Video Question: Playing Bends

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Date: June 12th, 2009 | Length: 3.73 | Instructor: David MacKenzie

Cmp1969 asked "I just watched Matt's lesson on bends along with DMAC's. The one thing I am having trouble with is bending the string when you are fretting the one above it. Especially if it is on the same fret. For example: 14th fret on the 2nd and 3rd string and bending the 2nd string. Frank Hannon of Tesla does that alot on the song "Song and Emotion". Can you please explain or demonstrate it? Thanks" Another benefit of being a member of JamPlay is the video response section. Our expert staff fields questions from our members and provides video responses each week.

Other Video Responses:

Learning on Acoustic or Electric - February 2nd, 2009 (2 minutes, 38 seconds)

Bruce824 asked "I'm strictly a beginner when it comes to the guitar. I enjoy the electric more than the standard acoustic, because I notice the neck is more slimmer. I also notice you don't have to press as hard on the strings against the frets on a electric as you do an acoustic. When learning to play from scratch, should I start with the electric or the acoustic." View Response

reading sheet music - April 21st, 2008 (3 minutes, 56 seconds)

Scando says "Hi there, I am working through a classical guitar book and have come across some annotation I don't quite understand. C.2 --- C.9 --- C.2 --- C.1 --- C.7. What do the various C's stand for? Hope my diagram makes some sense Lars" View Response

help - May 23rd, 2008 (1 minutes, 19 seconds)

Puma_jaguar asks, "Hi My name is Saul ,im taking lessons with Steve Eulberg and im a begginer i really enjoy the lessons, i have an acoustic guitar Esteban legacy AL-100 41" and i think that the neck of my guitar is very small im not sure,the top of the neck is 1 5/8" and low is 2 1/8", i have problem when i'm playing the easy c cord ,my first finger hit the second string first fret, but when im playing part of my tip of my finger touches the first string too and it makes a buzz all the time i dont know if it is because the neck is very small and the strings are really close could you tell me, if there is a position that will help me not to make my tip touch both strings ( how will i change to easy c chord to d7th chord?) if the neck is small or how should i bend my fingers in this case? . how should i hold the guitar guitar easier? is the position of my thumb incorret ? thanks" View Response

strings - April 21st, 2008 (3 minutes, 44 seconds)

Kenrahn says, "Hi, I'm a beginner so I would like to know what would be the best strings for this type of guitar. It's an Alvarez Model CY135. Thank You for your help. Ken Rahn" View Response

Square Perpendicular Fingers - February 25th, 2008 (6 minutes, 70 seconds)

Dannychoo asks, "i had asked this question on the message forum and got a response, but kinda difficult to visualize it so i thought i'd ask here again. my problem is that i have a difficult time keeping my fingers square to the fret. i've seen videos of people playing scales and their fingers are very square to the fret. mine are always kinda leaning towards one side. i'm also having problems with fingers "flailing" around... as in when my pinky is down my index finger would be like 2 inches off the fret. help please! thanks." View Response