Chords for The Byrds; Gene Parson's String Bender
Tempo:
95.4 bpm
Chords used:
G
Bm
E
C
C#
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
What caused the string bender to come into being, Clarence and I were doing a studio gig
where we put down a track, I think it was for the Gosman Brothers,
we put down the track and then Clarence went in to do some leads.
And they were real simple leads and he used to chime, he would pull the string over the nut and chime.
One of the first people to do that was a telecaster.
And he could do it in the open position and he said,
I wish I had a third hand, I wish I could do that in a second and third position.
I said, well I've got a hand, I can either pull the string or I can hold the position.
So I ended up pulling the string and we just fooled around in the studio.
And it was fun, it didn't get really recorded.
But Clarence said, isn't there some way, you're a mechanic, you've made scrug pegs for banjos and what not,
can't you figure out some way that I can do that?
And I said, well sure, we could just take cables and come out of the back of your guitar
with a pulling mechanism and pedals on the floor, like a pedal steel guitar.
And he said, no, no, no, no.
He said, if I want to play pedal steel guitar, I'll play pedal steel guitar.
I want something that goes in the guitar so when I put the guitar in the case, it's all complete, no attachments.
So I thought about it for a while and I came up with the idea of using the shoulder strap.
And I drew up a plan for it, got together with Sneaky Pete,
and Pete had some old steel guitar components that I got from him.
And I drew it all up.
Clarence got another guitar so that I could work on his guitar.
And I convinced him to let me work on his Telecaster.
And the first thing that I had to do was cut an inch and a quarter square out of the back,
out through, completely through the guitar, back of the bridge.
And so I did that.
And the next morning I brought this little square of sunburst wood and threw it across the table.
He was drinking his coffee and I said, there you go.
And he said, what's that?
And I said, well, look at it.
And he went, oh my God, we're past the point of no return.
And I said, yes, we are.
But he learned how to play it when I got it on there
and was using it almost too much, as you will with a new toy.
And I said, Clarence, don't lose the stuff that you already do.
Don't replace it with a string bender.
Add to it, please.
Just keep what you already do because it's wonderful and unique and add the string bender to it.
And he did it.
In about a day he had a technique down that was so wonderful.
Essentially what the string bender is and what it does is it takes the shoulder strap
and attaches it to a lever.
And if you push down on the neck, that lever will move.
And later on we'll get a look at all the components of the string bender.
But so what happens is if I push down on the neck, [C#] in this particular case,
the B string goes up a full tone, a tuned tone.
[Bm] [F#] The original string bender, the one that I did for Clarence White,
we didn't know if we were going to do the high E, the B, the G, or the D string.
But we figured it would be the B because you can bend the third string easily with your fingers.
[G] The high E doesn't lend itself to as many possibilities.
And it tends to break.
And the D was, even though we had an apparatus, I put an apparatus there to bend it,
we never used it.
So in its distilled form, the B [E] bender has risen to the top of the stew.
And so if you push down on the neck, if you bend the third string with your finger
and [B] pull the second string, the B, you can get two moving notes.
[C] Or a counterpoint [D#] [Bm]
[G] [A#] [E] [G]
like that.
It's nice to use it in a chord because you can do things that are impossible to do [Bm] [F] otherwise.
[C] [G] You can do hammer bends, [G#] [C#] [G] chime bends, [D] [Gm]
[Bm] and so on.
The shoulder strap lever that you see protruding out here through this trim plate,
and if you see it moves back and forth.
So obviously it's on a spring because it returns by itself.
It's transferred by linkages which we'll see soon in the back of the guitar that go to this pull hub.
Now if I push down on the neck, that strap lever moves and this pull hub revolves
to a pre-tuned position which is tuned by this screw here.
On the double bender, which I don't have here to show you,
you have two units.
One that is a B bender and then another one that works with a lanyard
attached to a lever at the butt of the guitar so that if you pull the neck towards you,
the lanyard attaches to your belt loop and then will pull a lever and you can pull the G string up.
Okay, and let's look at the back now.
[G] Well you can see the strap lever here and there's a connecting rod.
And you can see the return spring.
There's a little clevis here to allow for the motion there so there's little friction.
And then this is the actuator arm here that attaches to the pull hub.
And then you can see the screw protruding down maybe that tunes the travel.
[Bm] [D] [C]
[Bm] [E]
[G]
where we put down a track, I think it was for the Gosman Brothers,
we put down the track and then Clarence went in to do some leads.
And they were real simple leads and he used to chime, he would pull the string over the nut and chime.
One of the first people to do that was a telecaster.
And he could do it in the open position and he said,
I wish I had a third hand, I wish I could do that in a second and third position.
I said, well I've got a hand, I can either pull the string or I can hold the position.
So I ended up pulling the string and we just fooled around in the studio.
And it was fun, it didn't get really recorded.
But Clarence said, isn't there some way, you're a mechanic, you've made scrug pegs for banjos and what not,
can't you figure out some way that I can do that?
And I said, well sure, we could just take cables and come out of the back of your guitar
with a pulling mechanism and pedals on the floor, like a pedal steel guitar.
And he said, no, no, no, no.
He said, if I want to play pedal steel guitar, I'll play pedal steel guitar.
I want something that goes in the guitar so when I put the guitar in the case, it's all complete, no attachments.
So I thought about it for a while and I came up with the idea of using the shoulder strap.
And I drew up a plan for it, got together with Sneaky Pete,
and Pete had some old steel guitar components that I got from him.
And I drew it all up.
Clarence got another guitar so that I could work on his guitar.
And I convinced him to let me work on his Telecaster.
And the first thing that I had to do was cut an inch and a quarter square out of the back,
out through, completely through the guitar, back of the bridge.
And so I did that.
And the next morning I brought this little square of sunburst wood and threw it across the table.
He was drinking his coffee and I said, there you go.
And he said, what's that?
And I said, well, look at it.
And he went, oh my God, we're past the point of no return.
And I said, yes, we are.
But he learned how to play it when I got it on there
and was using it almost too much, as you will with a new toy.
And I said, Clarence, don't lose the stuff that you already do.
Don't replace it with a string bender.
Add to it, please.
Just keep what you already do because it's wonderful and unique and add the string bender to it.
And he did it.
In about a day he had a technique down that was so wonderful.
Essentially what the string bender is and what it does is it takes the shoulder strap
and attaches it to a lever.
And if you push down on the neck, that lever will move.
And later on we'll get a look at all the components of the string bender.
But so what happens is if I push down on the neck, [C#] in this particular case,
the B string goes up a full tone, a tuned tone.
[Bm] [F#] The original string bender, the one that I did for Clarence White,
we didn't know if we were going to do the high E, the B, the G, or the D string.
But we figured it would be the B because you can bend the third string easily with your fingers.
[G] The high E doesn't lend itself to as many possibilities.
And it tends to break.
And the D was, even though we had an apparatus, I put an apparatus there to bend it,
we never used it.
So in its distilled form, the B [E] bender has risen to the top of the stew.
And so if you push down on the neck, if you bend the third string with your finger
and [B] pull the second string, the B, you can get two moving notes.
[C] Or a counterpoint [D#] [Bm]
[G] [A#] [E] [G]
like that.
It's nice to use it in a chord because you can do things that are impossible to do [Bm] [F] otherwise.
[C] [G] You can do hammer bends, [G#] [C#] [G] chime bends, [D] [Gm]
[Bm] and so on.
The shoulder strap lever that you see protruding out here through this trim plate,
and if you see it moves back and forth.
So obviously it's on a spring because it returns by itself.
It's transferred by linkages which we'll see soon in the back of the guitar that go to this pull hub.
Now if I push down on the neck, that strap lever moves and this pull hub revolves
to a pre-tuned position which is tuned by this screw here.
On the double bender, which I don't have here to show you,
you have two units.
One that is a B bender and then another one that works with a lanyard
attached to a lever at the butt of the guitar so that if you pull the neck towards you,
the lanyard attaches to your belt loop and then will pull a lever and you can pull the G string up.
Okay, and let's look at the back now.
[G] Well you can see the strap lever here and there's a connecting rod.
And you can see the return spring.
There's a little clevis here to allow for the motion there so there's little friction.
And then this is the actuator arm here that attaches to the pull hub.
And then you can see the screw protruding down maybe that tunes the travel.
[Bm] [D] [C]
[Bm] [E]
[G]
Key:
G
Bm
E
C
C#
G
Bm
E
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
What caused the string bender to come into being, Clarence and I were doing a studio gig
where we put down a track, I think it was for the Gosman Brothers,
we put down the track and then Clarence went in to do some leads.
And they were real simple leads and he used to chime, he would pull the string over the nut and chime.
One of the first people to do that was a telecaster.
And he could do it in the open position and he said,
I wish I had a third hand, I wish I could do that in a second and third position.
I said, well I've got a hand, I can either pull the string or I can hold the position.
So I ended up pulling the string and we just fooled around in the studio.
And it was fun, it didn't get really recorded.
But Clarence said, isn't there some way, you're a mechanic, _ you've made scrug pegs for banjos and what not,
can't you figure out some way that I can do that?
And I said, well sure, we could just take cables and come out of the back of your guitar
with a pulling mechanism and pedals on the floor, like a pedal steel guitar.
And he said, no, no, no, no.
He said, if I want to play pedal steel guitar, I'll play pedal steel guitar.
I want something that goes in the guitar so when I put the guitar in the case, it's all complete, no attachments.
_ So I thought about it for a while and I came up with the idea of using the shoulder strap.
And I drew up a plan for it, got together with Sneaky Pete,
and Pete had some old steel guitar components that I got from him.
And I drew it all up.
Clarence got another guitar so that I could work on his guitar.
And I convinced him to let me work on his Telecaster.
And the first thing that I had to do was cut an inch and a quarter square out of the back,
out through, completely through the guitar, back of the bridge.
And so I did that.
And the next morning I brought this little square of sunburst wood and threw it across the table.
He was drinking his coffee and I said, there you go.
And he said, what's that?
And I said, well, look at it.
And he went, oh my God, we're past the point of no return.
And I said, yes, we are.
But he learned how to play it when I got it on there
and was using it almost too much, as you will with a new toy.
And I said, Clarence, don't lose the stuff that you already do.
Don't replace it with a string bender.
Add to it, please.
Just keep what you already do because it's wonderful and unique and add the string bender to it.
And he did it.
In about a day he had a technique down that was so wonderful.
Essentially what the string bender is and what it does is it takes the shoulder strap
and attaches it to a lever.
_ _ And if you push down on the neck, _ that lever will move.
And later on we'll get a look at all the components of the string bender.
But so what happens is if I push down on the neck, [C#] _ _ in this particular case,
the B string goes up a full tone, a tuned tone.
[Bm] _ _ _ [F#] The original string bender, the one that I did for Clarence White,
we didn't know if we were going to do the high E, the B, the G, or the D string.
But we figured it would be the B because you can bend the third string easily with your fingers.
_ _ [G] _ _ The high E doesn't lend itself to as many possibilities.
And it tends to break.
_ And the D was, even though we had an apparatus, I put an apparatus there to bend it,
we never used it.
So in its distilled form, the B [E] bender has risen to the top of the stew.
And so if you push down on the neck, _ _ _ _ _ _ _
if you bend the third string with your finger
and [B] pull the second string, the B, _ _ you can get two moving notes. _
[C] Or a counterpoint [D#] _ _ [Bm] _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ [A#] _ [E] _ _ [G] _
_ like that.
It's nice to use it in a chord because you can do things that are impossible to do _ [Bm] _ [F] otherwise. _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ [G] You can do hammer bends, _ [G#] _ _ [C#] _ [G] chime bends, _ [D] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Bm] and so on.
The shoulder strap lever _ that you see protruding out here through this trim plate,
and if you see it moves back and forth.
So obviously it's on a spring because it returns by itself.
It's transferred by linkages which we'll see soon in the back of the guitar that go to this pull hub.
_ Now if I push down on the neck, that strap lever moves and this pull hub revolves
to a pre-tuned position which is tuned by this screw here.
_ On the double bender, which I don't have here to show you,
you have two units.
One that is a B bender and then another one that works with a lanyard
attached to a lever at the butt of the guitar so that if you pull the neck towards you, _
the lanyard attaches to your belt loop and then will pull a lever and you can pull the G string up.
_ _ Okay, and let's look at the back now.
_ _ [G] Well you can see the strap lever here and there's a connecting rod.
And you can see the return spring.
There's a little clevis here to allow for the motion there so there's little friction.
And then this is the actuator arm here that attaches to the pull hub.
And then you can see the screw protruding down maybe that tunes the travel. _ _ _ _ _ _
[Bm] _ _ [D] _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ [E] _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
What caused the string bender to come into being, Clarence and I were doing a studio gig
where we put down a track, I think it was for the Gosman Brothers,
we put down the track and then Clarence went in to do some leads.
And they were real simple leads and he used to chime, he would pull the string over the nut and chime.
One of the first people to do that was a telecaster.
And he could do it in the open position and he said,
I wish I had a third hand, I wish I could do that in a second and third position.
I said, well I've got a hand, I can either pull the string or I can hold the position.
So I ended up pulling the string and we just fooled around in the studio.
And it was fun, it didn't get really recorded.
But Clarence said, isn't there some way, you're a mechanic, _ you've made scrug pegs for banjos and what not,
can't you figure out some way that I can do that?
And I said, well sure, we could just take cables and come out of the back of your guitar
with a pulling mechanism and pedals on the floor, like a pedal steel guitar.
And he said, no, no, no, no.
He said, if I want to play pedal steel guitar, I'll play pedal steel guitar.
I want something that goes in the guitar so when I put the guitar in the case, it's all complete, no attachments.
_ So I thought about it for a while and I came up with the idea of using the shoulder strap.
And I drew up a plan for it, got together with Sneaky Pete,
and Pete had some old steel guitar components that I got from him.
And I drew it all up.
Clarence got another guitar so that I could work on his guitar.
And I convinced him to let me work on his Telecaster.
And the first thing that I had to do was cut an inch and a quarter square out of the back,
out through, completely through the guitar, back of the bridge.
And so I did that.
And the next morning I brought this little square of sunburst wood and threw it across the table.
He was drinking his coffee and I said, there you go.
And he said, what's that?
And I said, well, look at it.
And he went, oh my God, we're past the point of no return.
And I said, yes, we are.
But he learned how to play it when I got it on there
and was using it almost too much, as you will with a new toy.
And I said, Clarence, don't lose the stuff that you already do.
Don't replace it with a string bender.
Add to it, please.
Just keep what you already do because it's wonderful and unique and add the string bender to it.
And he did it.
In about a day he had a technique down that was so wonderful.
Essentially what the string bender is and what it does is it takes the shoulder strap
and attaches it to a lever.
_ _ And if you push down on the neck, _ that lever will move.
And later on we'll get a look at all the components of the string bender.
But so what happens is if I push down on the neck, [C#] _ _ in this particular case,
the B string goes up a full tone, a tuned tone.
[Bm] _ _ _ [F#] The original string bender, the one that I did for Clarence White,
we didn't know if we were going to do the high E, the B, the G, or the D string.
But we figured it would be the B because you can bend the third string easily with your fingers.
_ _ [G] _ _ The high E doesn't lend itself to as many possibilities.
And it tends to break.
_ And the D was, even though we had an apparatus, I put an apparatus there to bend it,
we never used it.
So in its distilled form, the B [E] bender has risen to the top of the stew.
And so if you push down on the neck, _ _ _ _ _ _ _
if you bend the third string with your finger
and [B] pull the second string, the B, _ _ you can get two moving notes. _
[C] Or a counterpoint [D#] _ _ [Bm] _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ [A#] _ [E] _ _ [G] _
_ like that.
It's nice to use it in a chord because you can do things that are impossible to do _ [Bm] _ [F] otherwise. _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ [G] You can do hammer bends, _ [G#] _ _ [C#] _ [G] chime bends, _ [D] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Bm] and so on.
The shoulder strap lever _ that you see protruding out here through this trim plate,
and if you see it moves back and forth.
So obviously it's on a spring because it returns by itself.
It's transferred by linkages which we'll see soon in the back of the guitar that go to this pull hub.
_ Now if I push down on the neck, that strap lever moves and this pull hub revolves
to a pre-tuned position which is tuned by this screw here.
_ On the double bender, which I don't have here to show you,
you have two units.
One that is a B bender and then another one that works with a lanyard
attached to a lever at the butt of the guitar so that if you pull the neck towards you, _
the lanyard attaches to your belt loop and then will pull a lever and you can pull the G string up.
_ _ Okay, and let's look at the back now.
_ _ [G] Well you can see the strap lever here and there's a connecting rod.
And you can see the return spring.
There's a little clevis here to allow for the motion there so there's little friction.
And then this is the actuator arm here that attaches to the pull hub.
And then you can see the screw protruding down maybe that tunes the travel. _ _ _ _ _ _
[Bm] _ _ [D] _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ [E] _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _