TC-03 Pre-Bends and Bend and Release

Pre-bending or Reverse Bending

Bending, whether by pushing or pulling the string, raises the tension in the vibrating portion of the string, and thus always raises the pitch of the note. To create the impression of bending down, the guitarist uses a technique called pre-bending, that is, bending before the string is struck, then releasing the bend (either gradually or quickly, depending on the intended effect).

Tablature Notation

There are two types of tablature. When you buy a book at the store - the tablature you see uses a certain style seen in the video. Tablature that your friend down the street has written is often in a simple text (ASCII) format, and illustrating techniques like prebends can be difficult.

In Prebends, the 'bend' occurs before the note is struck. In this case you bend the string at the second number while bent to the pitch in parenthesis that precedes it. This can be confusing. In the case of the first bend in the following tab, you would pre-bend at the 7th fret on the G string up to the pitch on the 9th fret (but you woudn't have any fingers on the 9th fret!). After bending to this pitch, you would strike the string in in a bent position while "unbending" or loosening tension down the the actual pitch on the 7th fret.

Bend and release (Ghost Bend)

Bending and a pull-off can be combined for a "bend and release". This technique involves striking a note, bending it up, then releasing it as you would with a pull-off. This will often be perceived as a "bounce" in pitch, especially if played quickly. The pitch will return to the fret you are bending on.

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