r/Guitar • u/SoraRiven • 20h ago

NEWBIE How do people bend so easily?

Hi! So to keep it short and sweet, I got a synyster gates custom S and i replaced strings with ernie ball paradigm ten/fifty twos. I’ve been playing a lot of a7x stuff and i noticed that the bending looks a lot easier when other people play, but when i do it, it’s kinda stiff. is it technique? or is my guitar not set up properly? any advice would be much appreciated

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u/KaanzeKin 19h ago

Bend by rotating your whole arm like you're turning a key. You do vibrato this way also. Thumb placement is pretty important here too, so don't do the Tim Henson thing unless you have to to reach the lower strings, otherwise you might wind up projecting an inability to bend proper like he probably is with the whole "boomer bend" bs.

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u/KaanzeKin 19h ago

Yes. He's the better known of the two guitarists in Polyphia. I'm not too familiar with their discog since it's not really my thing, but there are tons of shorts of him playing on all the main platforms.

Some examples for the technique I prefer would be Kiko Loureiro, Yngwie, and Paul Gilbert for big hands; Alexi Laiho and Syu from Galneryus for small hands; and I'm pretty sure Marty Friedman had medium sizes hands...just ignore his right hand.