Ouch! These chord bends are making my fingers bleed!?

Question

I just bought this Fender MexiStrat. I love it. I've been playing it almost every spare moment since I bought it. But I've had to slow down playing because the strings are getting caught underneath my finger nail of my middle finger as I practice my chord bends. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Left hand nails are too long .... cut them. If not, put .009 extra light gauge and lower the action till their is a clearance of 1/16" between fingerboard and strings in the middle of the neck.

I'm suspecting the action is too high and causes you to press farther down to get a clean sound plus, the strings might be lights or medium gauge.

Answer 2

It just sounds as if your finger nail is too long.  I tried to duplicate your problem, and I couldn't.

Answer 3

It's hard to tell what you're doing wrong since we can't see your hand, but I'd trim that fingernail back if I were you. My own nails  never show more than 1/16" of white.

Otherwise, just try adjusting your hand and the amount of pressure you apply to the string. You can also try checking YouTube for videos that feature chord bends and try to imitate the artist's style.

Good luck!

Kabum