FROMRUSSIAWITHLOVE
I’dreallyliketosaythatI’veread themagazineforyears,butthere’s noabilitytopurchaseitfreelyhere inRussia.Afriendofmineduring hervisitsabroadhasbroughtme thesetwoissues:206July2012 and231June2014,withClapton andVaughanontheircovers correspondingly.Iwantedtowrite toTalkbacktwoyearsago,having readthat‘LetterFromIndia’in GT206.Youwereastonishedbythe factthat“thestuffweproducehere inGBisfindingitswayacrossthe world”.Iwantedtosaysomething like:“Hey-hey!IndiaisanEnglish speakingnation,atleast,sowhat wouldyousayaboutmycountry?” ButIprocrastinatedandthendidn't getroundtoit.Nevertheless,things changedthisyear.I’maself-taught musician;Iliketogainanew knowledge,andforacoupleof monthsIhadbeentryingtofind somecomprehensiveinfoabout using7thchords,andthecircleof 5ths.Couldanyoneimaginemy surprisewhenAnna(thefriend) gavemeGT231andtherewasan articlewithexplanations concerningthesetwobadly requiredtopics?Thatwasagreat boostformymusicalinspiration! Sothankyou,GT! DmitriySumin Well,it'sjustasfabuloustoknowthat someofourissuesaregettingtoyou inRussia,aswellastoreadersinIndia. Yourcountryhasanincredible musicalhistory,andIknowthat historycontinueswithsomeamazing guitarists,suchasFeodorDosumov, whogiveslessonswithourfriends overatwww.jamtrackcentral.comand isasgoodasanyonewe'veeverseen. Iwasreallyinterestedinyourrecentarticleonstring bendsandacommentmadeinNeville’s‘welcome’ pageaboutthemechanicsofstringbending.Init,he wassayingthat‘holdingthefingerperpendicularto thestrings’isnotcorrect,and thatsomeothersortofmotionis thewaytodoit.I’dbereally interestedinhavingthis explainedfurther,sinceI strugglewithstringbendsand, worse,havinganykindof controloverthemoncethey’re bent.Iuselightgaugestrings, I’messentiallyplayingabluesy styleandtherestofmy technique–picking,general speedandsoon–iscoming alongfine.I’vebeenplaying aboutfouryearsandI’minmy 50s,havingtakentheguitarup late–andI’mguessing‘late learnersyndrome’ismorethan alittletodowithit!Anyway, somefurtherinstructionwould bemosthelpful. TerryDodds,Newcastle Tryingtobendastringjustby‘pushingup’withafingerfrom belowisnotagreatidea,asit’sallbutimpossibletogetthe required‘purchase’againsttheneck–whichyou’llneedif youhaveanyhopeofcontrollingthebentstring.So,pickup yourguitarandfollowtheseinstructions.We’regoingto bendthesecondstringupatone,fromGtoA,atthe8thfret.
1)Griptheneckfirmlybetweenyourthumbandfirst finger,andfretthesecondstringatthe8thfretwithyour thirdfinger.Ifyourhandisanythinglikemine,thebaseof yourfirstfingerisnowpressedagainstthebottomedgeof theneckaroundthe5thfret(thisisyour‘pivot’point),and yourthumbiscomingovertheneckataboutthe6thfret. Whatalovelycoincidencethatthe issuesAnnabroughtbackhome featuredtheverylessonsyouwanted. Let'shopeshemakesmoreUKvisits andcantopupyourcollectionwith more(hopefullyjustasuseful)lessons.
2)Maintainthisgripandyoumaynoticethatyourfirst andsecondfingersarerestingonthestringbehindthe ‘bending’finger.Thisishandy,becauseyou’llneedtheseto ‘assist’inthebending.Iftheydon’tfallherenaturally,place themtherenowandgetusedtothis.Thefingersshould nowbeanythingbutperpendiculartothestrings;infact, they’llbelyingalmostparallelto them.Thepointoftheexerciseisto rotatethewristanti-clockwise, pivotingthefirstfingeragainstthe necktosortof‘lever’thebend.
3)Asyourotatethehand,push thestringupusingallthreefingers. Usea‘clenching’actionthatcomes fromacombinationofwrist rotation,firstfingerpivot,forearm muscleandthestrengthofthree fingers.Keepbendingandrelaxing thestring,andfeelingwhat’sgoing oninyourhand,wristandarm.Use youreartohearhowfaryou’vebent (orcheckbyfrettingthesamestring atthe10thfret).Beforelongyour musclememorywilldevelopand youwon’tneedtothinkabouthow muchforceeachbendrequires.
4)Themechanicsofadding fingervibratoareverysimilar.For abluesyvibrato,bendthestringas suggestedthenletitdown,butnotrightbacktoitsstarting place,perhapshalfway,thenbendbacktopitchandrepeat adinfinitum.You’lldothismechanicallytostartwith,but theaimisanatural‘oscillation’–trythesamemovement withyourhandheldinthesameshapebutawayfromthe guitarneck;wobbleitandyou’llseeyoucanmakeitgointo akindofspasm,soit’soscillatingwithoutyoutellingittodo eachup-downmotion.Whatyouwantinbluesisa‘reflex action’vibrato,notaforced,unnaturalone.
Goodbendingandvibratodon’tcomeovernight,so you’llneedtopracticeregularly.Buttheseaspectsarewhat makeadecentplayersoundlikeagreatone.Goodluck! takeonMixolydianmode,etc)and nowhavequitealargecollection –butnoindex!Doessuchanindex exist,orhaveyouthoughtof producingone?Thenearestthing I’vefoundisa‘GuitarTechniques songs-list’online;thisgivessome ofthesongtranscriptions,butnot theall-importanttuitionfeatures.
Icanalwayslaymyhandsona fewwell-thumbedarticles,suchas Guthrie’sclassic‘SuperchargeYour Playing’inDecember2009, becausetheyareneverfarfromthe topofthepile.Butmostofthetime, Ihavetoploughthroughback issuesuntilIeitherfindwhatI’m lookingfor,orelsegetside-tracked intosomecompletelydifferentstyle ofplaying.IamalmostcertainI’ve seenaletteraskingaboutthis before,butcan’tfindtheissueit appearedin!Surelythisfantastic archiveofguitartuitionmaterialis worthyofacomprehensiveindex? KenAvery OuroldfriendJimCameronusedto keepanindexofthetranscriptions andwe’drunthatfromtimetotimein themagazine.Butaswehavesofew tabsofactualsongsthesedayswe haven’tprinteditforawhile.We simplydon’thavethepeoplepower togothrougheveryissueandcreatea fulllistoflessonsandfeaturesfrom scratch–256magazines(orso)and counting.Andtobehonest,it’snot thekindofjobI’dgivetoawork experienceperson–itwouldput themoffworkforlife!Butifanyone outtherehassuchalistandwouldn’t mindsharingitwithus,I’dkeepitasa PDFonthedisk,uploadittotheGT pageonwww.musicradar.comand updateitfromthenon.