Lesson Two : Sliding And Bending

Introduction To Slide And Bending

1. Forward Slide
Even though its not called so, I had to name it so that it could be understood. Forward sliding is very commonly used by lead guitarists all over.
Sliding gives a rich tone to the movement of a note. It is represented by (\) in the tab structures. Forward slide can be achieved by playin a note
and moving your fingers smoothly to the fret to be slided to. Sliding is done from a lower note to a higher note. In the example below, In the beginning ,
you slide from the 7th fret on the fourth to the 9th fret. YOu have to play the 7th Fret on the 4th String and move the finger smoothly to the 9th.
It gives a rich tone to the change of note. Also keeping in mind that the movement of the fingert from the 7th to the 9th should be in co-ordination
with the song tempo.

2. Backward Slide
This is the exact opposite of the Forward Slide. It is represented by (/) in tabulatures. Here the higher note is played first and then the finger is
moved to the lower note. In the example below, this is used when sliding from the 12th fret on the 1st string to the 10th fret.

3. Bending Up
Bending is done to increase the pitch of a note abnormally. This is used when half a note is on one pitch and the other half is on a higher pitch
close to the previous one. It is represented by (^) in tabulatures. Bending can be done quite easily though there are some tricks i want to share.
Bending using Index finger is simple when its an electric guitar. When it comes to the acoustic guitar, the strings and quite tough to bend. But
Here's is what you can do. Bend using the third finger(ring Finger) and take the support of the index and the middle finger. So here is what you
actually do. Hold the note to be bent using your Ring Finger and use all the three finger to push the string up. Ok coming back to representation.
So you see this 10^12. Here is how you find out how much to bend. You play the 10th Fret. Then you play the 12th fret. note the pitch difference.
And then you play the 10 and bend it till you get the pitch of the 12th. when going along with the song, You have to leave the Bend abruptly.

4. Bending Down (Not used Here)
This is used to bring down a bend note neatly insteadly of abruptly. Its represented be (V) in tabs. From the example below, If we have to bring down
the note, It would have been represented as 10^12v10. So you bend the 10th note to the 12th pitch and release it slowly back to the 10th pitch. These
are widely used in leads especially in mellow leads.

Here is a little snippet from
Steve Vai's - For The Love Of God.

-------------------12/10----------------10------
--------10-10\12----------12--8--10^12-----10---
------7-----------------------------------------
--7\9-------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------



Try out this song, These are easy techniques clubbed with my previous lesson you can build up your own leads

nice work - merci

Thanks Alli.. I was hoping someone would read.. He he..

im always around...no worries...(i dont have an option...sigh...)

that was in context to boredom... "im bored ".. be4 u ask me .."what ??? " hehe

hey jayanth, of course i read that post before. but these were some things i understand already, so didnt say something like "what a wow post, oh u've cleared all my doubts! oh my saviour i bow down to thee for pulling me out of this mire "

:p :p

but really man, i wish u to post a lot more on solos and scales... thats what i'm supposed to be learning next.

i'd like to mention... i'd prefer some acoustic solos for now... i mean i don't own my gibson les paul electric yet, so till then will have to make do with my givson jumbo acoustic.

THanks So much Alli... He he..

What ???

Hey Prash.. Glad i could help. I will put up a good acoustic solo soon...

u guys shud have been in bbay mann/...i culd use a few free tutions... but this is good enuff....this site rocks...

looking forward to tht acoustic solo..if not too tough i shall try it too ..

I came to Bambay in Feb hehe..

lemme know ur next trip down.....

April 14th.. I'm coming there and leaving the same afternoon. Gives me about 5 minutes of rest.

i meant..next trip when u got atleast more than 5 mins of rest...duh...