Courses

Bending Blues Guitar Technique

Learn the physics behind good bending technique, how to do it well, and lots of exercises to improve your accuracy.

Bending

Overview

Bending is much more than pushing against a string. Bending is a communication tool; your guitar will talk if you do it right. If you do it wrong, your guitar will whimper. And nobody wants to hear that.

In this course, you’ll learn the mechanics of bending and the ingredients of excellent bending technique. The exercises will force you to listen to your own playing more closely, helping you to become a better communicator every time you bend a note.

Featured Videos


Lesson Details

  • Part 1
    Part 1: Introduction

    To kick off this extremely detailed lesson about bending, we'll look at why bending is so important to your sound. * 9 ingredients to every bend, everything from pitch, to trajectory and destination * Where to bend * The most common places that bends happen for blues and rock * Lots of bending examples, single strings, multiple strings, switching strings * Answer to common bending questions * Whatís wrong with this bend? * Exercises to help you improve bending accuracy and control ringing notes.

    Included
    • Lesson Video
  • Part 2
    Part 2: Bending Ingredients

    In this section we'll look at 9 ingredients that go into a bent note.

    • The starting pitch
    • The target pitch
    • Fingertip placement
    • Finger angle
    • Pick or Pluck
    • The bending action
    • String muting
    • Bending destination
    • Trajectory
    Included
    • Lesson Video
  • Part 3
    Part 3: Where To Bend

    In this section I'll explain all the places in the 5 Essential Blues Boxes where bending occurs.

    I'll explain which bends have a minor sound, and which have a major sound.

    Included
  • Part 4
    Part 4: Examples

    In this section I'll give you examples of bending from players like SRV and Jimi Hendrix.

    We'll start with basic bends, and build into more complex examples that involve multiple strings.

    And yes, we'll look at the multi-string bends that SRV was famous for.

    Included
    • Lesson Video
  • Part 5
    Part 5: Bending Questions

    In this section I'll address several common questions that people have asked me about bending.

    Included
    • Lesson Video
  • Part 6
    Part 6: What's Wrong With This Bend?

    In this section I'll give some opinionated advice about what separates good bending from bad bending technique.

    Included
    • Lesson Video
  • Part 7
    Part 7: Exercises

    In this section we'll go through 8 exercises that help build your bending accuracy and strength.

    Included
    • Lesson Video
    • Exercises
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