Bend

What it means

A bend is the intentional alteration of pitch during a note or in the transition between two notes. The note keeps sounding in the process; its pitch is shifted continuously. In English this is called bending.

The technique occurs on instruments that do not enforce fixed pitches: on the guitar the string is drawn across the fingerboard, on wind instruments the embouchure alters the pitch, on strings and in the voice it happens directly.

The bend is to be distinguished from the portamento, which joins two notated notes by gliding, and from the glissando, in which the intervening steps are audibly run through. With the bend the goal is not necessarily a second notated note; often it is a matter of a colouring within one note.

In the notation

The bend is indicated by an ascending curve or arrow at the notehead, in guitar tablature by a bent arrow with the interval given, for instance a semitone or whole tone. There is no uniform notation; in many contexts the execution is left to the player and is not marked at all.

Musical use

The technique shapes blues, rock and related styles, in which the movable pitch belongs to the sound. In jazz too it is widespread among wind players and singers. In European art music it appears occasionally in the music of the twentieth century, when composers call for quarter tones or gliding pitches.

On the guitar it arises through the sideways drawing of the string, on wind instruments through lips and air. In the blues it is a central means of expression. On the harmonica the effect is produced by an altered shape of the mouth cavity and is likewise called bending.

Performance practice

Aim exactly: a bend that misses its target pitch sounds impure rather than expressive. Practise it against a sustained reference note until the interval sits. See that the note does not break off during the motion. And use the means deliberately — it lives from the deviation and loses its effect if every note is bent.