String Bending 101 - Week 17

Welcome to week 17 of the Technique weekly challenge!

This week, we look at one technique that makes the guitar special! Every other instrument is jealous of this one…time to bend those strings! 

Exercise 1 - Bending Method 

This exercise is looking at how to bend on string 2

• Hand goes into guitar neck, like a ‘hand shake’ 

• Grip the neck with thumb and side of the palm  

• Group fingers 1, 2 & 3 together & try the ‘twist the wrist’ motion first

• Then, place 3rd finger on the note being bent & imagine pitch of target note (2 frets away)

Exercise 2 - String Bending Riff 

Following on…

• Bend string 2, fret 9 to fret 11

• Have little finger on string 1, fret 9 ready to be plucked at the peak of the bend

• Then, pick the note at the top of that bend to ‘Un-bend’ & release to original note

• Play string 2, 7th fret after this to finish the riff!

This first string bending riff is played over an F# chord & if we move the idea two frets down we can play the same thing over the E chord.  

Now we are playing in two positions & it’s starting to sound like a riff/lead playing!