“When Iheard that, my first thought was, ‘Well, you can’t do that on a piano!’” Jared James Nichols teaches an essential guitar playing skill – how to bend the strings expressively

An essential technique all electric guitarists should strive to master is the art of string bending, which can be used to create personally expressive, vocal-like sounds in unique ways.

String bending first grabbed my attention when I heard Iron Man by Black Sabbath. Guitarist Tony Iommi begins the song by bending his open low E string behind the nut, raising then lowering the note’s pitch to create a spooky moaning sound. When I heard that, my first thought was, “well, you can’t do that on a piano!”