How to Bend Notes for Electric Guitar Solos

Video Transcript

Hi! My name is John Armstrong with expertvillage.com, I’m a professional guitar instructor and today I’ll be going over some of the basic rudiments of playing the lead guitar or soloing. Okay next I’d like to discuss bending, bending is a process of taking a pitch and bending it up, moving it up either a half step which is one farther whole step which is two. So for example if I was to take this D-note and bend it up a half step, here’s a D-note at its original pitch, here’s a D-sharp note, if I was to take the D-note and bend it up to the D-sharp, okay so D bending it up to D-sharp, that’s a bend and then I have what’s called a bend and release where I bend the note from its original pitch and allow it to fall back to D original pitch. I can also bend that note a whole step, here’s D, here’s E or with a bend a release technique. Bending is an integral part to soloing, basically there’s really no right or wrong notes to bend or not bend as long as you stay within the proper scale, for example here I do some bends using an A-minor pentatonic scale, here’s the scale…if I was to take it and bend it…what I do when bending if I’m not using my first finger, if I’m not bending with my first finger which I sometimes do but when bending with either the second or third finger typically don’t bend with my fourth, when bending with the second or third finger I’ll put other fingers behind it on the same string to give you some more strength and control over the bend by either by pushing down or pushing up depending on what string or the situation that I’m in. So all you do is use a couple of extra fingers it’ll give you more added strength and control over your bends. Another type of bend that I’ll typically do is a double stop bend, here I’m bending two notes at a time or playing two notes sometimes only bending one, for example if I was to take this D and G note. Notice that I just bend the D not the G but I pick and play both notes…same thing here with this octave of that this D and G or here. I can also play the D and the E, bending just the D to match the pitch of the E or this G and E, I’m sorry D and E.

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