Lesson 5 - Vibrating String Bends

This lesson is a follow-up of the previous one - String Bending

SYNOPSIS

Vibrating Bent Strings
Licks - Exercises
Pre-bending and Releasing
Double Stop Bends
Guitar Solo

Watch and listen to a few examples where I bend and vibrate the strings:

To do this, perform a string bend and when you reach the desirable pitch, start vibrating the bent string by moving the fingers up and down.

Although it sounds easy, some practice is needed to make it well. In the beginning slowly vibrate a bent string to get a better feel of it.

When you feel you gained some control over the vibrating, slowly, slowly increase its frequency.

As I said in the previous lesson I find it more comfortable to use the ring finger along with assistance of the middle one to bend a string. You might also use the help of the index finger for extra support.

Guitar Licks - Exercises

Vibrating bent string - exercise 1 (guitar tablature) — Lick 1

Vibrating bent string - exercise 2 (guitar tablature) — Lick 2

Lick 2. This lick is identical to the lick 1 from the previous lesson, except the last note, where you vibrate the bent string.

Vibrating bent string - exercise 3 (guitar tablature) — Lick 3

Vibrating bent string - exercise 4 (guitar tablature) — Lick 4

Pre-bend and Release

Sometimes you'll see abbreviations like PB, BD and a lower case 'r' letter in guitar tabs:

PB stays for "pre-bend"
BD for "bend down"
the lower case 'r' for "release" (the same thing as BD)

To perform a pre-bend, quietly (without picking) bend a string to a desirable pitch and after that stroke it with the plectrum.

Usually after a "pre-bend" goes a "bend-down" (release) where you unbend a string returning it to a regular state.

Watch this video example:

Here you can see an example of how pre-bends and releases can be used in guitar soloing.

Bending and Double Stops

A double stop means playing two notes simultaneously. Playing them with the string bending produces some interesting results:

Here I performed a bend at the 14^th fret on the 3^rd string and a "plain" note at the 15^th fret on the 2^nd string by pressing it with the 4th - pinky finger.