BendingScalesBY THADDEUS HOGARTH

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW PLAYERSsuch as Robben Ford, Oz Noy, Joe Bona-massa, and Larry Carlton execute their linesin such a fluid way, with great time and silkysoulfulness, while bending str ings at thesame time? We1l, here is a method that, whenpracticed from the ground up, will help youto incorporate some f luid bends in yourblues, soul, rock, or funk so1os.

We will work with the minor pentatonicscale as the foundation for an excitinsmethod for incorporating signarure bendiinto your playing. We do this by taking cer-tain degrees ofthis scale and bending (froma fretted note to a target note) to create newscales that can spice up our soloing lines.When scales are practiced in this way as aroutine, with incorporated bends and usinga metronome, in time they become the foun-dation and vocabulary for your improvisationideas and executing them on the fly eventu-ally becomes second nature.

Before we start, here are some string-bend-ing basics that you'll want to keep in mind:

1) For the most parr, bend the top three(G, B, and E) strings by pushing upwardsagainst the fretboard toward the ceiling,essentially straightening your fingers.

2) For the bortom 3 strings (4, 5, and 6),pull them against the fretboard down towardsthe floor, essentially curling your fingers.

3) Always bend with as many fingers asyou have available. Use your pinky, supportedby all other fingers when bending over largerintervals.

You should not feel any discomfort. Beaware of your personal physical limits toavoid any injury. Ifyou are having difficulty

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with bends, try a iighter gauge string.Let's begin by,learning or reviewing all

positions of the minor pentatonic. Many ofus already know the scale in Ex.1, but it'simportant to know it really well. Now weare going to take the basic pentatonic scaleand, in Ex.2, create a blues scale using abend from the 4th degree to the 15 degree.Lines from this scale are useful over minorblues progressions or grooves, or dominant7 grooves or progressions.' Go for a fluid sound on your bends.

G Pentatonic

When ascending, play degree 4 then bendthe note and attack it again at the top ofthebend ([5) to ensure good intonation andtime. Descending, you should do a bendrelease, by fretting but not playing the note(4) until you have bent it to the target note(b5) then reieasing and letting it slide downto the 4 as you attack. As you become morecomfortable with the time and intonation,you need not attack the target note either

ascending or descending. This will give youa silky scoop up and down from the note.

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You can check intonation against a fretted

15 to make sure you are not over-bending.Once that feels comfortable, try all the

positions ofthis scale in Examples3a-3e. Theroots for a G minor pentatonic,/G blues scaleare circled and the scale degrees you bendto are hollow. By using this as your prac-tice guide, you should eventually be able tostart on any note, any string, and-makingthat note a root-play this bending bluesscale to the highest and lowest degree with-out changing position.

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After.memorizing this scale, rry wrir-ing some lines or licks using it in context.You can use Examples4 through 7 as jump-ing-oFf points.

Now that you have a handle on theconcept of using the pentatonic scale asthe foundation for this method, here isanother scale created from bending a dif-ferent degree ofthe pentatonic. I call thisscale the [3-3 scale. Here we take the flat3 and bend up to the natural 3. Try it bothascending (Ex.8) and descending (Ex.9).This creates a sound that is useful overprogressions or grooves that have a dom-inant 7th flavor, but the simplicity of thescale makes it very accessible to the lis-tener. Like we did before, work throughall the positions of this scale, followingthe diagrams in Examples 10a-!.0e.

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-Check out Examples lL through 15 using thisscale in context. With this scale you also have theoption to use 13 as a grace note, fretted momen-tarily only to execute the bend.

There are many more of these scales built frombending the degrees ofthe pentatonic. Ifyou reallywant to take things to another level, try combin-ing these two scales! 'l

Thaddeus Hogarth is an Associate Professor of Gui-tar at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

He k an.author on Berklee Press/Hal Leonord withFunk/R&B Guitar: Creative Solos,'Grooves andSowds and a faculty membu at Berhlcemusic.com withhis course Funk-Rock REB Soloing.

His music, singing and guitm playing canbe found onthe Higher GroundRecords Label at thaddeushogarth.com.

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