How to bend and release without flicking the other strings?

Question

I'm trying to bend up then back down on the G string (so it plays both notes, I'm not muting the bend back down to G) but I always catch my fingernail on the D string. So when I let the bend back down to G, my fingernail flicks the D string and makes a bit of a noise. How can I stop doing this? Is it a problem with how I am bending? Or do I just need to practice it more so I don't do it?

Answer 1

One thing that will help its to keep the nails on that hand very short, but the technique I use if I must bend a string into or through another is to tilt it back enough that only the fingertip touches the other string, keeping the nail back out of the way.

This is relatively easy to practice and pick up.

Answer 2

If you can achieve the bend without touching the D string, doing it very slowly, then you have a chance of practising that motion until you can do it at speed.

Doing it slowly, you can experiment with the angle of your fingers, etc. I'm sure your guitar tutor and/or book goes into detail about proper fretting hand position, so I won't repeat it here.

If you find you can't avoid touching the D string even doing the bend very, very slowly, then you simply have to accept that this is a limitation of your instrument.

You then have two choices:

1. Mute the D string, by whatever method suits the piece and your playing style.
2. Try and find an instrument without this limitation! Perhaps a guitar with a wider neck.

Of course 2 is quite extreme, but some people have large collections of guitars.

Answer 3

If you're bending half to one full note (combined with the right technique and angle approach), you can avoid flickering adjacent string most of the time.

It can be harder to achieve consistently on an electric guitar with a lower action, narrow neck, and/or strings with less tension; also when playing fast solo, bending one-and-a-half note, or vibrato while keeping the bend-up.

To cope with that, I would press the string hard. With the right angle of approach, the finger nail on the G string would slide "under" (just slightly) the upper D string as it bends. Bending down G string, finger nail will slide off from under the D string without producing sound from it.

When doing fast solo though, often with vibrato at the top of the bend, I must finger-mute adjacent strings (e.g. your D string) as I attack the G string to avoid noise from D string consistently. Palm-mute would not be sufficient. Or else there's no way I can avoid making sound out of D string as I bend up on G and do vibrato. It wasn't tricky - I normally wrap my hand over the neck as I solo so my other finger are touching and effectively muting all string, single the one being attacked (the G string here).

Answer 4

The fret hand can be very effective at muting the lower adjacent string, as well as all higher strings.

For the lower string in your case, position your first (index) finger so that the tip of the finger is slightly touching the string you want to mute. In a good position, the tip of the finger should "butt up against" the string, not press it down.

In this position, the first finger can be simultaneously used to fret the string you are playing on, and mute all the higher strings by lightly laying across them (not enough to fret them). Any other lower strings can be palm muted.

This can be a slightly tricky fret hand technique at first. To get comfortable with it, I recommend fretting a fret on the D or G string and strumming all 6 strings, listening for any notes other than the fretted one. From here, you can adjust until everything is correctly muted.

Answer 5

There are two ways to bend a string. One where you pull down and one where you pull up. They both produce the same effect. Try both methods and see if either minimizes the interfecrence with the other strings you are trying to avoid interacting with.