Atrium (PSC) - Bob Warford B-Bender Solo Lesson (with TAB)

[@lukesdriftersmusic5850]

Brilliant 👏, can you try and learn Marty Stuarts new into to his solo on Country Music Got A Hold On Me, he's got a new pedal steel intro which I can't seem to get my head around.

[@silvrface]

Because it's played on a bender. Don't think "pedal steel intro", because you can't play steel licks with a bender (I play both instruments). Try to shift gears when playing b-bender - "lock" your brain into the bender, and don't think "I need to sound like a steel". Think about it ONLY from a b-bender approach.

[@desotopete]

Is there anyway to fake the b bender sound without the actual b bender? Love this sound.

[@chrislarcombemusic8445]

There are many bender mechanisms out there. Hipshot, palm benders, but none really come close to the control and subtlety you achieve with a strap-operated bender in my opinion. there's a reason all the top players use that and not hipshots, etc. That said, there's a lot of players who grew up listening to benders but simply didn't know they existed, so tried to learn all the bender licks just with their fingers. Vince Gill always sounds to me like he's using a bender, but it's just his bends are just absolutely flawlessly accurate. Duke Levine is similar also. Or, try some behind the nut bends. Obviously this is a limited thing you can do (only in position 1), but still, it's fun to mess around with!

[@silvrface]

I agree with Chris - I've been playing Parsons-Whites, Evans Pull Strings and Glasers since 1975 (those, IMO, are the best of the best - the Evans having the widest range of spring tension and throw length adjustability - the Parsons is sturdy but not adjustable at all), and the trick is that there are bends you can't play on a B string manually while sustaining another note. There's also a "sound" to the mechanical bend (once you really learn how to "milk" the notes) that just can't be done any other way. I do think a Hipshot is a good "intro" bender, but the lack of any spring tension (especially adjustable) makes it difficult to pull off drifting, oddly-timed bends typical of the "west coast" players - Clarence White, Bob Warford, Al Perkins...and later the "Clarence White Forum Army" - Murray Cullen, Mike Nihen, Brian Friend and dozens of others (including me). and palm devices limit damping, pick attack adjustments and pick harmonics. Chris has wonderfully latched onto the style suggested to me back in the 70s when talking to Clarence White - to NOT play a b-bender as a normal guitar. Use it as a totally different musical instrument. If you listen to Clarence and Bob Warford they vary, very rarely play any kind of "rhythm guitar" - they play little backup licks and riffs, with a LOT of "laying out". But virtually NO full chords. They just hold 2-4 notes and weave between them, sometimes with bends - sometimes without. And the other "lesson" - NEVER try to play like a pedal steel. It sounds "cheesy". Clarence stared playing his that way but stopped playing that way within a year. If you want to sound like a steel, buy a pedal steel - you can actually learn the basic sounds on a budget steel using just 5 strings and 2 pedals in a couple of hours if you're a decent guitar player. But do not play pedal steel licks with a bender - they don't sound right & don't "move" the same way. They're tonally and musically "wrong". If you are playing a b-bender, play b-bender...not guitar or steel. If you want to play straight guitar on a song, strap on a Tele, Strat, Les Paul, Rick, whatever. But to REALLY become a skilled, classic b-bender player you need to have a different mindset and approach when you play one. Hope that helps!!