For the life of me I can't seem to get these bends down whilst playing the subsequent notes after them. First tab is from Megadeth's "Architecture of aggression", second is from Smoke on the water and the last is from Pantera's Cemetery Gates. I have particular trouble when it comes to the last two where I bend and have to play notes on the high B and high E strings almost instantly. I use .011s on the high E string on a 25.5 scale neck which makes it a bit harder to bend the notes a whole step with just the middle and ring fingers(as the index is needed for the high B and E notes). What can I do? Is it just really hard to play these licks with .011s? It should be noted that I play with my thumb behind the neck most of the time but I bring it out over the neck for bends and vibrato. I noticed most of the guys that play these licks keep their thumb over the neck the whole time which I cannot do. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for providing us with details!

I think you are sensing this problem yourself here. You are using string gauges bordering extreme (especially if you are new to this kind of stuff).

The very first thing I would do is switch to lighter string gauges - so that you don't get any bad habits by trying to play this with such a handicap (I am referring to the string gauge). You could go for a custom 09-46 set if you still want thicker strings for rhythm guitar (that's what I use).

Give it some time with the lighter string gauge - and try to have this as your goal:



When you can do it with .09 then move up to .10, and then 0.11

If even .09 are giving your problems you can also tune your guitar down to Eb or even D standard.

.11 is a fairly heavy gauge for doing wads of bends. Some folks love thick strings and have no problem. But if you are struggling a bit with it, maybe try a pair of .9 gauge while you are getting a handle on your bends and you can always switch back to the telephone cable strings later

It's not just you, this type of thing is often a challenge for folks until they get a handle on it. I'd suggest playing it very very slowly and evenly until it's smooth and you find a way of fingering that works for your hand. Try using a metronome and slow it down until you can play a given lick all the way through without problems. Then speed up just a few BPM at a time. Repetition really is key.

Also, can you shoot a quick vid of you attempting to play these so we can see what is happening with your fingers? Cell phone vid, web cam vid, any vid all will work

Todd

Will definitely give lighter gauge strings a go. Been meaning to do a full detail/re-string of the guitar anyway so will put .009s on there. Will also get a video up too and keep you guys updated. Thanks for the advice

Excellent, can't wait to hear how it works out!

Looking forward to hearing it as well!