Bends and Vibrato

A string bend is when you change the pitch of a note by bending the note to change the length of the vibrating string. Below is an example of how a bend looks in tab…

e|———| B|———| G|–12b13–| D|———| A|———| E|———|

You perform a bend by hooking your thumb over the top of the neck and bending the fret of the first number up towards your thumb until it sounds like the pitch of the second fret number. You can test this by playing the second fret number first and then bending the first fret number to match the second fret number.

The previous example was a bend of a half step (or semi-tone), so the next example is of a whole step (or tone). This is slightly harder, but practise makes perfect!

e|———| B|———| G|–12b14–| D|———| A|———| E|———|

This is the same, however is a whole step (tone) bend.

As well as bends, you also need to know about releasing bends. This is the opposite to bends, and is much simpler. Once you have performed the bend, all you do is release the bend back down to it’s original pitch.

e|———-|
B|———-|
G|-12b14r12-|
D|———-|
A|———-|
E|———-|

Here you would bend the 12th fret up to sound like the 14th fret, and then you would release the bend back down to the original 12th fret pitch.

Vibrato

Vibrato is similar to bending, but it doesn’t need to be as accurate. What you need to do is bend the specified fret up slightly and then release it over and over again. I find the 3th (ring) finger easiest to use for vibrato, but you can use any of your fingers. Below is an example of vibrato.

e|———|
B|———|
G|—12~—|
D|———|
A|———|
E|———|

What you would do here is fret the 12th fret and then vibrate it by bending it up and down a number of times. This helps sustain the note.

Below is an example to sum up what you should have learned from this lesson…

e|——————————-|
B|——————————-|
G|–9~—-8b9r8~—6~—-4b6r4—|
D|——————————-|
A|——————————-|
E|——————————-|