Stop 1 of 5
Bending in tune
Half-step, whole-step, pre-bend and release, always on pitch.
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Stop 1 of 5
Half-step, whole-step, pre-bend and release, always on pitch.
So far your solos have moved from fret to fret, like someone climbing a staircase. Now you will learn to take the ramp: with a you push the string and the note glides upwards without steps, like a voice stretching. It is the gesture that brings the guitar closest to singing, and also the one that most exposes a player who isn't listening: an out-of-tune bend can be heard a mile away. In this stop you learn to bend to exactly the right pitch, every time.
Press Listen. Each bar climbs the scale note by note and ends with a bend that stretches the last note up to the next note of the scale:
Notice what happens on beat three of each bar: there is no new fret, the hand pushes the string upwards and the note rises continuously. In the first bar the D at the 7th fret of the third string becomes E; in the second, the G at the 8th fret of the second string reaches A.
When you sing, your voice hardly ever jumps from one pitch to the next like a piano: it glides, if only for an instant, between notes. Frets turn the guitar into a fixed-pitch instrument, like a keyboard. Bending (like the ) brings back that continuous glide. That is why blues and rock guitars seem to "cry" or "shout": they imitate vocal ornaments, which rise into a note instead of landing on it abruptly.
The most common mistake is not technical but aural: bending "as far as it goes" instead of bending to a specific note. Every bend has a target, and that target also exists as a fretted note a few frets higher:
The routine you will use for years is this: play the fretted target first, keep it in your ear, then bend until you match it.
Hear the difference between arriving and getting close. The first pair is a bend that reaches the target; the second, one that falls a half step short. They are played together so you can hear the clash:
Bending with one finger is a recipe for bad pitch and sore hands. The standard technique shares the work:
String 3, Fret 5: C4 · 1 · Scale tone
| Strings | Direction | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1, 2 and 3 | Up, towards the ceiling (towards the 6th string) | Pull towards the floor and string 1 slips off the neck |
| 4, 5 and 6 | Down, towards the floor | Push up and string 6 slips off the other edge |
On the high strings, as you push you drag the neighbouring strings under your finger: that's normal. What matters is that they don't ring.
A string's frequency depends on its length, its weight and its tension: more tension, higher pitch. Pushing it sideways stretches it and raises the tension. Frequency grows with the square root of tension, so to rise a half step (≈ 6 % more frequency) you need ≈ 12 % more tension, and for a whole step (≈ 12 % more frequency), ≈ 26 % more. That's why the second half of a whole-step bend is harder than the first, why thick strings are harder, and why near the nut (where the string is stiffer) you have to push further.
The two bend sizes you will use most are the half step (½ in tab) and the whole step (full). Box 1 has a golden spot for each:
Read the first bar as a little question and answer: the fretted target (fret 9) and its half-step bend; the fretted target (fret 10) and its whole-step bend. In the second bar, the E you reach by bending is exactly the same as the second string at the 5th fret.
A bend doesn't only go up: it can also come down. Letting the string return while it rings is a (R in tab), a gentle fall that sounds like a sigh.
The turns the gesture around: you bend silently, without picking, up to the target; then you pick and release. The listener never hears the rise, only a note that is already up there and then falls. It is a delicate effect because you have to hit the pitch without hearing it: your hand has to remember the distance.
In a you play two strings at once: the higher one fretted and held, the lower one bent until it matches. It is a that ends on a single pitch, and it sounds huge.
The unison is also the best tuner in the world. While the two notes don't match you hear a beating, a kind of "wah-wah-wah". The closer you get, the slower the beating; when it disappears, you are in tune.
Switch on the A drone. For each bend in the list: play the fretted target, then bend up to it and hold for four beats with the metronome. If it falls short or overshoots, correct it while it rings; don't let go until it locks in.
Over the A drone, an in-tune E or A sounds still and round; if you hear roughness, the bend hasn't arrived.
Goal: Four bends in a row of each type that match the fretted note, with no audible beating.
Learn this original lick and repeat it over the backing: once in bar 1 and again in bar 7. In between, listen to the backing without playing.
Goal: Play the lick twice per chorus, with bend, release and unison in tune and no open strings ringing.
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