Bending Guitar Strings is a method used primarily by lead guitar players to give the guitar a more vocal quality. The idea behind a string bend is to raise the pitch of the note without lifting the finger off of the fret-board or using another finger to fret the note. The result is a smooth glissando into the next note.
This can be a difficult technique for the beginner to master. The easiest way for you to accomplish a string bend is to use two or more fingers. For example, fret the note to be bent with either your second or third finger. Bend the guitar string with that finger as far as you can. Not so easy is it? This time place the first and second fingers on the same string behind the note you intend to bend. Now bend the guitar string as far as you can. It's a lot easier isn't it?
When playing you can either bend the string up or down to create the desired effect. Both are equally efficient. The idea of bending guitar strings, is to bend up to a specific pitch. Practice this by playing a note and then moving down the string one, two or three frets and bending the string back up to the original note played.
As you become familiar with this technique in your guitar playing you may want to find a few new creative ways to use this method. Here is a few tricks I have picked up along the way.
- Try bending a note into a few different pitches. For example play the original note, bend up a half step (one fret), then release the note and bend it up a whole step(two frets). David Gilmore uses this approach in quite a few of his signature Pink Floyd solos. Experiment with the concept targeting different notes to bend up too.
- Another popular technique among many blues players like Stevie Ray Vaughn and B.B. King is to pre bend a string before it is picked and then release it to it's original note. Pretty cool huh!
I hope you will enjoy using string bending in your playing and utilizing some of the more creative approaches that I discussed here.
Become a master of guitar scales
Post a Comment