Technique Check: Bends

How to properly bend strings on your guitar and common uses.

A "bend" on a guitar is a technique where the player pushes or pulls a string up or down, effectively stretching it to increase its tension and pitch. This action raises the pitch of the note being played.

In this video we go over how to properly execute bends and the different kinds of bends we encounter as guitarists. From there we go through a few different bendy licks that that you can add to your technique tool kit.

Some of the techniques and concepts covered are:

• Basic fingering and technique for bends

• Keeping bends in tune

• Half and whole step bends

• Bends larger than a whole step

• Smears and detuned bends

• Double and triple stop bends

• Unison bends

• Pre-bends

• Common licks that use bends like the "bend release pull"

This video goes into a lot detail and starts from the ground level. If you are more advanced use the timestamps in the YOUTUBE description to skip ahead or navigate to a specific aspect of bends you want more info on. There's stuff in this video for all guitarists.

Check out the Corresponding PDF for more detailed information and some fun licks you can play with bends.