Want to know what can make your minor pentatonic playing sound less like scales and more like music?
Bends!
Bends are a great way to make your minor pentatonic playing sound a lot more musical.
The most common forms of bends used by the guitar greats in the minor pentatonic are:
1/4 Tone Bends
Quarter tone bends or microtonal bends are most commonly done on the flat 3.
When executing a quarter tone bend, it’s very important that you only bend it up.
If you release it down after the bend it’s going to sound very out of tune.
Full Tone Bends
Full tone bends are when you bend a note a full tone higher.
Full tone bends are most commonly done on flat 3’s, 4’s and flat 7’s in the minor pentatonic.
1 and a Half Tone Bends
1 and a half tone bends are when you bend a note 1 and a half tones higher.
1 and a half tone bends are a great way to break away from standard 1 tone bends and can bring a lot more drama to your playing.
They have a distinctive blues rock sound and are used by all the great guitar players.
1 and a half tone bends are most commonly done on 1’s and 5’s in the minor pentatonic.
2 Tone Bends
2 tone bends are when you bend a note 2 full tones higher.
They have a very dramatic sound and are used by a lot of great guitar players.
2 tone bends are most commonly done on flat 3’s and flat 7’s in the minor pentatonic.