What "bend" means???

I am new to guitar i learned much things but i still do not understand what the hell is a ben or what "hold the bend" or "full bend" in tabs so pliiiiiiiiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzzz hellllllpppppppp.
and thx.and feel free to mail me if you want.

A bend is where you play a note, usually with the third or forth finger, and the string is pushed upwards (towards your head) to become a higher note. Each half bend is a fret (so a 1 1/2 bend would be three frets) ... meaning you've got to push the string upwards enough to make it sound like the fret 3 frets higher up on the fretboard. Know what I mean?

A brief history of guitar strings and bending technique
Back in the 1930's and 40's before rock and roll was invented, guitar strings were very thick and heavy. Because of this, jazz and blues guitar players alike were limited to slight string bends or half bends. Although this greatly developed the strength in blues and jazz players' fingers, it definitely limited their technique and freedom to try new types of bends.
It could also be said that this lack of technique due to heavy guitar strings was a blessing! Jazz and blues players alike figured out other ways to coerce new sounds from the guitar. Jazz players like Django Rheinhart and Charlie Christian and blues players like Tampa Red and Blind Lemon Jefferson used hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, vibratos, and double notes to create new guitar licks and riffs that are still used today!
As guitar string technology improved in the 1950's and 1960's, blues and rock players began to push the limits of string bending technique. Guitar technique would never be the same thanks to Chuck Berry, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, and many others.

sorry, what does it mean play the string upward??

sorry, I'm a newbie too I still don't get it

ok, the best way I can describe it is that you play a note, and then you bend the string upwards towards the other strings, raising the pitch of the note. a full bend is a whole step... meaning that you bend the pitch enough to make the sound of the string be the same as 2 frets higher without a bend. ok, maybe this will help:

notice how he is bending the string upwards?

If you still need help try this. Play a note then play the fret right after that. Ie. play 4th string 9th fret then play the 10th fret. Then play the 9th fret again then bend the string upward untill it sounds like the 10th fret. Go back and forth untill you get it right, thats a 1/2 bend. Do the same with the 9th and 11th fret and you get a full bend.

Perhaps a scientific approach would help the learning process... Strings vibrate when they are plucked... the pickups turn the vibration into electrical energy and your amp converts that to sound... The looser the string the bigger the eliptical path of the string... causing the tone to be deeper... (low frequencies) the tighter the string... the tighter the eliptical pattern and higher the pitch (high frequencies) By bending a string you are taking a normally tuned string and essentially adding tension to it by pushing upward or pulling downward on the string... This makes the strings lenght from bridge to the fretted point longer... which makes the string tension tighter... causing the note to seem sharpened. depending on the guage strings and hand strength you can bend up as high as a step and a half to 2 steps... string breakage is likely... haha. But a "step" is essentially 2 frets. A good way to practice bends is to fret at, for example... the 5th fret on the b string... the pluck the note and bend it up. Then pluck the 7th fret. Then pluck and bend the 5th fret to match the 7th fret note... you can do this anywhere on the fretboard to practice...

I figure that a video will help you understand... the only videos I could find were these: http://www.cyberfret.com/techniques/bends/index.php just click on any of the front view videos and hopefully you'll be able to see what he's doing... it's hard to see though

thank you all a lot

so tell me if i'm right.....I play the lets say 9th fret of third string with my third finger at the same time holding the 7th fret of third string with my second finger to play the E note

then I let go of my third finger leaving only second finger on the 7th fret to play the D note and push the string upward to make it sound exactly like the E note?

please forgive me for so much crap here... :p hehe

but when I push the string upward, that fret sounds exactly the same as before...

Originally Posted by: Dragon000thank you all a lot

so tell me if i'm right.....I play the lets say 9th fret of third string with my third finger at the same time holding the 7th fret of third string with my second finger to play the E note

then I let go of my third finger leaving only second finger on the 7th fret to play the D note and push the string upward to make it sound exactly like the E note?

please forgive me for so much crap here... :p hehe

close. just don't play the first E note... what I mean is, just play the 7th fret 3rd string, bend it upwards to make it sound like the 9th fret... that is a full bend, if you bend it up only enough to make it sound like the 8th fret, then that is a 1/2 bend, a 1 1/2 bend would be making it sound like the 10th...
so if you were reading tabs then:

G|----7b(9)-----
or
G|----7b9-------
would both describe that particular bend that I described

what you described was basically:
G|----9p7--7b9---
but that's just one example, you can bend any fret of any string.
and if you should happen to see something like this
D|----4b5b4---
then it means that you bend the 4th fret of the 4th string to make it sound like the 5th fret, then bring the string back down so that it is back in place and sounds like the 4th fret again

I think I got the 1/2 bend working

I push the string upward enough that its right underneath the next string

now I don't know how to make it sound exactly like two frets up, I'm afraid that if I push the string too upward I'll snap the string

Haha... yeah, I remember having that feeling too. BUT *knocks on wood* I've never broken a string doing a bend... and sometimes when I'm jamming I get working my bends and my Trem pretty hard... like SRV/Jimi style hard. Just try it out on the G string... it would be the least likely of the three bottom string to break. Here's an example of what I was trying to explain earlier... This will help to train your ear to bend your notes and stay on pitch! Since a lot of people play guitar for years and don't realize that there is a right way and a wrong way to bend a guitar string... it's important to stay in tune.

First pluck the note you are going to bend up to (example... 9 on the B string). Then pluck the note you want to bend from (example... 7 on the B string). You can do the same thing on any string with any notes that are two frets apart... or even 1 fret apart...or you can combine a bend with a Floyd rose to learn how to stay in pitch doing 2 step and 3 step bends.

e|--------------------------
b|----9----7b(9)-----9-----

you should bend the 7th so it sounds just like the 9. This is nothing more than a little training excercise that you can do to train your ear. Remember that you don't HAVE to bend the string upward. if you feel more comfortable bending the string downward thats okay too... obviously you can't do this on the little e string... Hope this little thing clarifys what I posted before and I hope it helps.

Originally Posted by: Dragon000but when I push the string upward, that fret sounds exactly the same as before...

are you using an acoustic? they are alot harder to do bends on.

Originally Posted by: aschlemanHaha... yeah, I remember having that feeling too. BUT *knocks on wood* I've never broken a string doing a bend... and sometimes when I'm jamming I get working my bends and my Trem pretty hard... like SRV/Jimi style hard. Just try it out on the G string... it would be the least likely of the three bottom string to break. Here's an example of what I was trying to explain earlier... This will help to train your ear to bend your notes and stay on pitch! Since a lot of people play guitar for years and don't realize that there is a right way and a wrong way to bend a guitar string... it's important to stay in tune.

First pluck the note you are going to bend up to (example... 9 on the B string). Then pluck the note you want to bend from (example... 7 on the B string). You can do the same thing on any string with any notes that are two frets apart... or even 1 fret apart...or you can combine a bend with a Floyd rose to learn how to stay in pitch doing 2 step and 3 step bends.

e|--------------------------
b|----9----7b(9)-----9-----

you should bend the 7th so it sounds just like the 9. This is nothing more than a little training excercise that you can do to train your ear. Remember that you don't HAVE to bend the string upward. if you feel more comfortable bending the string downward thats okay too... obviously you can't do this on the little e string... Hope this little thing clarifys what I posted before and I hope it helps.

thank you, I'm gonna keep on practicing

Originally Posted by: rockonn91are you using an acoustic? they are alot harder to do bends on.

Yes I am

should I not bend when using an acoustic guitar?

Originally Posted by: Dragon000Yes I am

should I not bend when using an acoustic guitar?

no, you can, it's just harder because of the thicker strings and higher action (action is the distance between your strings and your fretboard) but you can definately do it on an acoustic, it would just be a whole lot easier on an electric