Guitar Lesson 11 - Guitar Bend

Above we will use the '()' characters to denote a bend. In real tablature that you see in books and magazines you will see a curved arrow pointing upwards and will have a half or full next to the arrow. The parentheses are used in online tablature, it means bend the note until it sounds like the fret number placed in the '()'. For example, 14 (16) means bend the 14th fret until it sounds like the 16th fret.

A bend is usually noted with how much of a bend to play. In this lesson we are going to perform a full bend, which can also be referred to as a full tone. Essentially we are bending the string up to reach a different note, in this example our full tone is going from A to B. A half tone would be going from A to A#.

While a bend can be played up or down, it is recommended that you play it upward. Any finger can be used to perform a bend but the best finger to use is your 3rd finger. Using your 3rd finger will allow you to use your 2nd finger to assist, or reinforce, your 3rd finger. This will give you more control while bending.

Remember! The key to any good bend is hitting the correct to note!

Play the Guitar Bend:
1. Place your 3rd finger on the 14th fret of the 3rd string.
2. Place your 2nd finger on the 13th fret of the 3rd string.
3. Pick the string.
4. Immediately after picking the string push (bend) the string upwarded keeping your 3rd finger pressing down. The second finger helps out by pushing upward too.
5. Once you bend to the note you want to achieve, in this case a B note (or the 16th fret of the 3rd string) bend the string back down to it's normal position.



Next Lesson: Guitar Hammer On