How’s Your String Bending?

Picture those perfect guitar solos and licks; whenever a guitarist has made you ‘feel’ something, the chances are, it happened during the bendy bits!

Picture those perfect guitar solos and licks; whenever a guitarist has made you ‘feel’ something, the chances it has happened during the bendy bits! In the pursuit of emotive and vocal-like lead guitar playing, few techniques get the job done like a well placed string bend. You can pour your heart and soul into a string bend and convey so much with just one fluid movement! It is no surprise then that our favourite players are all united in their command over the magical ability to push and pull the strings to bring their licks and solos to life; one signature delivery of a single note should broadcast wether you are listening to Dimebag, BB King or Steve Vai in an instant! If it is good enough for our heroes then, why is it we guitar players don’t typically put enough stock into achieving our own version of string bending majesty?

Why do my bends matter?

If we take a moment to compare lead guitar playing to its closest music cousins - singers; rather than dealing with notes fret by fret or tones and semi-tones, singers are able to soar towards notes playfully, and ‘arrive’ at notes in all kinds of fun and creative ways. Within the technique of string bending lies the freedom for us guitarists to do the same and transform anything we play from clunky melodies and licks into the kind of Bill & Ted-esque guitar sound bites of which guitar dreams are made.

Have you ever heard a singer reach for that big note and fail spectacularly? YouTube revels in these sort of vocal bloopers. That is, effectively, what is happening every time we don’t quite land on our feet when sending that note on it’s bendy journey to destinations unknown.

What does it mean to bend in tune? (Beautiful bends are in the ear of the beholder)

Firstly, don’t let anyone tell you what sounds good to your own ears; what makes for the perfect lick to one of us might cause others to run for their string cutters. With that said, there is one hard and fast rule which should be at the fore when pushing anything anywhere on the guitar - bend it somewhere good and with intention.

Traditionally our ears want to hear a note being bent from one pleasing pitch in the scale or melody to another equally agreeable note in that key. This is the reason why most bends fall into the category of one and two fret bends (the standard distance between scale tones). It is widely accepted that bending a note from one to the other in this fashion will not cause any offence to the listener or generate feline-like distressing ends to your licks.

There is a world of bending which breaks many of these rules, but that comes later!

Sending your note on a quick bend between point A and B with as little fuss as possible is a good starting point. Why? Well, in that space between the ‘safe’ starting and finishing notes there be monsters; a wilderness of tones to make your eyes water if you linger on them too long. Equally, if you bend past the note you are aiming for, then a further deluge of unsavoury sounds are waiting to gobble up your well intentioned string acrobatics.

So, how do I work on my string bending?

Ok, so we bend note A to note B (literally in some cases) as accurately as possible. But how do we know where to start and end our bends in order for them sound good? How do we develop this? And, do I need a PHD in music theory?

To address the last point - no, there is no need to reach for a power point presentation here!

If you are learning any solo or lick, then playing along with the teacher or original recording is going to give you an indication of wether you are bending in tune. Be honest with yourself, if you are playing along to a pro teacher such as our very own Danny Gill, or a legend such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, and your bent notes sound a little ‘off’, one of you is wrong …. and it’s not Stevie!

If you are working on your string bending as a technique then there is plenty we can do to shine a light on how good your bending is, plus improve it in the process.

Here are a couple of easy things to try:

Example 1. — Without discussing scales or keys - here we have 3 notes which sound good played in succession.

Example 2. — In exercise 2 we’re aiming to play the same 3 notes by replacing the last note with a one fret bend from fret 12 to fret 13. Play exercise 1, then 2 immediately after. Sound the same? If they do you’re winning.

Example 3. — Exercise 3 features the same three notes and final bend, but the goal is to sound the second note by bending the first fret 10 note to match it.

Example 4. — Ok, let’s make David Gilmour proud! …. You’re going to play all three notes by bending from fret 10 only - that means fret 10, followed by a bend from 10 to 12, then a bend from 10 to 13!

You can also check out our resident string bending maestro Nick Jennison with his own essential tips in this bonus video.

Value your bends, don’t rush them. Getting to grips with your string bending technique could be the best thing you have ever done for your guitar playing.