Posted by John Miller on November 14, 2002, 1:11 pm Hi John and Jon,
64.154.184.154
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: I pretty much have this song down, except one
: lick that I'm having trouble playing.
: This lick occurs in the main riff (the one
: that opens the song, and fills in between
: lines).
: It is the 'wham' (bend) of the third (G)
: string, second fret. The note is bent up
: two half-steps, from A to B. (In some
: repetitions of the main riff, this lick
: occurs one octave lower, and is achieved
: by hammering on the second fret of the
: open fifth (A) string).
: My problem: I simply can't bend the note all
: the way up.
: The probable cause: I use pretty heavy
: strings (a wound .026 gauge on the G
: string), and I understand that Patton used
: fairly light strings.
: I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts on playing
: this lick -- has anyone managed to play it
: with other than light gauge strings?
: Is is doable with lots of exercise?
: Are there any workarounds?
: Thanks in advance,
This lick is definitely doable, but you have to use an unwound (plain) G string. You can use anywhere up to a .20 or .21 (or heavier, if you can handle it), though they get a bit stiff to bend around in there, but something about using the unwound third makes the string both easier to bend, and makes the bend "sing" more, like a treble string. I taught this tune at Port Townsend last summer and had a whole roomful of people doing it. Even with the unwound third, you have to reef the hell out of it, and possibly use two fingers to do the bend, but the unwound third string not only makes it possible, but with practice will get you the sound you want as well.
Incidentally, I think the unwound third is essential for a lot of tunes with third string bends, like Garfield Akers' "Cottonfield Blues" and many more.
John
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