Every bend in Part 2 was one string on its own, and the hard part was hearing whether it got there. Play two strings together and push only the lower one and that problem disappears, because a note that is nearly right against a note that is right does not sound nearly right. It wobbles.
A unison bend on the root
A unison bend on the root.
Both strings are struck together, a major second apart, with three frets between the two fingers, and G is pushed a whole step until it sounds A — the note the other string is already holding. There is no dashed line to aim at because the held string is the target: when the two stop beating against each other, the bend has arrived.
Two notes a hair apart beat against each other — you hear a pulse, and it slows as they close and stops when they meet. That pulse is the most accurate tuner you own, and it is why a unison bend is worth practicing even when you do not mean to play one: it trains the bend you play on one string.
Fret the pair with two fingers. The higher string stays where it is, and the lower one is pushed with the finger behind it, so one hand is doing two jobs at once — the caption under each card counts how far apart the two frets are.
The same bend, a different note over it
Nothing about the bend changes if you hold a different note above it. What changes is where the pair ends up.
An oblique bend: a fourth closing to a minor third
An oblique bend: a fourth closing to a minor third.
Both strings are struck together, a fourth apart, with both notes at the same fret, and only the lower one moves. G rises a whole step to A while C is held, so the pair closes to a minor third — the root under the ♭3.
That is an oblique bend: two voices, one moving and one still, the way two singers move apart. It is a different sound from a unison — a harmony arriving rather than a note being confirmed — and it comes from the same push of the same finger.
What the box already holds
Three unison bends the box holds
A unison bend on the 4
C and D, a major second apart, until the two sound as one note.
A unison bend on the 5
D and E, a major second apart, until the two sound as one note.
A unison bend on the root
G and A, a major second apart, until the two sound as one note.
A unison bend on the 4, a unison bend on the 5 and a unison bend on the root.
Each card draws two strings over two beats: the one that bends in color, the one held against it in black, and the tab beside it written the way printed tab writes a pair struck together. None of them has a dashed line to aim at, because the held string is the target: the bend has arrived when the two stop beating against each other.
Three of them in one position, and every bend on this page is a whole step. That is not a rule about bending, it is a fact about this scale: the minor pentatonic has no two notes a semitone apart, so a half-step bend can only ever land between notes.
This lesson was drafted with the help of AI, so it may contain a mistake. Its diagrams are drawn by Everyfret’s own software. How Everyfret is made