String Bending in Tune – Video Guitar Lesson

When it comes to string bending, nothing is more important than correctly and confidently hitting your intended target pitch. There are three common bend distances that you should want to get under your fingers: half-step bends, whole-step bends and minor third (1 1/2 step) bends. Check out the video.

The bends are shown on the 2nd string. Here is how these bends are shown in tab notation, preceded by the target pitch to get it in your ear.

Keep in mind that once you can consistently make each bend at this area of the neck on the 2nd string you should try moving to other strings and positions. Each string has a different tension and that tension also changes at different points along that string, as well. Practicing these exercises will help you learn the pitch and muscle memory involved in being a confident (and in-tune!) string bender.