Bending and vibrato
How to push a string up to an exact pitch and how to bring a long note to life with vibrato, without straining your fingers.
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Content under musical review. It may contain inaccuracies.
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How to push a string up to an exact pitch and how to bring a long note to life with vibrato, without straining your fingers.
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A bend raises a note's pitch by pushing the string sideways across the fingerboard. Vibrato is a small, regular wobble in pitch that brings a sustained note to life. Both bring the guitar closer to the human voice, but they only work if you land on the right pitch.
First the starting note, then the note a whole-step bend has to reach. With a bend, the move between them is continuous:
A whole-step bend on the 3rd string:
Step 1 of 4 · Hear the target
String 3, Fret 9: E4 · 1 · Root
In the A minor pentatonic the most natural bends are on the 3rd string (fret 7) and the 2nd string (fret 8):
String 6, Fret 5: A2 · 1 · Root
Use the tuner to check your bends: push the string and see whether you reach the note two frets higher without overshooting.
Check the pitch of your bend Scales, arpeggios & fretboardPentatonic positionsTravel the five pentatonic positions and connect them.There are quarter-tone bends (very common in blues on the minor third), half-step, whole-step and step-and-a-half bends. In a pre-bend you push the string before picking and then release: the ear hears a falling note. In a unison bend you push one string until it matches the note on the neighbouring higher string; if you hear beating, you're not there yet.
On electric guitar vibrato usually goes across the string, like a tiny bend, and can only raise the pitch. On classical guitar it runs along the string, rocking the arm towards the bridge and the nut: the wobble is subtler and goes both up and down. Match vibrato speed to the tempo, for example to eighths or triplets, and add it after a bend so the note can breathe. Steady vibrato comes from the wrist, not from pressing harder.