Guitar Bending…The Sound Of A Perfectly Played String Bend Is The Most Iconic Sound A Guitarist Can Produce. Period.
Once You’ve Mastered This Technique Then You Can Proof To Everyone That You’re A Real Guitarist.
It’s Commonly Known As A Rockstar Moment 😎.
This Lesson Here Will Teach You The Basics That You Need To Perform A Great Sounding String Bend.
If You’re A Beginner Then It Can Be Quite A Challenge To Produce A Good Sounding String Bend.
It Can Be Hard For Two Reasons:
- You Need More Strength & Flexibility.
Guitar Bending Is Hard.
If Your Fingers Are Not Accustomed To Guitar Playing Then It’s Normal That To Experience A Little Pain And Exhaustion.
But If You Do These Exercises, That I’m Gonna Show You Here In A Minute, Then You Will Get Stronger Overtime.
You Just Need To Commit To Practice Regularly.
You Will Get Better!!!
But Your Ability To Bend A String Is Not Only Governed By These Factors.
Your Guitar Setup Matters Too.
Heavy Gauged Strings Are Harder To Bend, Obviously. Therefore, I Recommend To Play On A .09 Gauge Strings.
A Low Action Setup Is Also Helpful, But This Is A Topic For Another Day…
2. You Don’t Know What You’re Doing
It’s Very Important To Understand The Theory Behind The Guitar Bending Technique.
You Can’t Unintentionally Bend A String And Expect A Clean Sounding Note As A Result.
You Need To Aim For A Definite Note. So Let Me Briefly Explain The Theory.
Understand The Theory Behind Guitar Bending
The Good News Are It’s Not Complicated.
If You Bend A String Then You Increase The String Tension And As A Result You Produce A Higher Sounding Note.
The Bad News Are You Need To Hear & Feel The Result.
It’s Not A Visual Thing.
You Can’t See If You’ve Done It Right. That’s The Challenging Part.
But We Need To Step Back For A Moment.
Before You Bend A String You Need To Know How Far You Wanna Bend.
This Question Can Only Be Answered In How Many Tones You Wanna Bend From Starting Note.
The Most Common Bends Are Full Tone Bends And Half Tone Bends.
A Half Tone Is The Equivalent Of One Fret.
If You Play From The 9th Fret To The 10th Then You Have Moved A Half Tone Up.
A Full Tone Is The Equivalent Of Two Frets.
If You Play From The 9th Fret To The 11th Then You Have Moved A Full Tone Up.
You Need To Know This.
You Need To Know This In Order To Judge Your Results.
Lets Say You Wanna Bend A String.
It’s The G String And You Start On The 7th Fret.
So How Far Do You Wanna Bend?
Let’s Say A Full Tone.
Now You Know How Far You Wanna Bend.
You’re Aiming For The 9th Fret On The G String.
Remember: Full Tone = Two Frets Therefore 7ths To 9th Fret.
Now, Play The 9ths Fret On The G String And Memorize The Sound. It’s Helpful To Sing That Note.
And Now, Bend From The 7ths Fret Until You Reached The Same Note Like On The 9ths Fret.
And That’s The Whole Theory…
Before You Do The String Bending Exercises
Lets Establish Here Some Ground Rules To Make The Whole Thing Easier For You.
1st Know What These Exercises Are For
The Nature Of Every Exercise Is Supplementary.
Therefore, You Need To Play & Practice On Licks Or Solos Where You Play String Bends In The First Place.
Use These Exercises Additionally. They Will Supercharge Your Guitar Playing. But If You Have Not Much Practice Time Or You Don’t Feel The Need To Implement Them, Cause They Drain Your Motivation, Then Please, Leave Them Aside!
In Other Words: Prioritize To Practice Real Music Over Exercises.
2nd Use Only The Third Finger
These Are Beginner Exercises. The Third Finger (Ring Finger) Is Not The Only Finger Which You Can Use To Bend A String.
But It’s The Easiest And The Most Common Finger For This Technique. You Can Use Other Fingers Later If You Want.
3rd Use The Help Of Other Fingers
If You Bend A String With Your Third Finger Then You Can Use Other Fingers To Support The Bending.
Just Take A Look At This Photo To See What I Mean By This.
Here I’m Bending The High E String With The Third Finger. But Notice That I’m Also Using The Index & The Middle Finger To Bend The String So That I’m Using A Total Of Three Fingers To Bend The String.
That’s Much Easier Than Using A Single Finger. Do This Too!
4th Be Aware Of The Bending Direction
Did You Notice That You Can Bend A String In Both Direction? Some Beginners Wonder About In Which Direction They Should Bend. It’s Obvious For The Outer Strings But For The Inner Maybe Not.
My Tip Is This: Bend The Strings From The High E To The G String Up (Towards The Ceiling) Like In The Previous Photo.
As For The D, A And The Low E String You Should Bend Down (Towards The Floor) Like In This Photo Here:
5th This Exercises Will Train Your Ear As Well
Like I Mentioned Before You Can’t Tell By Eye If You Did This Correct.
You Need To Hear This.
Treat The Following Exercises As Ear Training Exercises.
Don’t Worry!
It’s Obvious, If You’re Doing It Completely Wrong.
You Will Hear That.
A Completely Inaccurate String Bend Sounds Horrible….There’s No Way You Can’t Hear That.
Of Course, There Are Smaller Deviations And Minor Details You Could Hear, But That’s Not Our Goal Here.
We Are Aiming Here For 80% Accuracy. The Remaining 20% Will Slowly Come Over Time.
Alright, Let’s Bend Some Strings:
Full Tone Guitar Bending Exercise
This Here Is The Standard Bending. It’s The Most Common Used String Bend.
Remember: Full Tone = 2 Frets
Use Your Ring Finger And Support It With The Index And Middle Finger. In Other Words: Use 3 Fingers To Bend The Note.
Feel Free To Go Further Than The 12th Fret.
Do Every Exercise On The Other Strings As Well.
Half Tone Guitar Bending Exercise
The Half Tone Bend Is Technically Easier To Bend Cause You Need To Bend The String A Little Less.
Remember A Half Tone = 1 Fret.
For Some Beginners It’s Harder To Hear A Cleanly Performed Half Tone Bend Then A Full Tone Bend.
If This Is You Then Do This Whole Exercise Much Slower And Try To Sing The Note Before You Bend.
One And A Half Tone Guitar Bending Exercise
This Is A Harder One.
Skip This Exercise If You Are Completely New To The Topic.
A One And A Half Tone Bend Is Great For Bluesy Stuff. You Really Can Create A Lot Of Musical Tension And Intensity With This One.
A One And A Half Tone Is The Equivalent Of 3 Frets.
Conclusion
Well Done!
That Was Intense, Right?
Guitar Bending Is Fun And Satisfying To Play. If Not Now, Then Definitely Later On In Your Journey.
Trust Me, Every Guitarist Loves String Bending.
Keep In Mind That This Technique Has A Big Influence On How You Will Sound As A Guitarist.
You’ve Probably Heard The Saying “The Tone Is In The Fingers”.
It’s Heavily Related To The String Bending And Vibrato Technique.
You Can Identify A Guitarists Voice With The These Techniques.
Naturally, You Cannot Find A Short Cut To A Great Sound And Personal Style Other Than Through Intense Playing & Practicing.
But You Can Intensify And Enhance Your Practice With These Exercises.
So It’s Really, Really Worth To Spend Some Time On Them.
Let Me Know In the Comments If You Tried The Exercises Or If You Have Any Questions.
I Would Appreciate This.
Check This Out, It Might Be Helpful For You As Well:
If You Wanna Learn How Play Solo By Using The Minor Pentatonic, Then Check Out This Mini Series Here:
The Pentatonic Scale For Guitar: Learn Guitar Solo (Part 1/4)
The Pentatonic Scale For Guitar: Learn Guitar Solo (Part 2/4)
In This Sense, Have Fun & Be Your Own Teacher
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