about string bending, I just realized how much I dislike string bending on a mandolin. Every time I have heard it being done, (at least in a bluegrass setting), it sounds discordant. I think the problem is that the tightness of the strings do not allow you to bend the notes to a full step or even a half a step and it just sounds cheesy. Being a former rock guitarist, I appreciate the use of string bending, especially in a blues setting, but on a mandolin not so much. Again, this is my opinion and no disrespect to those that do.
    I do it strictly to annoy. I'll try it on something once and watch for cringing in the audience...if I notice any, I'll keep doing it
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  5. #30
    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
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    Default Re: String Bending

    A few things just sound better when you choke a note. Choking is a slight bend, and easily accomplished on the mandolin with a little practice. I do choke notes, for instance, when playing CCR's Green River I'll choke the D note on A string to mimic what Fogarty did there.

    I haven't tried to bend 1/2 step much less a whole step, generally find another way to play blues stuff that would cry out for that on guitar. But choking notes is a great tool to have in your arsenal for the mandolin IMHO

    When I was very new at mandolin, I produced a tutorial to show how I was at that time working out how I might play Green River on mandolin. Like most of my amateur mandolin tutorials, it is not polished at all, but it does show how I choke that D note and where it fits. The tutorial is here, and the choking of the D note is discussed at around the 1:23 mark:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWMmAJ0cevo

    BTW, when searching the google machine for the meaning of "choked note" you'll find a different usage of that term. For me, choking means to make a slight bend of approximately 1/4 step. I picked up that terminology from the Tabledit program, which has a button in the toolbar for rendering a choked note while transcribing. Prior to that, I didn't know what it was called other than a "slight bend".
    Last edited by Mark Gunter; Dec-11-2022 at 12:11pm.
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  6. #31
    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
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    Default Re: String Bending

    BTW I always bend my strings at the post hole before winding to pitch. Any little thing to help prevent slippage.
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  7. #32
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: String Bending

    Quote Originally Posted by killerstiver View Post
    I like to do everything on mandolin that I do on guitar!?
    Ahh but do you do everything on guitar that you do on mandolin.

    I have a friend who is predominantly a guitarist, but he now does tremolo on guitar. He calls it mandolin envy.
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  8. #33
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: String Bending

    I don't care for string bending on mandolin, myself. But I surprise myself in how much I avoid innovation.

    I especially don't care for it on electric mandolin. I think one of the few areas electric mandolin is distinguished from electric guitar is in the use of string bending. Ahh, maybe Niles is right. Maybe the distinction between the two electric instruments is gone already.
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  9. #34

    Default Re: String Bending

    The electric instrument of course is different in that it acts as a prompter for sundry electronic processing of the signal. There's an attainable effect for every sound imaginable - you can sound like a sitar, chorus of angels, Roland saw, noise, whatever you want, on any electric device you want. The primary variables are electronic (pickup, amp, processing treatment), and aspects such as scale length, string gauge, bridge, box construction, etc - all very significant in effecting acoustic sound - are comparably minimal factors in sound production. Of course, there are structural/ergonomic differences (between elec mndln and elec gtr) that produce sound differences: lesser pitch range per string bend on mndln, for example, vibrato, etc..

  10. #35
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: String Bending

    My thinking is that string bending on the mandolin may be great as an artistic choice. The little I have heard and tried did not excite me.

    String bending on the mandolin because it's what one does on guitar, I dunno. But again, I get no awards for innovation.
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