Guitar Lesson Five - Left Hand Technique

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Guitar Lesson Five - Technique

Left hand

In This lesson, we're going to take a look at one of the hallmark techniques of guitar playing, the STRING BEND.

Bending the strings is a little hard to get the hang of when you first try it, but with a little practice, you'll soon be adding this highly expressive technique into your playing on a regular basis.

The theory behind bending strings is pretty simple. You simply push or pull the string sideways (either toward the floor or toward the ceiling) as your playing it.

The practical application of bending strings, on the other hand, can be rather difficult.

First, you need to get a feel for the best hand position. For this technique, I highly recommend the baseball bat grip (opens in new window) as shown in lesson 1. You'll need the strength and control that this hand position provides in order to bend with ease and accuracy.

Second, while you will find ocassion to bend using your index and/or middle finger (some maniacs even use their pinky), the ring finger is the best choice for most bends.

Third, the index and middle fingers need to help the ring finger push the string. Look at the photo. You'll notice that the ring finger is the one actually playing the note, and the index and middle are right behind helping to push or pull the string.

Fourth, bend with the wrist, not with the fingers. Once you have your hand and fingers in position, hold them stiff and push or pull the string by pivoting the wrist and forearm. [ Hold your left hand out in front of you in a loose fist, palm-down, like you're holding on to the handle bar of a bicycle. Now, leave your fingers in the same position, but turn the hand palm-up like you're curling a barbell. This is exactly the motion that you make when bending a string.] Beginners usually try to push the string using only the fingers. This does not work.

Fifth, you must control the pitch of the string that you are bending. Next to playing your guitar out of tune, out-of-control bending is the worst thing you can do if you want anyone to enjoy listening to you play.

Bends are usually refered to by step (1/2 step, whole-step, 1 1/2 steps, etc...) or by frets (one fret, two frets, three frets, etc...). What that means is that you are playing a note, and then, bending the string until that note sounds 1/2 step higher or 1 fret higher etc...

For now, were going to concentrate on the 1/2 step bend.

Start by playing the E at the 5th fret of the B-string. Then play Eb on the 4th fret and bend the note up to E. Check your accuracy by playing the E at the 5th fret again.

Here's what this exercise should sound like: Oh cool, an example!

You have to practice this until you can bend right to the note, but beware! A little bending practice goes a long way. You may find that your finger tips start to resemble hamburger before too long. So, practice bends for a little while, and then, go on to something else for a while. Before too long you'll get the hang of it.

You can practice bending anywhere on the fingerboard. You can also use any string. It's a good idea to get used to bending on every string, as each string has a unique feel to it. If your bending on the low E, A or D-strings, you'll find it easiest to pull the string toward the floor. If your bending on the G, B or high E, you'll find it easiest to push the string toward the ceiling. The hand position is the same. It's just a matter of how you use your wrist and forearm motion.

Now, once you've bent a note, you can either stop there, or you can RELEASE the note.

When you release a bend, you simply relax the pressure against the string so that the pitch falls back to where it started. It sounds like this: Another example.

Here's an example of how you can apply bending and releasing to the C major scale:

There's not really any standard way to notate bends. I tend to favor the above notation (B = bend R = release), but you're liable to run into all manner of variation. Luckily, most guitar music books usually include a notation legend inside the front and/or back cover.

Here's what the example should sound like: Yet another example.

Bends are probably THE most expressive technique that you can apply to your guitar playing, but, as I said before, you gotta get it right. You'll never regret the time spent to get your bending technique hammered into shape.

Get your 1/2 step bends down pat, and then we'll work on whole-step bends, as well as, a lot of details that will make your bends really come alive!

This lesson is divided into seven parts:

Tuning

Theory Part I

Theory Part II

Theory Part III

Left hand Technique

Right hand Technique

Music

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