# String bending

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Guitar playing technique

**String bending** is a [guitar](/source/Guitar) technique where [fretted](/source/Fret) strings are displaced by application of a [force](/source/Force) by the fretting fingers in a direction [perpendicular](/source/Perpendicular) to their vibrating length. This has the net effect of increasing the [pitch](/source/Pitch_(music)) of a note (or notes as the case may be). String-bending allows exploration of [microtonality](/source/Microtonality) and can be used to give a distinctive [vocal](/source/Vocal) articulation to [lead guitar](/source/Lead_guitar) passages.

## Technique

String bending is executed by fretting a note on the guitar [fretboard](/source/Fretboard), and then applying a force perpendicular to the length of the fretboard with the fretting hand, displacing the string from its resting vibrating position.[1] This yields a continuous increase in pitch, which can be manipulated by a skillful player to give a singing-like quality to a musical passage. The displacement of the string can be pushed "up" or pulled "down". Bending is an important component in the style of several renowned players, such as [Eric Clapton](/source/Eric_Clapton), who uses copious amounts of string bending to articulate [blues](/source/Blues) licks, and [Buck Trent](/source/Buck_Trent), who electrified a solid body electric banjo and implemented tuner keys and D and B benders in country music. String-bending [blues-scale](/source/Blues_scale) guitar solos were used in 1930s [jazz](/source/Jazz) music where it was most notably popularized by [Django Reinhardt](/source/Django_Reinhardt), and later [rock musicians](/source/Rock_music) adopted the string-bending technique in the 1960s.[2] With the advancement of steel guitars and other stringed instruments, and string bending mechanisms and playing styles, string bending is now a common technique among string players.

## Factors influencing string bending

There are numerous mechanical and acoustic properties which heavily influence the resultant pitch from a string bend. Analysis of the [physics](/source/Physics) of string bending[3] suggests that the resultant pitch of a string bent at its midpoint is given by

ν = 1 2 L E A + cos ⁡ θ ( T − E A ) μ o {\displaystyle \nu ={\frac {1}{2L}}{\sqrt {\frac {EA+\cos \theta (T-EA)}{\mu _{o}}}}}

where *L* is the length of the vibrating element, *T* is the [tension](/source/Tension_(physics)) of the string prior to bending, θ {\displaystyle \theta } is the bend angle, *E* is the [Young's Modulus](/source/Young's_Modulus) of the string material, *A* is the string cross sectional [area](/source/Area) and μ o {\displaystyle \mu _{o}} is the [linear density](/source/Linear_density) of the string material.

Thus, the pitch is not only dependent on the bend angle, but on material properties of the string such as Young's modulus; this may be interpreted as a measure of the [stiffness](/source/Stiffness) of the string. The force required to bend a string at its midpoint to a given angle θ {\displaystyle \theta } is given by

F B = 2 ( T + E A ( 1 − cos ⁡ θ cos ⁡ θ ) ) sin ⁡ θ . {\displaystyle F_{B}=2\left(T+EA\left({\frac {1-\cos \theta }{\cos \theta }}\right)\right)\sin \theta .}

The resultant pitch from string bending is not linearly correlated with the bending angle, and so a player's experience and intuition is important for accurate pitch modulation.

## See also

- [Finger vibrato](/source/Finger_vibrato)

- [Finger vibrato#Axial pitch-shifting](/source/Finger_vibrato#Axial_pitch-shifting)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Guitar/Bending and Vibrato - Wikibooks, open books for an open world"](https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Guitar/Bending_and_Vibrato).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** name=Nuages

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Grimes, David Robert (2014). ["String Theory - the Physics of String-Bending and Other Electric Guitar Techniques"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4108333). *PLOS ONE*. **9** (7) e102088. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2014PLoSO...9j2088G](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014PLoSO...9j2088G). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1371/journal.pone.0102088](https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0102088). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [4108333](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4108333). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [25054880](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25054880).

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [String bending](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_bending) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_bending?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.