I thought I’d put together a demo on how to bend strings when playing.  Bending guitar strings is something that a lot of people struggle with because there isn’t a very precise science to it, like there is when fretting notes.  When you’re bending the string, you’re essentially pushing the string up so that the current notes bends to a higher note.  The problem that people run into is knowing exactly how far to push the string.  Unfortunately this is where your sense of pitch comes into play, you’ll need to be able to accurately hear the pitch to know if you’re bending the string the right amount.

 

The two most common string bends are the whole note bend and the half note bend.  With the whole note bend, you’re bending the string the equivalence of 2 frets on the guitar, the half note bend is the equivalence of only 1 fret on the guitar. The video below give a pretty good explanation of whole note and half note bends and also gives you some good practice advice.

Bending Guitar Strings