String bending is one of the most fundamental tools any guitarist should have in their quiver. Often it’s associated with blues guitar playing, but is mandated in just about any style of music. String bending gives a voice-like quality to melodies, and can be achieved by pushing or pulling on a string or strings. There are three standard forms of string bending:
1. Immediate bend: picking and pushing or pulling the note to a desired pitch.
2. Measured bend (bend and release): bending and releasing the note back to its original pitch.
3. Pre-bend: bending prior to plucking or picking a note.
The distance you bend the note(s) is determined by the pitch you’re attempting to achieve at the peak of the bend. Common bends are a whole-step up and half-step up, but there are bends that reach a minor third up (three frets) and higher. The focus is to target and reach the correct pitch at the peak of the bend. Initially this can be the most difficult aspect as it requires an accurate sense of pitch. That being the case, it can also be used as an effective ear-training tool. Common mistakes are over-bending and under-bending.
The technical challenges of bending a string are in the fretting hand and fingers. It’s very difficult to bend and maintain control (especially larger intervals) with a single finger. A standard approach is to backup the bending finger with the remaining fingers of the fretting hand. For example, if you bend with finger three, backup that finger with one and two. This allows for the physical strength to achieve the interval (distance), and control as you approach the peak of the bend. Placing the thumb over the top of the neck can add stability in the fretting hand in some cases.
I’ll use excerpts from the milestone guitar solo in “Hotel California” to illustrate effective approaches to developing a solid string bending skill.
Example 1
One of many minor third bends (three half-steps) in the “Hotel California” solo. This one requires a bit more strength to reach the peak from (B) up to (D). Download Example Audio...
Example 2
Combining a whole-step and a subsequent half-step bend provides ornamentation to this voice-like melody. Download Example Audio...
Example 3
Next a whole-step bend, followed by a bend-and-release, illustrating an effective use of multiple bending techniques in a single phrase. Download Example Audio...
Example 4
Placing a common bend into a not-so-common blues lick builds tension and seamlessly blends the two. Download Example Audio...
Example 5
Bending into a unison pitch is an excellent ear-training tool and creates a deceptive intro to this melody that resolves to the dominant chord (F#7) underneath. Download Example Audio...
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Diamond Pedals Dark Cloud
True to the Diamond design ethos of our dBBD’s hybrid analog architecture, Dark Cloud unlocks a new frontier in delay technology which was once deemed unobtainable by standard BBD circuit.
Powered by an embedded system, the Dark Cloud seamlessly blends input and output signals, crafting Tape, Harmonic, and Reverse delays with the organic warmth of analog companding and the meticulous precision of digital control.
Where analog warmth meets digital precision, the Dark Cloud redefines delay effects to create a pedal like no other
But by gosh, if delay—and its sister effect, reverb—haven’t always been perfect for the music I like to write and play. Which brings us to the Fishman EchoBack Mini Delay. The EchoBack, along with the standard delay controls of level, time, and repeats—as well as a tap tempo—has a toggle to alternate between analog, tape, and digital-delay voices.
I hooked up my Washburn Bella Tono Elegante to my Blues Junior to give the EchoBack a test run. We love a medium delay—my usual preference for delay settings is to have both level and repeats at 1 o’clock, and time at 11 o’clock. With the analog voice switched on, I heard some pillowy warmth in the processed signal, as well as a familiar degradation with each repeat—until their wake gave way to a gentle, distant, crinkly ticking. Staying on analog and adjusting delay time down to 8 o’clock and repeats to about 11:30, some cozy slapback enveloped my rendition of Johnny Marr’s part to “Back to the Old House,” conjuring up thoughts of Elvis trapped in a small chamber, but in a good way. It sounded indubitably authentic. The one drawback of analog delay for me, generally, is that its roundness can feel a bit under water at times.
Switching over to tape, that pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top. With the settings at the medium-length mode listed above, I could see the empty, glass hall the pedal sent my sound bouncing down. I heard several pronounced pings of repeats before the signal fully faded out. On slapback settings (time at 8 o’clock, repeats at 11:30), rather than Elvis, I heard something more along the lines of a honky-tonk mic in a glass bottle. Still relatively crystalline, which actually was not my favorite. I like a bit more crinkle—so maybe analog is my bag....“That pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear, pristine replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top.”
Next up, digital. Here we have the brightest voice, and as expected, the most faithful repeats. They ping just a few times before shifting to a smooth, single undulating wave. When putting its slapback hat on, I found that the effect was a bit less alluring than I’d observed for the analog and tape voices. This is where the digital delay felt a little too sterile, with the cleanly preserved signal feeling a bit unnatural.
All in all, I dig the EchoBack for its replications of analog and tape voices, and ultimately, lean towards tape. While it’s nice having the digital delay there as an option, it feels a bit too clean when meddling with time of any given length. Nonetheless, this is surely a handy stomp for any acoustic player looking to venture into the land of live effects, or for those who are already there.
