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| Moderated by: Tony Provencher, Richard Hefner |
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| small question about CH | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Tue Feb 17th, 2009 03:34 pm |
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1st Post |
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hdxtheo Approved
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Richard, sorry about bothering you again. The song John Henry you arranged has shown a subtle skill, that is hard for me to understand. It goes as follows. Measure 3: On the count of 1, hold the 1st string at the 5th fret with your ring finger. Apply pressure in an upward motion to bend the note up a half step so it sounds like the 6th fret (you don’t actually go to the 6th fret) then release the pressure so the 5th fret sounds normal again on the count of 2. What do the "upward motion & bend the note up" really mean? Does it indicate that the ring finger between 4th & 5th fret needs moving a bit toward the 6th fret? According to the rules from the books, the finger should be just placed behind the metal fret, so I can hardly imagine how the ring finger should apply pressure in an upward motion. In addition, does "bend the note up a half step" means the finger needs to push the string sideway or press down hard to the surface of fretboard so as to change the sound by tightening the string a bit? Thanks in advance for your instruction.
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| Posted: Tue Feb 17th, 2009 03:47 pm |
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2nd Post |
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Jim Yates Approved 
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Bending the string is done by pushing the string towards the bass side of the fretboard (or for the bass string, pulling it towards the treble side of the fretboard) This raises the pitch of the string. How far you push or pull it determines how far the pitch is raised. This is a common technique in blues guitar or bluegrass banjo; less common in clawhammer banjo.
____________________ Jim http://www.myspace.com/jimyates http://www.myspace.com/mapleleafchampionjugband |
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| Posted: Tue Feb 17th, 2009 05:34 pm |
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3rd Post |
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Richard Hefner Administrator 
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hdxtheo... I agree with what Jim said. It just takes a lot of practice to do it smoothly, so just keep at it. Also, in my arrangements it's kind of optional. Try it with bending the notes and also try it without bending the notes and judge for yourself the difference in the sound.
____________________ Richard Hefner MP3 Page: http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/richardhefner Running Blog: http://old-runner.com |
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| Posted: Tue Feb 17th, 2009 05:40 pm |
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4th Post |
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hdxtheo Approved
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Lots of thanks, Jim. Towards the bass side means pushing towards 4th string, right? I tried a couple of times, the sound would not last long, even very difficult to hear the sound change (maybe the quality of my uke is poor, or I haven't handled it yet). What this technique for? Making the sound more listenable?
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| Posted: Tue Feb 17th, 2009 07:13 pm |
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5th Post |
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hdxtheo Approved
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Many thanks, Richard. Are 'bending string' & 'bending notes' identical in concept when playing any string instrument like uke, but different in technical term? Does it look like what the violinists are doing with quick wrist-movement and finger-tip to make the sound with vibratiton? A ridiculous question from a pre-school student.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 6th, 2009 04:57 am |
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6th Post |
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ezmember Approved
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Bending strings or notes means the same thing. You're bending the pitch up or down a little, a whinning sort of sound. You can REALLY hear it on an electric guitar, but not so much on a Ukulele, because its sound is just inherently weak.
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| Posted: Sat Mar 7th, 2009 03:36 am |
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7th Post |
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hdxtheo Approved
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Hi, ezmember: Thanks for your explanation. There are 3 bendings in your message: strings, notes & pitch. What I wanna clearly know is: how to bend the string. Using the finger tip to push the string back & forth in parallel with the fretboard, or pressing it down toward the fretboard? If it would be the latter, because my frets are pretty low, before the bending result is produced the strings will reach the surface of fretboard easily; if what you mentioned is the former, does it mean the whinning sound comes from the friction between the strings & fret? I'm not sure if I made my description clearly understood?
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| Posted: Sat Mar 7th, 2009 08:52 pm |
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8th Post |
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banjo brad Super Moderator 
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"Bending" notes, pitch and strings are the same thing. You "bend" a note by fretting the string, then pushing it or pulling it parallel to the fret. The amount of distance you move the string will affect the sound of the note. The "whining" sound is the change in pitch of the note due to the stretching you impart by pushing (towards the upper edge) or pulling (towards the lower edge) the string. You must fret the string and then sound (pluck) it before you bend it in order to get the proper sound.
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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| Posted: Sun Mar 8th, 2009 12:28 am |
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9th Post |
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hdxtheo Approved
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Thanks, Brad, With your explanation in detail, now I can picture what this subtle technique is really like. The key issue would be that how I can handle it thru practice. I really apprecite this forum, which can help a lot of people learn something new. BTW, how about your video, which will show us how to perform clawhammer style properly?
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| Posted: Sun Mar 8th, 2009 12:55 am |
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10th Post |
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banjo brad Super Moderator
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I'm trying to find time to set up and experiment with how best to present it. Hopefully I can get to it soon.
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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| Posted: Sun Mar 8th, 2009 05:59 pm |
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11th Post |
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hdxtheo Approved
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Brad, sorry to bother you again. After trying a couple of times according to your description, I got a small question: bending (pushing & pulling) the strings toward one direction only, or needing to push & pull the strings back-&-forth continuously for a sustained whining sound, because I found there are two different results (despite not so big), one is: low to high; the other is: low-high-low-high~~~~~ Regardless of how ridiculous it may seem, I need an answer.
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| Posted: Sun Mar 8th, 2009 06:50 pm |
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12th Post |
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Jim Yates Approved
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Low to high, a single bend is usually what's called for when a bend is indicated. A continuous pitch variation is called vibrato. By the way, a coninuous volume variation is called tremolo. The Bigsby people got it right when they called their devise a Vibrato arm. Fender mistakenly called it a Tremolo arm.
____________________ Jim http://www.myspace.com/jimyates http://www.myspace.com/mapleleafchampionjugband |
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