FretSpider!

A bend is the technique of bending a string to raise the tone of a note. This technique is commonly found in guitar solos and blues/rock licks. To perform the bend, simply play any note and bend the string up or down with the fretted hand. It is generally more difficult to perform a bend lower down on the neck or on an acoustic guitar. The 12th fret is the direct center point from the nut to the bridge and this means the strings will bend the easiest here, but not necessarily the easiest fret for an accurate bend. – Just keep that in the back of your mind, lets now concentrate on how to bend a note.

The bend is written in tab as 7b9. It is sometimes also written as 7b(9) or 7^9. Often, guitar tab would just show this bend as 7b, this just lets you know to bend the note but not how much, so it relies on you knowing the sound of the bend.

Simple Bend Technique

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B|-----7b(9)----------------------------------
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A|--------------------------------------------
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1. Place your 3rd finger on the 2nd string, fret 7. Have your 1st and 2nd fingers on the frets before it to back it up for the bend.

So 1st finger is on the 5th fret, 2nd finger 6th fret, and 3rd finger 7th fret. – All on the string you are about to bend.

2. Play the note and literally push the string up with your three fingers on the fretboard. In this case you are bending the string to the note of the 9th fret.

Apply sufficient pressure on the fretboard during the bend to ensure the note is clearly sounded throughout the technique.

Most experienced guitarists know the sound in their head of a full-step bend, and they will bend to this 9th fret note (G#) intuitively. When starting out, I recommend playing the first note, then the note you are bending too, then practice bending the first note to this interval.

How much to bend?

There are generally two types of bends. The first being the full-step bend as mentioned above. In this case, you are bending the initial note exactly one tone higher (2 frets). The other interval is the half-step bend. This is where you bend a semitone higher (1 fret). For example if you only bent that 7th fret to the note of the 8th fret, this would be a half step bend.

If the bend diminishes or loses its grunt halfway through you probably aren’t applying sufficient pressure. Ensure your bending finger is applying a constant pressure on the fretboard while bending.

Advanced Bends

Firstly, the bend and release. In this case, you will perform a basic bend as above and then release the bend back to the original position, this is done all in the one motion. So for example play the 7th fret of the 2nd string, bend it up a full step 7(9), (or a half step), then without picking the string again, release the tension of the bend and return it to your original note, 7th fret. So basically the pitch of the note will increase and then decrease.

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B|-----7b(9)b7--------------------------------
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D|--------------------------------------------
A|--------------------------------------------
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The bend and release is normally written down as 7b(9)7, or 7b9b7 etc.

Another cool bending technique is the reverse bend, which involves unbending the note. This requires a bit of experience to get the pitch right. First you need to ‘pre bend’ the note, this is the act of forming the bend before it is even played. So, place your fingers in the right position and bend fret 7 to the sound of fret 9 (do this without actually playing anything – we are just getting ready for the reverse bend). Now play this bent note and release the bend back to the original pitch of the 7th fret to unbend the note.

The reverse bend is normally written down as 9b(7) or (9)b7 to confuse you. Try not to get to caught up in how it is is written down, just focus on the technique.

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B|-----9b(7)----------------------------------
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A|--------------------------------------------
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A whammy bar can also be used to bend a note. When a whammy bar is fitted on the guitar you can just play a note and pull the whammy bar up to stretch the strings.

The positive aspects of a whammy bar for bends is that you can create a much more extreme bend than that of a natural bend. A whammy bar also allows you to bend multiple strings, like a chord. A major downside to this method is the fact that you have to grab the whammy bar while playing, meaning it is very hard to use it regularly in a solo. It can also be quite difficult to accurately bend to a certain pitch. The amount you need to pull or push on the whammy bar depends on the guitars bridge, meaning it will vary from guitar to guitar.

To see if your guitar is compatible with a whammy bar, just look at your bridge (left). See the little screw-hole at the bottom-right? this is where a whammy bar is fitted. Depending on your guitar, it may be in a slightly different position.

Whammy bars are a one-size-fits-all device, they are a short metal stick that easily screws into this hole allowing you to create some cool bending effects. It does this by allowing you to dramatically bend the bridge up or down, stretching the strings to bend a note.

The Bend and Release Tap

So as you are starting to discover, a lot of basic techniques are often combined to create very complex sounding solos. Once you learn all the basic techniques that I am showing you, you can combine them in whatever way you like, and played within a scale you can make up some pretty impressive stuff.

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B|-----10b(12)-15-(12)b10---------------------
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1. Place your 3rd finger on fret 10.

Place your 1st and 2nd fingers behind it on fret 8 & 9 to back your 3rd finger up for the bend.

2. Play the note and bend it up one ‘step’ (to the pitch of the 12th fret).

Do this without actually fretting the 12 fret.

3. Use a finger from your right hand to tap and release the 15th
fret of this string. – Do this while your fingers are still bending the note.

Check out our How to finger tap on guitar lesson.

4. After your tap on 15th fret and your bend note is sounding, release the bend back to the natural sound of the 10th fret.

The above tab is this whole technique played just once. I urge you to practice this one in succession as done previously. To perform this as accurately as possible try to keep the bend in one constant position while tapping. This will give a more professional sound and enable your bend to ‘pick up where it left off’.