I love the joystick approach, I always assign wahwah to the modulation and vibrato to the aftertouch then shred my head off. A good tip is to pre bend your notes before playing, for super accurate bending into notes and runs.
Excellent video.... Great place to start learning about pitch bending. I recommend to players once they get comfortable with a whole step on the pitch bend wheel/stick, set the range up to a third, a fifth, a seventh or even an octave. Gentle flips and bumps can get you nice bends when you're playing fast, and when you want to milk a note, having more range is great. If your synth has wheels, then if the synth has after touch, you can always route vibrato there. Keep the video lessons coming!
Great lesson from a great host. My new fave to watch. I’ve always wanted to see gear and set up for bands from the bedroom, to the jam room, to the pub, to the stage, etc…
When I first heard pitch bend, decades ago, I think it was either Jan Hammer or Chick Corea, I knew I had to get a synth that would let me do that. It took a while but eventually I got one. Now I have lots and use it all the time. I like the Korg benders because I know how to easily set it up for a whole tone bend up and an octave bend down.
love it, Jack. i’ve always been hesitant to use the pitch bend but following yr instruction here i can already feel a degree of comfort. great vibes always!!!
>>> Pitch bend depth of the specific sound is all important. if this example was set to +/- 4 notes depth it wouldnt work in this instance. This might have been +/- 3 notes. He didnt stress this on the video **edit - he did just cover it a bit
Thanks Jack! I saw you use pitch bend to great effect to play out a video a while back (I think on a Fantom). My mind was blown and I was wondering how you created such a great lead guitar sound. I never thought I’d see you go through the technique and thought process in such depth! This was so helpful, thanks again!
Edited for clarity: Jack, I do appreciate that you covered this topic and that you simplified some aspects of the concept for beginners. Good tips about muscle memory and listening to guitar players (listen to whammy bar guys and jazz violinists too e.g. Stéphane Grappelli). I think that everything that you suggested works well enough functionally. HOWEVER, and I apologize for the soapbox, I disagree with some of your declarations. I do not wish to offend, but I find synth players who all use the one whole step up /one octave down range lack some to the danger, excitement and individual personality that the 70s pioneers had. (Pre-Miami Vice Jan Hammer was the greatest. (Check out “Untold Passion” title track.) First - It IS possible to use a greater range than a whole step. I suppose that in these auto tuned/everything-on-the-grid times a novice might assume that it is preferable to execute a perfectly in tune bend every time, but that is not at all what our musical forefathers sounded like. Imagine Muddy Waters with auto tune on his slide guitar. The brief moments of slight tuning “errors” made certain players sound human and soulful. While 98% of synth players would agree with your choice of bend range, I would like to advocate for using a wider range for expressive purposes. The Minimoog and my Multimoog came with a bend range of about a perfect fifth and we had to practice and practice to learn to execute semitone, whole tone, minor third, etc bends with that mechanism. In the pentatonic scale you could then add the minor third bends that we do hear guitar players play sometimes. I program bend range on all of my newer synths to four semitones, making it possible to bend a semitone or a whole tone and then stretch the bend a bit further to add tension. (e.g. C bent to D and then up to Eb for the blue note just before release.) The wider range also allows one to bend a whole tone and then perform the kind of vibrato that a violinist of guitarist with a vibrato arm can execute - i.e. pitch moving both sharp and flat around the target note. Second - Mix it up. Also use pre-bending from below the target notes. Also, sometimes bending downwards slightly sounds cool - like a guitar player lowering his vibrato arm to drop a pitch. e.g. flat 7th down to 6th. Third - Practice bends using a full major or minor scale. e.g. Play C, bend to D. Play D, bend to E flat…Play G, bend to A flat. Play Ab, bend to B natural, etc… Practice executing other intervals, both upwards and downwards and, again, develop that muscle memory as you so wisely recommended. Make your guitar players annoyed, not because you sound weenier than them, but because you challenge their limited abilities. Final plea: Synth players, please STOP using “lead guitar” sampled overdriven guitar presets that came with your synth. They are pure comedy. Instead, use a cool sound like Jack here, or create a ballsy Minimoog sound (with an instant organ-like release) and overdrive that a bit. Add delay, chorus, wah pedal, to taste if you wish. Do not be afraid to sound like a synth, rather than a sort-of guitar. Again, thanks for giving players a starting point for this very important aspect of expressive synth playing Jack.
Regarding tuning your pitch bend to other intervals: You can totally get a minor/major third out of a whole step bend with some quick and precise bending and swapping the pressed note. Bend half of a c to a d half flat, hit the c# half way thru the bend and then bend it the rest of the way up. This way, you can even choose where the little 'break' in sound goes to emphasize the new note more than a totally smooth bend. I use all sorts of different joystick tunings, but mostly whole steps on the x axis and an octave or fx on the y axis. If I'm using a different interval on the joystick, it's programmed that way just for the section that uses it. The joystick is my favorite part of playing keyboards. Source: am a MASSIVE Kevin Moore and Jordan Rudess fan.
@@TechnicianX - Thanks for responding to my old comment. I understand what you are suggesting, but it makes a different sound than my suggested approach. There is no right or wrong way and you might prefer that sound. One thing your approach misses is the opportunity to perform manual vibrato that oscillates flat and sharp of the target note. One you have pushed the joystick, wheel, etc to the end of its travel, you cannot go any sharper. I think that there is also another possible approach: prebend a whole tone down, play a key one tone higher and then move the p bender back to center and then beyond. Then you can sound like you are bending three or four semitones. I respect and admire the players that you mentioned, but mid seventies to early eighties Jan Hammer on overdriven Minimoog is still the most expressive pitch ending on a keyboard that I have ever heard. I did a few not very entertaining short video samples of Multimoog sounds about eleven years ago, if you need to see what I’m kind of getting at. If I remember correctly, the ones with wah or the slow “expressive” one might have the most p bending. Cheers
Him: There's very few musical situations where I think this is the right thing to do. Me, who can't keep my left hand off the joystick for more than .01 seconds:
...Did you think he forgot he was on a Korg Nautilus when he asked for a backing track?! *blush* (I thought that was ... like... one of the cool things about that synth: it has good backing material.)
My greatest frustration with pitch bending on keyboards is the lack of resistance and the linearity of sticks and wheels. There's nothing really "bending" and that's why it doesn't feel satisfying or sound natural. You will never see a keyboardist "feeling" the bend like a guitarist. The amount of strength and finesse on the strings are on another level. Unless we design better bend controllers ;)
I often do on my synths that have aftertouch. Not all the time though. I've found that if I get too excited, I started activating it by accident. Ooopsy!
I had a pitch bend wheel on my cheap keyboard as a kid and never used it because I had no idea how to make it work for any of the music I played. This was about 30 yrs. ago.
hello friend, how do the nautilus 61 keys feel? premium or cheap? I use the piano sound a lot but I don't want to buy the 88 version because it's too big and I need something light with good feel on the keys when playing pianos
I don't understand why the e works in a minor a scale. the e gets then the fis which is not in the a minor scale. Maybe somebody can explain. I am not good in music theory.
When there is a 25 minute video needet to explain the most basic wheel on keys and its effect on several types of sounds...I guess we are doomed! But with "Mastervlass" in the title..I guess its another little joke from jake, too.
Actually A minor pentatonic (Sa 0·3·5·7·10) works well over D (Le), E (Ro), the majors to define the respective modes. Pitch bend though is a slightly different thing. You are showing Pitch modulation, or simply Pitch Wheelie, not bending.
This is the first time I've seen pitchbend explained in a way I really understand, thanks for this
I love the joystick approach, I always assign wahwah to the modulation and vibrato to the aftertouch then shred my head off. A good tip is to pre bend your notes before playing, for super accurate bending into notes and runs.
Excellent video.... Great place to start learning about pitch bending. I recommend to players once they get comfortable with a whole step on the pitch bend wheel/stick, set the range up to a third, a fifth, a seventh or even an octave. Gentle flips and bumps can get you nice bends when you're playing fast, and when you want to milk a note, having more range is great. If your synth has wheels, then if the synth has after touch, you can always route vibrato there. Keep the video lessons coming!
The very fact I don't know how there could be a 25 minute long video about how to pitch bend tells me that I apparently do not know how to pitch bend.
Thank you for sharing! This is the best pitch bending tutorial I have come across.
Great lesson from a great host. My new fave to watch. I’ve always wanted to see gear and set up for bands from the bedroom, to the jam room, to the pub, to the stage, etc…
Jack Du(xbur)ry 2022: Hit me with your wiggle stick. Hit me, hit me.... Sorry, could not resist....
When I first heard pitch bend, decades ago, I think it was either Jan Hammer or Chick Corea, I knew I had to get a synth that would let me do that. It took a while but eventually I got one. Now I have lots and use it all the time. I like the Korg benders because I know how to easily set it up for a whole tone bend up and an octave bend down.
Great. Need more of these tutorials Jack!!
love it, Jack. i’ve always been hesitant to use the pitch bend but following yr instruction here i can already feel a degree of comfort. great vibes always!!!
>>> Pitch bend depth of the specific sound is all important. if this example was set to +/- 4 notes depth it wouldnt work in this instance. This might have been +/- 3 notes. He didnt stress this on the video
**edit - he did just cover it a bit
Excellent tutorial Jack! Picked up some excellent tips. Yesss ;)
Damn this is absolutely perfect.
That's a version of "the lick". Sounds great.
you really teach very good Mr. well appreciating
Great lesson mate & wonderful to hear your play and do your thing!! 🙌
Thanks Jack! I saw you use pitch bend to great effect to play out a video a while back (I think on a Fantom). My mind was blown and I was wondering how you created such a great lead guitar sound. I never thought I’d see you go through the technique and thought process in such depth! This was so helpful, thanks again!
You are awesome from now on , i will start doing this on my roland bk 5 with that joy stick
Edited for clarity:
Jack, I do appreciate that you covered this topic and that you simplified some aspects of the concept for beginners. Good tips about muscle memory and listening to guitar players (listen to whammy bar guys and jazz violinists too e.g. Stéphane Grappelli). I think that everything that you suggested works well enough functionally.
HOWEVER, and I apologize for the soapbox, I disagree with some of your declarations. I do not wish to offend, but I find synth players who all use the one whole step up /one octave down range lack some to the danger, excitement and individual personality that the 70s pioneers had. (Pre-Miami Vice Jan Hammer was the greatest. (Check out “Untold Passion” title track.)
First - It IS possible to use a greater range than a whole step. I suppose that in these auto tuned/everything-on-the-grid times a novice might assume that it is preferable to execute a perfectly in tune bend every time, but that is not at all what our musical forefathers sounded like. Imagine Muddy Waters with auto tune on his slide guitar. The brief moments of slight tuning “errors” made certain players sound human and soulful. While 98% of synth players would agree with your choice of bend range, I would like to advocate for using a wider range for expressive purposes. The Minimoog and my Multimoog came with a bend range of about a perfect fifth and we had to practice and practice to learn to execute semitone, whole tone, minor third, etc bends with that mechanism. In the pentatonic scale you could then add the minor third bends that we do hear guitar players play sometimes. I program bend range on all of my newer synths to four semitones, making it possible to bend a semitone or a whole tone and then stretch the bend a bit further to add tension. (e.g. C bent to D and then up to Eb for the blue note just before release.) The wider range also allows one to bend a whole tone and then perform the kind of vibrato that a violinist of guitarist with a vibrato arm can execute - i.e. pitch moving both sharp and flat around the target note.
Second - Mix it up. Also use pre-bending from below the target notes. Also, sometimes bending downwards slightly sounds cool - like a guitar player lowering his vibrato arm to drop a pitch. e.g. flat 7th down to 6th.
Third - Practice bends using a full major or minor scale. e.g. Play C, bend to D. Play D, bend to E flat…Play G, bend to A flat. Play Ab, bend to B natural, etc… Practice executing other intervals, both upwards and downwards and, again, develop that muscle memory as you so wisely recommended.
Make your guitar players annoyed, not because you sound weenier than them, but because you challenge their limited abilities.
Final plea: Synth players, please STOP using “lead guitar” sampled overdriven guitar presets that came with your synth. They are pure comedy. Instead, use a cool sound like Jack here, or create a ballsy Minimoog sound (with an instant organ-like release) and overdrive that a bit. Add delay, chorus, wah pedal, to taste if you wish. Do not be afraid to sound like a synth, rather than a sort-of guitar.
Again, thanks for giving players a starting point for this very important aspect of expressive synth playing Jack.
Regarding tuning your pitch bend to other intervals: You can totally get a minor/major third out of a whole step bend with some quick and precise bending and swapping the pressed note. Bend half of a c to a d half flat, hit the c# half way thru the bend and then bend it the rest of the way up. This way, you can even choose where the little 'break' in sound goes to emphasize the new note more than a totally smooth bend.
I use all sorts of different joystick tunings, but mostly whole steps on the x axis and an octave or fx on the y axis. If I'm using a different interval on the joystick, it's programmed that way just for the section that uses it. The joystick is my favorite part of playing keyboards. Source: am a MASSIVE Kevin Moore and Jordan Rudess fan.
@@TechnicianX - Thanks for responding to my old comment. I understand what you are suggesting, but it makes a different sound than my suggested approach. There is no right or wrong way and you might prefer that sound. One thing your approach misses is the opportunity to perform manual vibrato that oscillates flat and sharp of the target note. One you have pushed the joystick, wheel, etc to the end of its travel, you cannot go any sharper. I think that there is also another possible approach: prebend a whole tone down, play a key one tone higher and then move the p bender back to center and then beyond. Then you can sound like you are bending three or four semitones.
I respect and admire the players that you mentioned, but mid seventies to early eighties Jan Hammer on overdriven Minimoog is still the most expressive pitch ending on a keyboard that I have ever heard. I did a few not very entertaining short video samples of Multimoog sounds about eleven years ago, if you need to see what I’m kind of getting at. If I remember correctly, the ones with wah or the slow “expressive” one might have the most p bending.
Cheers
So clear and concise. Consider starting your online school. I would suscribe, for sure.
Amazing tutorial! I hope you will do one on chord pitching !
Him: There's very few musical situations where I think this is the right thing to do.
Me, who can't keep my left hand off the joystick for more than .01 seconds:
Fred Mandel, on I Want to Break Free (Queen)
awesome!
...Did you think he forgot he was on a Korg Nautilus when he asked for a backing track?! *blush*
(I thought that was ... like... one of the cool things about that synth: it has good backing material.)
Thanks Jack, I’ll be adding another weapon to the solo arsenal now. BTW I was expecting an octave dive bomb at the end of your solo. 👍🏼🤟🏽
thank you sir
I love this. 🔥🔥🔥🔥
just recommend the middle finger, all good^^
My greatest frustration with pitch bending on keyboards is the lack of resistance and the linearity of sticks and wheels.
There's nothing really "bending" and that's why it doesn't feel satisfying or sound natural.
You will never see a keyboardist "feeling" the bend like a guitarist. The amount of strength and finesse on the strings are on another level.
Unless we design better bend controllers ;)
Can we have pitch bend tutorial for chords please 🎉. Thanx ❤
Great lesson 👌🏾
Solid advice, been pitch bending all night! :) Thank you
Love it, thanks for the vid
Couldn't you also use Aftertouch to bring vibrato to the sound?
Yes, but not on the Nautilus, since it doesn’t have aftertouch. 😬
I often do on my synths that have aftertouch. Not all the time though. I've found that if I get too excited, I started activating it by accident. Ooopsy!
2:10 Doesn't that rather depend on the range of your keyboard's pitchbend?
This is the second pitch bend tutorial I’ve watched today! czcams.com/video/AWb_xWJT2Wg/video.html
For lead sounds I prefer a minor third PB range; sounds more bluesy if you fully exploit it. Not for vibrato or chords, of course.
Good. I use a major third. And you CAN execute vibrato with that, but without slamming the bender all the way to the end of its travel range.
I had a pitch bend wheel on my cheap keyboard as a kid and never used it because I had no idea how to make it work for any of the music I played. This was about 30 yrs. ago.
how do you assign pitch bend using the joystick to a patch that doesn't have that preconfigured on a korg kronos ? thanks
hello friend, how do the nautilus 61 keys feel? premium or cheap? I use the piano sound a lot but I don't want to buy the 88 version because it's too big and I need something light with good feel on the keys when playing pianos
The best use of pitch bend was without question Barclay James Harvest.
Nah, I'd say Jan Hammer
@@JrnHelgeBDahl Yeah I get that too...I suppose BJH's music is very dear to my heart.
Don‘t forget George Duke, guys!
I don't understand why the e works in a minor a scale. the e gets then the fis which is not in the a minor scale. Maybe somebody can explain. I am not good in music theory.
When there is a 25 minute video needet to explain the most basic wheel on keys and its effect on several types of sounds...I guess we are doomed!
But with "Mastervlass" in the title..I guess its another little joke from jake, too.
Actually A minor pentatonic (Sa 0·3·5·7·10) works well over D (Le), E (Ro), the majors to define the respective modes.
Pitch bend though is a slightly different thing. You are showing Pitch modulation, or simply Pitch Wheelie, not bending.
Что за детский сад? 🤦🏻♂️