The unison bend
Two strings bent to one screaming pitch — pure pitch accuracy, and unforgiving when it is off.
- Style
- rock
- Written in
- A
- Feel
- straight
- Tempo
- ♩=120
- Length
- 1 bar
Numbers are the order you play them, so notes sharing a number sound together. Drop the tempo until it is clean, then bring it back up.
Written in A, and the writing below describes it there. Move it to another key and the shape does not change, only where its root sits — which is the difference between knowing a lick and knowing a fret number.
- 1E · string 2, fret 5 + D · string 3, fret 7bend to fret 9
- 2E · string 2, fret 5 + D · string 3, fret 7bend to fret 9
Fret the higher string plain and bend the lower one up to meet it, so both sound the same note at once. The tiny beating between them as they converge is the whole effect, and it is why a unison bend cuts through a mix in a way a single note does not.
It only works in tune. If the bend lands short you get a sour major second rather than a unison, which under gain is unmistakable. Check it slowly before you use it at tempo.
Where this fits
This comes out of week 8 of the rock path — stealing licks by ear. The week is where you learn the device; this page is where you come back to it once the week has rolled over.