bending notes
Sliding between tones
Bending notes is a technique in music where a player or singer shifts a note's pitch slightly up or down without moving to the next distinct tone.
Common on guitar, harmonica, and blues vocals, it adds expressiveness and a human quality to the sound: He was bending notes on his Stratocaster, giving the solo that classic blues feel.
The technique creates the wailing, crying quality distinctive to blues, jazz, and rock.
- harmonicaHandheld reed wind instrument
- overblowingExcess air or emphasis
- bluesMournful American music genre
- blue notesMicrotonal jazz pitches
- soul musicPassionate vocal genre, 1960s
vibrato · glissando · guitar · string bending · jazz · microtonal · saxophone · wail · pull · portamento · whammy bar · embouchure · trombone · yearning · violin · rock · soulful · crying tone