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Beginner Guitar Lesson – Guitar Bends

In Beginner Guitar Lessons | on January, 28, 2010 | by | 9 Comments

This lesson is our first lesson concentrating on guitar bends. Bending is a technique that is unique to stringed instruments and is used in virtually every style of music.

We start by talking about basic hand positioning so you can see what exactly your fret hand should be doing during a bend. We then move on to a little exercise that you can practice that has you focus on bending the string in tune.

Start slow if you have never done any bending before, because it can be quite tough on your finger tips in the beginning. If you are practicing on an acoustic it will probably take a little longer and probably be more uncomfortable but it is worth it!!

Practice bends consistently but not constantly. You can blister up your finger tips pretty quick if you are not careful.

So have fun practicing one of the most important techniques that you will ever learn on the guitar, but don’t hurt yourself. :)

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT I NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO CONTINUE THESE LESSONS EVERYDAY. IF YOU FIND YOURSELF USING THEM A LOT, PLEASE CONSIDER A SMALL DONATION TO THE SITE SO I CAN KEEP THEM COMING FOR A LONG TIME. THANKS!! Carl… :D

Beginner Guitar Bends

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9 Responses

GlennO
01.28.10

By far the best instruction I’ve seen on string bending. Extremely helpful.

Carl Brown
01.28.10

Thanks a bunch!! :D

TJ
01.28.10

i’m a beginner and i’ve been searching for a video like THIS for such a long time! thanks for posting it, very helpful. btw, great website!

Carl Brown
01.28.10

Thanks a lot TJ, I hope you can find a lot of other useful stuff here as well. :D

Carl..

Mike
01.28.10

Carl, Excellent lesson! I’m a relatively new guitar student (1 year into it), and being that I want to focus on the blues, I have to learn to bend strings. I have zero problem bending. I can bend the high E to the G string position or beyond – till it breaks. ALL of my problem is from unwanted noise. I’ve learned to palm mute fairly well but being that my biggest problem is from strings popping under my fingers while going up, or out from under my strings when going back down, I still get the click sound with the palm muting. My action is set pretty low. I see that a lot of guys saying to keep the unplayed string(s) anchored right at the tip of the finger when bending. But even if I raise the action, this NEVER works for me as the unplayed string(s) ALWAYS roll from the tips of my fingers and end up under my fingers on the way up. That’s when the problem starts…..unwanted noise as they roll and pop under my fingers going up, and unwanted noise as they pop back up on the way back down. Everybody says practice is the key, but hour after hour and day after day with no success, kinda makes one want to just give up. Nevertheless, thanks again for a great lesson. Mike in Memphis.

Cuyahoga County Clerk of Courts
01.28.10

You have a real talent for putting your thoughts into clear, original content. Your article is easy to read and understand. You have brought forth some really good points that I agree with and appreciate.

Dom
01.28.10

Right at the end of the video, you mentioned that some people tend to bend downwards. I’m one of those people. So, is bending downwards not as good as bending upwards?

Oh, and great tutorial!

Carl Brown
01.28.10

I don’t think it really matters at all. If it is comfortable to you than do it. Obviously you won’t be able to bend downwards on the 1st and 2nd strings because you will probably fall off the fretboard, but other than that you should be fine. The problem here is that most of the bends on the guitar happen on the 1st and 2nd strings so you may want to really work on your upwards bending technique as well. :)

Cheers! Carl..

Your Name
01.28.10

Taught myself the bends on a .12 acoustic stings :)

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