String Bending

Hey there and welcome to this tutorial on String Bending technique! I personally feel that this particular technique is often neglected by guitarists even though it is something which can help your musicianship immeasurably. Approached in the right way, it can transform the way you approach phrasing and really help to improve your aural skills. Employing this technique can also help you to achieve a very vocal sounding approach to guitar playing which can be extremely expressive and once you have the basics down there are many routes you can take which will give your playing a very unique flavour. It is these basic techniques that we will be covering throughout the course of this tutorial. Before we begin, it is essential that we cover two very important things, the first being the left hand positioning. We will need to bring the thumb over the neck of the guitar so that the inside of the thumb and first finger surrounds the rear of the neck. This will help us to achieve more strength with the left hand and offers us a more secure position. As we, more often than not, use the third finger for bends it makes sense to make use of the second and first fingers by placing them on the same string as the third finger to give a little assistance in shifting the string upwards. The second thing is to really listen to your intonation very closely. Try to hone in on the pitch that you are producing when you bend the strings as we need the intonation to be as perfect as it possibly can be. This is definitely a challenge and can at times be quite frustrating but as with everything, if you practice correctly and work hard you will see the fruits of your labour. Ok, let's start with part 1!