How many fingers do you use to bend?

Usually I use only one finger to bend half a step or a whole step but I noticed my guitar mate always uses three fingers. I just read an old post from MightyDave where he was asking a similiar question that let me know he used three fingers, too, so I was wondering how you guys and chicken (:P) do it.
And can someone PLEASE help me understand the following: when I sign in, I only want to check the topics that have been replied to since the last time I was online, but they're ALL blue. WTF?

it depends on what i played right before, and what im playing after. i really never payed attention to it

Usually 3. Gives more control... a lot of blues players use 3 fingers since that's pretty much how your fingers lay on a Pentatonic scale.

Though, it really doesn't matter. I've seen many crazy ways to bend strings, but once again I don't think there is a real technique to it... unless someone here is classical trained and knows how to really bend strings >.

3 gives not only more control, but better vibrato, allows you to influence the note more. a lot of times with one finger you wont be able to bend as well, it wont sound as good or powerful, and it can mess up where your playing, if your bending with 3 you can pull off to the pointer finger which a lot of blues players do and run the scale down, bending with 1 finger requires much more hand motion then finger.

well i am being "classically trained" and my teacher always bends with 3 fingers and that's what i do too

I would say it depends on where on the fretboard I'm playing at, 15 and above it also depends on what fret. For example if I play something starting way up at the 17th fret, I would prefer to use 2 fingers to bend that note up for comfort reasons. strings are easier to bend the higher up on the fretboard, i typically use less fingers.
anything below that I prefer to use at least 2, but mainly 3 fingers. much like EMB said, more control, and much more effective.

deepens on what finger I'm bending with and what I'm doing.

If i play this and bend the 8 note on the b string I'll only bend with one finger, because I want the rest to ring too. However if i did not care about the ringing of the A note on the high E then i may use2 or three fingers to bend.

---------5------
------5-----8-/-
---7------------
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Haha Mici! Well, as I chicken I do dind it difficult to bend, and more so to even do anything on the guitar with my amazing chikcen feet. :P

If I'm high up on the fretboard, like from the 1st to the 8th fret down the board, I usually use one finger. I just naturally seem to find it easier that way. And if I'm beyond the 8th fret I'll often use 2 fingers. Not sure why that is, I just do it.

Oh no wait, I just remembered I'm a chicken. What am I talking about me playing with fingers for. Must have been a mad moment ;)

it depends

um...jo5h....Depends are what you wear where your old and you cannot control your bodily functions any more. Yes diapers for old folks.

Agreed

Thanks a bunch to all of you. Looks like most of you use three fingers, and Heather's "habbit" was kinda strange, lol, cause most players seems to do the opposite (less fingers in the higher frets), but I tend to always use ONE finger, too, maybe so I can use the other fingers for SOMETHING ELSE. :P I'm gonna do some practice, though, to learn to bend with all three fingers. Hahah! What about the other question guys: Can someone PLEASE help me understand the following: when I sign in, I only want to check the topics that have been replied to since the last time I was online, but they're ALL blue. WTF?

lol Yes I do have a strange hbbit Mici :P I was even giving a friend a basic guitar lesson last week,a nd she's never played before, but when I did that even she couldn't help but say 'What the *fooger*?'

I'm guessing you might have been using different computers? Sometimes they all go blue if the posts are the same but on a different computer, I think it could be because althogh the site reconizes the login it doesn't with the different IP adress or something. I remember it did that a lot whenever I logged on back in school.

Oh yeah and thanks for the karma Mici! Your reson made me laugh last night. It made my day! :P

I've always used one finger, I've never had problems bending this way, so why use more fingers?

I would say it's more about the person, if you like to use all 4 great, if you like to only use 1, there's no law saying you can't do it. I do think that it's a little easier to learn to use 3 fingers for bends. As you begin to play the guitar and become more interested in actually bending strings and such, 3 fingers i think is where people start. I would say 3 because 2 might not be strong enough yet, same with 1 finger, and maybe the pinky finger is still a little tender, so some might prefer to not use it that often(I know I used to).

I usually bend with one finger.

Because im so awesome, if i use any more, the bridge rips out!

I was paying attention today and never bend with more than one finger. I'm sometimes bending two strings (one finger for each string) with the adjacent two fingers ready to fret notes. Perhaps this goes along with another thread about left handed guitarists playing right handed (as I do) and having more strength and agility with the fretting hand.

I use two fingers, usually. Or three. Actually, I don't think about it much. I just use as many as I like.

always different

what they all said, more fingers more control but the thing is it also depends what finger are you using on what fret, and what are you gonna play next.

you should really get that checked out

^ haha :D haven't read this one

lol @ Case haha. It depends for me. Different fingers are good for different kinds of bends or what feel you are playing. I just go with instinct 9 times out of 10.

3 or 1!!!

One

1 2 or 3, depending

weird because for vibrato I typically only 1 finger, maybe 2.

I say One

@Nightmare

more than one finger = better tone

ya that's true carl

It was a fender. The way the bridge is made plus whammy use... Not good. Especially after breaking the whammy.
Anyway, that was a long time ago...

@lefty
lol you might have wanted to tighten the springs up on it then.

wow been awhile since i last lurked here!!!
glad to see this place is still poppin =D
i use 2 fingers to bend, my middle and ringfinger for full bends and index if i just want to mess around and experiment.
thats a great guestion though.
never thought about it.

@Heather
Yeah, I just remembered my ISP uses some dynamic IP adress security measure which means I get a new IP adress every day or something like that so it's like I'm using different computers all the time. :S
LOL @ the Karma thing, too.

to bend up i use either two or three, to bend down i use one mostly, some itmes i need more

See the thing is, its fun to play around with the whammy or probably do some dive bombs, but I would really recommend to all non-pros to get their bridge fixed(as in flatten it to the body, by turning some screws of the springs at the back of the guitar ). That way your guitar will stay in tune and it'll give u a better sound.