The guitar string bend is one of the most commonly used techniques in blues guitar playing. Basically, this technique involves bending a string upwards or downwards on the fretboard.

blues guitar string bend

To do a string bend, place your middle finger on the second string (B) of the third fret. Press on the string and bend it upwards until you're able to hear a change in the tune of the string (Fig. 1). You can also press on the string downwards.

blues guitar string bend

A typical way of executing a string bend is to first play a string and then bend the same string on the next two or three frets. In guitar tab format, it will look like this:

String Bend in Guitar Tab Format

Here's how it looks on a guitar:

blues guitar string bend

Blues guitar involves a lot of string bends. Better get those fingers bending steel strings as much as you can so that your fingers will get used to this technique.

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