“When I heard that, my first thought was, ‘Well, you can’t do that on a piano!’” Jared James Nichols teaches an essential guitar playing skill – how to bend the strings expressively

Jared James Nichols: How to bend them strings like a pro! - YouTube

Watch On

An essential technique all electric guitarists should strive to master is the art of string bending, which can be used to create personally expressive, vocal-like sounds in unique ways.

String bending first grabbed my attention when I heard Iron Man by Black Sabbath. Guitarist Tony Iommi begins the song by bending his open low E string behind the nut, raising then lowering the note’s pitch to create a spooky moaning sound. When I heard that, my first thought was, “well, you can’t do that on a piano!”

My next pivotal encounter with string bending was hearing Eric Clapton’s solo in Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love. When I heard those opening notes, I thought, “that sounds like a voice!” It’s so soulful!

My awareness of string bending then snowballed through listening to such great blues-rock guitarists as Jimi Hendrix, Leslie West, Robin Trower and Johnny Winter. The takeaway was that, even though all of these players were utilizing the same bending techniques, each was able to create thoroughly unique sounds with them.

A good initial approach to string bending is to first play two separate notes that are a half step, or one fret, apart, then bend the lower note up to match the pitch of the higher one, as demonstrated with the notes E and F in Figure 1.

In bar 2, I then play E and F#, which are a whole step (two frets) apart then proceed to bend the E note up a whole step to F#. In bar 3, I then do the same thing with E and G, bending the E note up one and one half steps, the equivalent of three frets. Listen carefully as to strive to match the “target” pitch of each bend. Let your ears guide and control your fingers.

In Figure 2, I play a two-bar phrase based on the B minor pentatonic scale (B, D, E, F#, A) and bend E, the 4th of B, up a whole step to F#, the 5th. Then, in bar 2, I bend D, the minor 3rd, up a half step to the major 3rd, D#. In Figure 3, I liberally bend several notes, yielding even more of a “vocal” sound.

I take this approach a little further in Figure 4 by starting with a half step bend from D to D#, followed by hammer-ons to D# and E then a whole-step bend from E up to F#. Bar 1 ends with A# bent up a half step to B, and in bar 2, I combine unusual half- and whole-step bends to produce a unique sound and melody.

A great note to bend up to is the b5 (flatted 5th). Sticking with the key of B, that would be an F note. In Figure 5, all of the notes are fretted; in Figures 6 and 7, I use half- and whole-step bends from the 4th, E, to sound the 5th, F#, then the flatted 5th, F.

Great masters of string bending to listen to for inspiration are Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and Albert King. Figure 8 is played in Buddy’s style, featuring a big two-step bend, the equivalent of four frets, and a gradual release. Figure 9 is played in Albert’s style, with five distinct pitches sounded from a single fretted D note on the B string’s 15th fret.

Bending strings may cause your fingertips to hurt a little, but it’s worth it to discover the many expressive sounds that can be attained via this highly expressive technique.

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.