No Bending In Jazz, Please!

[@JensLarsen]

Do you use bends? Why is it not more common in Jazz? ✅ 7 Hard Jazz Guitar Skills that pay off forever: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ioS7e5htjtB8lc0

[@thijs199]

Because smugs

[@paulafranceschi]

It's because you play jazz with different fingers then you use for blues or Rock.

[@jameserenberger3425]

Django Reinhardt uses a lot of slides and half step bends. It may be hard to discern the difference at high speed.

[@Typical.Anomaly]

Hey Jens, do you have a favorite metal band? Much of the reason I watch your videos is so I can add some jazz spiciness to the strange soup I like to call "my style". I'll likely never go out of my way to listen to polka or country (truthfully I usually avoid those genres except for Johnny Cash lol) but playing in these styles is pretty fun. Thank you for another awesome (and thought-provoking) video! ✌

[@HuardSmith]

To your point on equipment, the wound G string vs plain G has a large impact. It is really hard - and slow - to bend a wound G, which takes a key string out of the mix.

[@rfdebeaumont]

Don't forget the great Django Reinhardt! He used wonderful half steps bends which add so much emotional expression to his music.

[@Jamaramlolz]

Bien dit!

[@wolfdotcom9374]

Exactly

[@andinomm]

That's what I wanted to say, Django's bends are fire

[@justaguy2365]

Ah yeah, those quick little bend and release bends. I also think about the Solo for Santeria which is somewhat jazzy and has several bends

[@StallionStudios1234]

fucking killer player. My buddy plays in a Gypsy jazz bunch. It has been awesome seeing him start as a novice and master that genre over the years. He shreds like Django.

[@neilmarsh7437]

Julian Lage loves a bend and is a total boss

[@Kanendd]

Julian is my fave guitar player right now.

[@greysuit17]

I was thinking the exact same thing. I’m not sure why you’d take one technique like bending off the table.

[@jeremyversusjazz]

and as jens underscored: sco. 🤷‍♂️i say if u can make it work do it. also, jeff beck’s version of good bye pork pie hat.

[@joeburrage5645]

…John Scofield as well

[@greysuit17]

@@jeremyversusjazz yeh this videos title is off….he goes on about no bending but then says here’s a few people that do it and it’s fine….😑

[@jacobramseyer5275]

I like hearing from a jazz musician that doesn't knock other types of music but speaks respectfully of different types of musicians. You guys are the cats I can learn a lot from

[@JensLarsen]

Great! Go for it :)

[@marcoh984]

We can all learn from elitists

[@walterconrad2987]

Very 'classic guy' and certainly not very much influenced by blues guitarists was Django, who used fast, half-step bends and also vibrato. And his Selmer didn't have anything that could be described as sustain. But it's all a matter of style, playing technics and finally - musical creativity..

[@robinbalean958]

You actually get a heap of sustain on gipsy jazz guitars. This is partly due to the construction of the body, but probably mainly due to the type of strings used which resonate way more than ordinary acoustic strings. They are also fairly light which facilitates bending.

[@jarrodclark7988]

@@robinbalean958 I feel like the dryness of the argentines creates an illusion of lack of sustain

[@walterconrad2987]

My experience is that Selmer has a lot less sustain than eg. Yamaha SG..

[@verycalmgamer4090]

@@jarrodclark7988 GOOD ONE

[@derrickenbuenosaires]

I came to this video to learn a bit more on Jazz style of playing. My favorite player is Tony Iommi and he'll do a lot of this odd jazz phrasing along with his pentatonic scale. It's a unique style of playing that not too many or any one that I can think of plays like. This is 68' - 71' Sabbath stuff. Django was one of his influences.

[@jtbutlerjr]

I think the question should be why bending is such an important part of the other styles. It starts with Blues, using effects like bending, blue notes, vibrato and slide to make the phrases more like a voice. Traditionally, instrumentation in a Blues or Rock Band usually had a more restricted sound palette than in most Jazz ensembles also, so an effect like bending or slide or vibrato is the first step in being more expressive. Players can then beef up the arsenal of sounds even more with distortion, delay, fuzz, reverb, you name it. But, basically bending, vibrato and phrasing are used to make a guitar sing (per B. B. King).

[@benrosow7997]

And God knows we wouldn't want ro make our guitars sing while playing jazz. 🤪

[@menamgamg]

Yeh. Vocal melodies are often flowing smoothly between notes and that's why i think bending is such an essential part of making the guitar sound like it's singing.

[@anta40]

​@@benrosow7997 Joke aside, for me it's easier to mention some singing blues guitarists: Robert Johnson, BB, The Three Kings (Albert, Freddie, BB), Eric Clapton, SRV, Joe Bonamassa.... And what about jazz? Umm... George Benson 😅

[@benrosow7997]

@@anta40 Right. I was talking about making the guitar sing. But for your tangent, who are all the singing horn players? Chet Baker. Umm. Singing is not common among jazz musicians. That's an entire different thread.

[@edgarsnake2857]

@@benrosow7997 Unless you're a jazz vocalist.

[@drothberg3]

Charlie Christian did a fair amount of 1/2 step bending, and I found that very effective. Kind of emulated the sound of a clarinet bending into a note rather than blues guitar-type bending, although that might not have yet existed at that point.

[@garyloewenthal]

I thought of Charlie Christian also. Tasty bends of high thirds, for example, add a little oomph to some licks. But I agree with Jens that for the most part most jazz runs don’t lend themselves to bending nearly as well as conventional blues ala BB King does. I like to sprinkle them in here and there, like adding a pinch of hot pepper to some roasted potatoes.

[@whimpypatrol5503]

Also Django did some kind of bending string vibratos.

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

That's probably because clarinet was the king of wind instruments in jazz at the time, and later it was sax. Sax has a much harder time sliding between notes compared to clarinet

[@USALeonHeart]

In 2 of the 3 genres you named where bending is not standard practice, flamenco and classical, the instrument of choice is the nylon string, an instrument where string bending is, for the most part, entirely impractical regardless of whether you want to do it or not. I think that may ultimately contribute just as much as convention/history.

[@alelaera13]

while i partially agree with you, I can't possibly imagine using bending in those genres

[@marshwetland3808]

That's why he mentioned them. And as he said, the gear somewhat determines the style.

[@Ubu987]

Lonnie Johnson, a seminal figure in both jazz and blues guitar, used to bend notes on nylon strings.

[@Muzikman127]

@@alelaera13 why not? microtonality is key to flamenco music, flamenco singers sing "outside" equal temperament all the time (neutral thirds and seconds about), and flamenco melody lines make frequent use of portamenti; little microtonal inflections and sliding ornaments are core to flamenco's melodic vocabulary, I can only imagine that if those elements were readily playable on the classical guitar, that guitarists would make use of them too. Perhaps when you imagine bends you're imagining blues vocabulary, wailing on blue notes etc, which would obviously be out of place in flamenco

[@alelaera13]

@@Muzikman127 yes I guess you're right. it's the thought of bending on a classical guitar in general that just seems alien to me.

[@brettgarsed]

Many years ago I went through a Pat Metheny immersion and listened to him constantly, something I still do of course. He had a huge impact on me as a rock player where I used slurs instead of bends and I really loved it. Being a rock guitarist, I still bend of course but Pat's influence came directly from jazz and it's a huge part of my sound now. Thanks for the great content Jens, I've been a subscriber for a long time now!

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you Brett! Makes my day that you check out the videos!

[@kevindonnelly761]

@@JensLarsen You know you are doing a great job when Brett Garsed likes your work !

[@jinjxmusic]

What you said I completely co-sign on. About two decades ago I saw Pat Metheny on Austin City Limits and it changed me. I bought so many albums/dvds and tried to deeply study his thing. To your point - Pat does a bit of bending though the "slurs" to me sound a bit more musical. And hearing him do it in the high registers (a la George Benson) gives me the dissonance resolution that a bend does but without looking like a big grinning doofus. LOL

[@kdakan]

That same thing had happened to me as well years ago but I found a balance to where to bend and when to slide and slur notes. It's not a rule or style, you do it when you feel like doing it.

[@coolblues14]

Ok I saw the legendary bassist Ray Brown live and he bended a lot of notes and he was one of the inventors of “Jazz.” Some would say Jeff Beck is one off the worlds greatest jazz guitarist’s and bending is his trademark to originality. Beck says he has one rule, to break every rule. Miles Davis bended notes with a hand device at the end of his trumpet. Larry Carlton, Steve Howe? Yes to sound like a boring traditionalist never bend a note or play anything remotely flashy. Maybe we should focus on something more interesting like creating a mood against a common tone? Sorry man it’s obvious you hit a nerve on me, because I bend the shit out of notes as much as possible, and for me and my limited jazz knowledge I’m not ready to bow to the no bending rule so for this vid 15 seconds in was 15 seconds to much.😂😊

[@gtrdaveg]

One of the first things I noticed about jazz guitarists back when I was first exposed to them as a student was the fact that, when they wanted to slide into a note, they would almost always do so from just one semitone away, whereas I would usually slide from the nearest note in the scale, which would often be a full tone away. Seems like a minor difference, but it's amazing how much of a difference it makes. The moment you slide more than one fret, it suddenly becomes obvious to anyone listening that you're not a real jazz guitarist (if it wasn't already). And that got me wondering: why is that? The best explanation that I could come up with is that jazz musicians have, over years of playing together, developed their style by listening to each other and learning licks from each other. Jazz guitarists play chromatic grace notes because that's what keyboardists do, and keyboardists do it because it's a lot more doable. The same applies to bending. Keyboards don't bend (except when they do), so as guitarists and keyboardists learn licks off each other, any bending gets lost in translation, so to speak. That was my theory, anyway, for what it's worth...

[@347Jimmy]

The most common shortcut to being a better jazz guitar soloist is to cop from sax players, so yeah I think your theory holds water

[@mafw5572]

you open my mind, now i will add that to my repertoire, thanks

[@Eric-dd8bk]

It's just a different feeling hearing that one fret slir vs a half step or whole step bend. And Jazz is not the type of music where "LOOK AT ME, HEAR ME AND ONLY ME" type of music. You have to hear the chords and rhythm real closely to really make sense of the solo a lot of the times.

[@theAxehound]

Django bends and he did those beautiful steel-like bends where you start in a bend and un-bend (whatever that is called).

[@coreydavisguitarist]

They're usually referred to as pre-bend 🙂

[@theAxehound]

@@coreydavisguitarist, thanks!! I love the way he did those.

[@theOneTheHunter]

The guitar is known for its intonation challenges. In classical guitar, moving up and down the neck playing a Bach piece for example and keeping notes in tune can at times be a challenge. Slight bend of a note because of a challenging chord or phrase can change the intended harmony. Jazz is rich in harmonies and I think similar reasons why bending may not be used as much; especially when there are several instruments sharing the space.

[@kdakan]

Harmony in western classical music and jazz is probably why bends are not used much. But the soloist can use it anyways.

[@kazkylheku1221]

A classical guitar has few intonation challenges for the same reason you don't bend notes: the strings don't respond to the tension change very much! Fretting a note doesn't make it go noticeably sharp. Classical guitars often have an uncompensated straight bar of ivory (or what have you) for a bridge. If your classical guitar has an intonation problem, your options are to try to change to new/different strings, have a luthier unglue the bridge and move it to a compensated position or get a different guitar. Probably, you should have this issue on your pre-purchase checklist.

[@nahnope8581]

@@kdakan but bends/slurs are common in brass and other instruments? why not guitar

[@ChaseMaddox]

As a gigging musician going from funk to pop to jazz gigs, I have to remind myself of this all the time. Thanks for the reminder Jens! 🤘

[@VirtualWoodshed]

Interesting! Thanks for this. My gripe with jazz guitar over the years has not been the lack of bending but rather the lack of tonal variety. So many jazz guitarists focus almost exclusively on the harmonic aspects of playing, and completely neglect their tone. It’s a shame. Horn players don’t do this. Classical violinists don’t do this. Bluegrass banjo players don’t do this. So why do the majority of jazz guitarists behave this way? When it comes to jazz guitar, I gravitate toward players like Grant Green, John Abercrombie, George Benson, Bill Frisell, and John Scofield, all of whom are instantly recognizable by their distinct and unique tone. None of the aforementioned have the cliched “neck pickup with tone knob rolled way back into a super clean solid-state amp” tone. Sorry but that sound bores me and leaves so much of the instrument’s sonic possibilities completely unexplored! Even Charlie Christian and Kenny Burrell had a little “hair” on their tone. Come on jazz guys. Get yourselves an old tweed Deluxe and turn it up til it growls a little! Play that bridge pickup every now and then, and explore things like pick attack and tone controls. T-Bone Walker was a master at this. Check out modern jump blues player Alex Schultz to see how many different tones can be achieved with a single pickup L5 and a good tube amp. It’s astonishing. Anyway, bottom line, I wish most jazz guys would put 10% of the effort that they put into their chops, into their tone. There’s precedent for this in the idiom. Rant concluded. Thanks for the great content Jens!

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you! To be honest, I don't think that Jazz is any worse than other genres when it comes to tone. There are habits and most people follow them and there will always be people who stick to the tradition when it comes to this. I really like people like Peter Bernstein, Jonathan Kreisberg or Lage Lund who have pretty traditional tones, but next to them you also have tons of people expanding on how Jazz guitar can sound. Try to listen to Gilad Hekselman or Nir Felder. I think there should be room for both. My impression is that you can switch out the names and say the exact same thing for Rock, Metal or Blues, simply because there is a tone that is associated with the style and many people stick close to that generic tone.

[@VirtualWoodshed]

@@JensLarsen wow! was not expecting a reply from the man himself! Hope I didn't offend, Jens. You make some great points that I had not really considered. There is definitely a stereotypical "Strat through a super reverb" blues sound that I find boring as well. I'd rather listen to Lightnin Hopkins or Jimmy Reed! :) I'm not familiar with any of the players you mentioned so I will check them out now. I think my favorite thing about western music right now is how all the lines are being blurred. Just discovered your channel and it's amazing. I've already learned so much. Thank you for helping me expand my musical vocabulary. As a small time KZbinr, I know how much work you put into your channel and your content is top notch. Subscribed with full notifications! All the best from Richmond, VA, USA

[@JamesWalker-ky5yr]

Tone might be related to age in a way. We wanted overdriven tone as youngsters but more acoustic sounds with age. In a sense, all music, if it sticks around, becomes classical music; hence old rockers, well into their seventies, still crank the amp. It wouldn't be 'rockin' any other way. The Edge must continue to wear that itchy watch cap! Rosenwinkel uses a overdriven reverb sound, but often doesn't swing and falls into the avant garde. I say play the type of tone and string bend as you like, enjoy playing the guitar while you are able because it ends like everything else. Jazz should be innovative not classical and it was and maybe still is.

[@davidoakesguitar]

Howard Roberts bent strings all the time. It became a great part of his jazz phrasing. Most all of his bends were 1/2 step bends but he did teach whole step bends and encouraged his students at GIT to incorporate bending into their Jazz vocabulary especially on the jazz head.

[@seattlevegas66]

HR was the all time master of jazz guitar. He (and his colleagues at GIT and MI) were the most important teachers of all time. And his son, Jay, who still teaches using HR's approach uses bends as well as every other technique in his jazz playing. I stand by them! Every rationale provided herein is easily debunked.

[@randyhetlage9202]

yup...🙂

[@sulleneldritch7680]

I'm glad somebody brought this up. In my opinion we should ALL be paying closer attention to a master such as Howard Roberts, instead of using Gilmour as click-bait to support a baseless argument....

[@seattlevegas66]

Indeed. More guitarists should take heed. Jay is amazing as well. Check him out and his school.. Roberts Music Institute. In addition to his material, you can find many HR clips. Great stuff!! Tell him seattlevegas sent you 😎

[@KennethGonzalez]

He did, David! And we (as students) also learned to *play through the changes*, not just bend our way through the "hard parts." This is an important point that I think Jens missed. I think HR was masterful at listening and using all of the available devices to do what fit the song and how it fits with the player's taste/orientation

[@frankvaleron]

Very interesting topic. I agree that bending and bebop is not the most natural combination. Gypsy jazz it can work through. Django loved a good half step bend

[@brocklanders6172]

Another thing you missed is that most jazz guitars use flat wound strings. Definitely a factor in bending strings. I'm a bassist (but play guitar as well) and I was in a jazz group where our guitarist had a 1970 Gibson L5 with flats on it. I played his guitar often, and I can tell you, that guitar was VERY hard to bend notes on!

[@andsalomoni]

Put on super jumbo frets.

[@mqblues]

Jens, your points made me consider the way Jeff Beck captures key "mood" of Mingus' "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" cover -- with electric guitar string bends and sustain. His phrasing and tone resonate for me in a "jazz way".

[@RobertJones-et7gh]

I agree with what you said Jen. Also, it seems that traditional jazz guitar playing simply evolved that way, with virtually no string bending. Nevertheless, there MIGHT be a few other POSSIBLE reasons that are not very altruistic. Jazz has always had its roots connected to blues. However, jazz tends to be viewed as more sophisticated because of its musical complexity. Unfortunately, it's created some snobbish players who look down at Blues players simplicity and grittiness. I think some traditional jazz players didn't bend their strings because they were afraid to be associated with blues players, and therefore judged as less sophisticated. But Jazz singers and jazz horn players do "bend" notes and sustain them. Therefore, it is not foreign to the style. So why not with the guitar? Of course, non-traditional jazz players like John McLaughlin did some stunning Jazz playing, while bending strings. Flamenco and classical have no roots in bluesy steel string bending. It's played with nylon strings which aren't easy by to bend. Although, Flamenco singers do "bend" their notes and they sustain them too.

[@JensLarsen]

The whole style war thing goes both ways (just read the comments 😁) I don't care to get into that. If you look a little closer at Jazz phrasing then the matrial that we hear as Jazz lines, which is mostly 8th note based and flowing does not really benefit from bending, in fact the phrasing and technique sort of work against each, and this is true for the horns and singers as well. They do bends in themes, blues phrases and ballads not in the lines.

[@kdakan]

@@JensLarsen Those lines got to be fixed then, bends are used in all traditional world music, even fiddlers and country players do it let alone blues players, indian music, middle eastern music has it in fast improvised solo parts as well.

[@anwyllonmusic]

Jazz doesn't need more bends, it needs more cowbells.

[@JensLarsen]

Yes! 😂

[@jeffkokosinski1784]

Baby dont fear the reaper Lmao on time my friend🤣🤣🤣🤣👍😎☠☠💀💀

[@SyzygyEmbrace]

Can we add tambourine while we’re at it

[@jeffkokosinski1784]

@@SyzygyEmbrace nah but maybe some triangle

[@hnnymn]

I got a fever. And the only cure, is more cowbell

[@josephslusarski7384]

I agree, it is purely a stylistic thing. nothing wrong with it, just usually not a big part of the style.

[@JensLarsen]

Exactly 🙂

[@CentrifugalSatzClock]

My first post on this was not fully clear. Up bends are most beautiful with strong vibrato in the fingers. This is the hard part of that technique. But I think bends with vibrato is simply wonderful on the long notes of bebop. The Scofield in the video is a great example of that working well.

[@alexlogan124]

Surprised you didn’t mention Django, he bends and uses vibrato all the time. But I think you hit the nail on the head. Only time I can get away with bends is if I’m transcribing a horn solo that has them

[@jimsmid8229]

One can play amazing without bends but another can play amazing with bends. Break the rules and listen to what's inside you. Tradition is just that, tradition, nothing wrong with it. Take your music to the next level because maybe that's what jazz is all about....btw love ya Jens!

[@chrislynch1235]

I like your explanations, Jens. I’m not a jazzer, but to me the beauty of jazz solos is the way the notes surprise the listener in their relationship to the chords, which are often fast moving In that brief period of time that the bend is not in-key, it clashes with more notes than it would in rock or blues. IMO. Bending makes it hard to hear the more jazzy chord.

[@DeadKoby]

I think you really hit the mark with the early instruments having heavy strings and being potentially feedback prone. The style was developed with the tools that were available at the time.

[@JensLarsen]

Exactly 🙂

[@WyattLite-n-inn]

But there are those guitarists who STILL swear by heavy strings today and I think they have a point . Unless you have fingers like SRV that partially accounts for lack of bending strings in jazz . It’s tough for most of us mortals to bend 13’ strings.

[@raydamoiseau]

Its kind of why I play less my bigger hollow body with heavier string I suppose. Maybe it needs love atm

[@kazkylheku1221]

This is one of the dfifferences between "smooth jazz" and jazz. There is plenty of bending in smooth jazz guitar, which uses a lot of cliches and idioms from blues and pop. Some people tell you that smooth jazz isn't actually a type of music, just a music channel format. But there are patterns as to what is (and isn't) going on in it. E.g. mainly pop/rock beats in 4/4 time and modal noodling.

[@wanderingwonder111]

On the topic of gear, maybe it isn't the limitations of guitar - but the limitations of saxophones and trumpets. They are more traditional melodic instruments in jazz, so perhaps they've influenced guitar

[@jonluchefferman9848]

I feel like this illustrates the different schools of thought on jazz as a “sound” vs jazz as a format. Sure, if you’re trying to emulate a distilled down version of the jazz idiom from certain moments in the genre’s early history, bends might sound out of place at least on guitar. But if we look at jazz more as a type of creative improvised music that changes with the popular music of the present day, the kinds of imposed limitations seem a bit silly. Also, I personally feel that one of the most helpful things you can do as a guitar or piano player in order to develop a more expressive sound is to try and emulate the phrasing of, say, a sax player. Think about how good the texture of a guitar and sax playing a melody line in unison sound. Plenty of bends within a horn player’s jazz vocabulary. Just take Chris Potter, for example.

[@claygrier4673]

I've heard Kenny Burrell use bends. When I was at Berklee of my 2 guitar teachers one didn't bend but encouraged me to utilized bends ( I had been playing rock), the other used bends and pointed to sax players as an example, more or less say that they bend and hold notes much the way that rock guitar players do. So in his mind it was more than okay.

[@tgbedini]

Yes, jazz horn players bend notes, jazz singers bend notes, jazz upright and fretless bass players slide and bend notes, but thinking that guitarists in the same genre shouldn't is a bit odd. Anything can be overdone, but bends and vibrato can put a little spice in the sound.

[@krokovay.marcell]

The way a saxophone sounds was implemented to the guitar way later, when fusion came along. The distortion allowed more sustain and a more aggressive approach in general. Robben Ford talks about this with Rick Beato.

[@tgbedini]

@@krokovay.marcell Your comment tells me you haven't listened very carefully to Charlie Christian.

[@riklionheart23]

Hi - a blues based player here who occasionally tips a small toe into the shallow reaches of jazz. I think the number of notes played is a huge factor. When I’m play scales with more notes than the stripped down pentatonics that I’m used to, I find bending ceases to be an option but when I jump back into a pentatonic then all of a sudden there’s space for bends to come along too. Tempo speed is also a factor. Plus theres the strong stylistic association of bends with the Blues. I often practice playing a pentatonic scale without bends and its interesting to observe how I play alternative melodic lines that I wouldn’t normally play and sit outside the blues style and feel.

[@flyingteapot69]

I think it's a lot to do with reading music. Many jazz guitarists are learning Parker and Coltrane solos, piano sax flute trumpet solos transcribed for guitar. It's become traditional for the guitar to emulate those instruments, especially piano and sax. Also, heavy gauge strings and high action on all those jazz guitars don't really make bending easy or easy to discover pre-1950 (before all that country, rockabilly, blues and rnb). Many modern jazz guitarists own several guitar for their corresponding genres. They come from metal, blues, indie, backgrounds as much as they come from classical or purely jazz backgrounds. Jazz players have been bending and should bend, since lots of horn players bend in their own ways, and would bend if given their instruments allowed it

[@JeffMountainPicker]

The Blues is more of my native language & jazz seems formal, stiff, & overly precise to my ear. But I am trying to learn how to hear Jazz, so that's why I'm here. I love it, especially Gypsy style.

[@jeffstram5666]

​ Hi Jens! Thank you for the reply; I've been playing for many years, but haven't focused on learning new skills in quite a while. I am inspired to learn more jazz, now after hearing you and some other players perform it so beautifully. I don't know how to message you on telegram. I've never used it. Thank you much!

[@kwgm8578]

Thanks Jens. Exactly. The first time I heard bending was when the Fusion movement began. Some of the pioneers, like Carlton, and McLaughlin, still include it in their performances, but Carlton is playing Steely Dan, and McLaughlin plays jazz licks when playing jazz. Have you ever seen that great film with Dexter Gordon, After Midnight? That's John McLaughlin in the band, playing sweet jazz lines. I think it was Herbie on piano, too.

[@briandavis812]

👍I totally agree. When I got into jazz guitar, I wanted to play like Pass, Martino, all the greats, and realized that _no bending_ is an essential part of that style. Maybe you could do a follow-up video on proper guitar set-up for jazz. If you're playing a Strat with 9s or 8s, you're just going to bend without even trying, and you'll sound like a twangy rock player no matter what your technique is. And getting complex chords to intonate across the neck will be impossible. To really go full jazz, you commit to playing acoustic-style with very heavy strings, like 12s or 13s, and low action. It's like playing a different instrument, and bending is just out of the question.

[@amirhosseinmashaherifard9852]

It depends. When Scofield or mike stern bend it is still sounds jazzy but not players who up and down minor pentatonic and bend all the time.

[@StallionStudios1234]

John Scofield is awesome, he was one of the first Jazz Players I got into as well. It was great having a Jazz teacher who did a fair amount of bending.

[@Learnjazzstandards]

This was an amazing explanation of this! Like you, I had never even considered it. Learned a lot.

[@JensLarsen]

Thanks Brent 🙂

[@kdakan]

Your points are valid if we assume jazz is only bebop. Which it isn't. Jazz didn't start with bebop nor did it end there. Blues will always find a place in any popular genre, because it sounds natural and emotional. Especially if you see the natural traditional vocal singing of blues, africa, native america, east europe, middle east, india, and asia, you will see they do bends frequently and in very fast tempos as well. Guitar can sing and convey more emotion if we incorporate this richness in our playing style. Horns do it vocalists do it so why not the guitarist?

[@masterbluesrockguitar4966]

i think vibrato is synonymous with good taste and all the other attributes you mention, not bending by itself. Also, syncopation and playing in time with a swinging groove is essential to all other western styles, I disagree with the distinction of being attributed to jazz only or mainly. A fan of your channel even if I'm not a jazz guitarist. Keep up the good work!

[@JensLarsen]

Thanks I am not saying that other styles don't have syncopation, just that it is not really used together with bending very often in blues :)

[@luisnunes3863]

Right! Metalhead here, and big bends are a bit out of favor in modern metal (if you do it a lot people tell to you stop the boomer bends), but if you're gonna swear off hammer-ons and pull-offs and vibratos and pinch harmonics, might as well play a synth. Light touches are a big part of the expressiveness of flamenco and fado, too. 😉🤘

[@joephillips4082]

A thoughtful and engaging piece, Jens, and the discussion from viewers is very informative. I never thought of bending in jazz. But when you point it out, I realize it doesn't fit the way I normally phrase lines and statements. I wasn't expressly avoiding bends, I just never did it. Very good discussion.

[@TheLazyClips]

I feel like you make the information as concise as possible while staying very informative. And putting in audio examples while staying concise... Godsend!

[@samuelemahtolo]

Excellent food for thought, Jens ! I certainly agree with you : musics like bebop where rythm and syncopation are of great importance don't get along too well with bending, in my view. And excessive use of string bending, no matter what kind of music you play, can actually become kind of a distraction : you sacrifice the notes and the melody. In blues, rock and the like (pentatonics in general) I guess bending is okay provided it's used without exageration. Thanks for raising the issue. Lemme go through comments made by a few other followers...

[@pedrocacela1885]

Bebop guitar has an ascending spiral and this spiral sound is played in legato. It's an imitation of the sax and trumpet sound. It's very difficult to do bends when playing like this because it breaks the spiral. In hard bop, with all the bluesy influence, small bends are possible and very tasteful.In jazz fusion, which is the case of schofield, they alternate and incorporate blues rock with several types of jazz from bebop onwards, therefore, small bends are also used frequently. Jeff Beck is probably the best example, when playing jazz/rock. Even Holdsworth, the legato master, did subtle bends, which allowed him to get out of the sax like spiral sound to a sustained trumpet expression.

[@andrewg1016]

Smooth Jazz players also include bending as a tool in their playing. George Benson in many of his smooth jazz tunes is a good example. He has has been a strong influence on my playing.

[@bensallaboutmusicchannel4609]

Right you are, I am a studied Jazz Guitarist. I played all over Europe at the Philharmonics and I absolutely disagree about this kind of illiberal purist idea....Scofield, Mike Stern, Holdsworth, Abercrombi, Julian Lage, Gambale, ... They never cared about such narrow borders and created something unique. To me, Jazz means to improvise over more or less complex changes, explore your instrument harmonics, rhythm and play, what ever you want. By the way, I made some Videos in which I am playing over Standards and am using quite a lot Bendings. Would be glad, if you would like to watch them 🙂 Here are some of my videos: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3mqk6h5fd-KpK8 and: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYaQnHWur7yHiKc and: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oH2xgHdjrL-Sr9k Cheers Ben

[@DSpeir-pi6tm]

I study all of the styles presented here to create fusion, or just to be able to play in that style . I've never used bends much even when duplicating a lead from the original musician . For one thing I love sliding into note because it's fun, or just placing at a step, step and 1/2, or 2 steps is much easier, fast and produces a clearer tone as you have already stated for any style I play . Great video as usual :)

[@henryjakob3033]

Hey Jens, as always a very interesting topic and a great video. My 2 cents: In the 50s and even the 60s almost of the electric solid body guitars came factory wise with 12s or 13s and always a wound g-string. That‘s why Chuck Berry had to use fast slides and maybe some quarternote bends. But somehow guitarists found out that the much lighter banjo strings can be used as well. They say Ernie Ball who was a signed artist for Fender insisted on having a plain g-string on his guitars,Leo Fender denied,so he founded his own company. And musicians turned up their amps really loud,it distorted which was a new sound back in the day. Listen to "You really got me" by the Kinks,the solo has some kind of bendings but the strings were to heavy. And then Eric Clapton came along with lighter strings. And not only the bendings worked,he could control an distorted amp as well. And both were and are not working with a jazzbox,intricate chords sound horrible with distortion. Nevertheless there are exceptions to the rule,but traditional Jazz means a hollowbody guitar,played on the front pickup with the tonecontrol turned down. Have a good time and best regards

[@downtoearth5108]

All depends on the music genre. There are a lot of genre like jazz where I don't prefer bends to express the emotion. Thirds used in jazz is beautiful and very versatile. Like your taste Jens. Look forward to learning from you. Be well.

[@crimfan]

Those all sound plausible. One elaboration is the use of fairly heavy, often flatwound strings, which are tough to bend, especially repeatedly. A lot of hardcore string benders play quite light strings.

[@MuzoSTEIN]

Comprehensive. Logical and clear cut with useful visual demos. Job Done!!! - Much appreciated!!

[@JensLarsen]

Glad it was helpful!

[@anderskanstrup8736]

First time I heard Scofield was in a trio with Carla Bley and Steve Swallow, probably 40 years ago. A great concert. In a blues Scofield gave all he had with bending, distortion an what have you, and we were all happy. Next day a respected jazz critic gave a it furious review because that was definitely not jazz. Btw Ulf Wakenius also bends a lot, often skipping the up bend.

[@bensallaboutmusicchannel4609]

Right you are, I am a studied Jazz Guitarist. I played all over Europe at the Philharmonics and I absolutely disagree about this kind of illiberal purist idea....Scofield, Mike Stern, Holdsworth, Abercrombi, Julian Lage, Gambale, ... They never cared about such narrow borders and created something unique. To me, Jazz means to improvise over more or less complex changes, explore your instrument harmonics, rhythm and play, what ever you want. By the way, I made some Videos in which I am playing over Standards and am using quite a lot Bendings. Would be glad, if you would like to watch them 🙂 Here are some of my videos: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3mqk6h5fd-KpK8 and: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYaQnHWur7yHiKc and: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oH2xgHdjrL-Sr9k Cheers Ben

[@Phazur]

Guess you are right on most or even all points. Most jazz players play lead with 4 left hand fingers with the thumb behind the neck, comparable to classical. Rock and blues is often without the pinky, but use the ringfinger to bend. The thumb goed over the neck helping to mute the e string or even fretting it when chording. This style is luch different and bending is a more natural flow

[@jameslittle2041]

I think a big influence on the lack of bends in jazz guitar, comes from some of the early pioneers trying imitate other instruments and the jazz guitar “sound” has evolved from there. Also how could you do a video on guitar bends and not talk about Django Reinhardt?? 😮 great video! 🙌👍

[@AZFunk]

Loved this take. I'm doomed as a jazz guitarist but I still intellectually aspire to it. This is one of the reasons I'll never quite get there.

[@yannick2047]

As many people have written here before, apart from John Scofield, George Benson also does quite a lot of bending. However, I would without hesitation describe Benson as a 100% Jazz Guitarist, and not as a kind of Rock or Fusion player. On the other hand, Allan Holdsworth has always been associated more with the Jazz/Rock Fusion camp and he actually bends very little. Maybe he bends a half-step at Maximum (however, he tends to use the Whammy Bar quite a bit). So there goes more into the distinction of Genres than pure phrasing techniques …

[@claudelussier1678]

#2 ! Pour jouer rapidement il faut une touche la plus basse possible et c'est plus facile à avoir avec des cordes relativement grosses. ( Les grosses cordes donnent aussi, à ce qu'il me semble, un plus beau son et une note plus juste.)

[@siennashaw3785]

Probably the best and most thorough explanation of this. Also, many geese early non-guitar jazz soloists performed on instruments upon which bending is unlikely, if not impossible to occur-saxophone, trumpet. And related, many standards (chords & melodies) were composed on arguably the most rigid fixed pitch instrument: the piano.

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you :)

[@arrowproductions8517]

@@JensLarsen Early jazz is full of bending on all sorts of instruments. Here's Duke Ellington's "Black and Tan Fantasy," written in 1927. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fX-WkJZnhNN0adU

[@j.hammer573]

Great video. I learned much. I lived six years in NE Tennessee. Bluegrass is huge there. Comparing the history of Jazz to the history of Bluegrass made complete sense to the usage & efficiency of guitar playing in both genres. I’m gonna check out Joe Scoefield.

[@JensLarsen]

Scofield is worthwhile! I am sure you will enjoy it!

[@northbayguitar]

Thanks for the great explanation and analysis. I might also consider the influence of piano on the guitar in jazz. Looking into blues history, one example is Chuck Berry's rock style of playing, which is very interesting and deceptively nuanced - he had elements of horn sections of the era as well as piano that he incorporated into developing his style, with a rhythmic chord style that was definitely piano influenced. All in a blues r and b style, with a country music feel. He did bend notes of course but characteristically with double stops is where he really carved out a spot. I know myself, learning guitar from a rock and folk musics, I landed in the world of blues and adopted the bending of B B King, and Albert King, as so many others of my generation did - but I over did it in the way that rock tended to use and abuse bending. : ) Eventually I worked it into a part of my playing that works for me and although I really do like blues, and playing that style, I have to remember to control it and try to use it intelligently. I do like that within the vast world of Jazz music there are so many ways to go and explore. : )))

[@Blues101100]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned yet, but Charlie Christian employed half-step bends too and not just in blues lines. My favorite example is in the jam session recording of Stardust with the phrase that begins at about the 2:30 mark of the recording where he’s playing over the Gbmin6 into the Ab7

[@ForProfit-x100]

I don't think bends are banned from jazz. When I think of bending,I immediately think of Django Reinhardt. In his improvisation of I'll See You in My Dreams he reliably uses bending more than a few times to convey very strong feelings. Many of his pieces have legatos and bends. Gypsy jazz is a great example of jazz that consistently uses bends

[@stefmanpkb]

One of my favorite Django tracks

[@bensallaboutmusicchannel4609]

Right you are, I am a studied Jazz Guitarist. I played all over Europe at the Philharmonics and I absolutely disagree about this kind of illiberal purist idea....Scofield, Mike Stern, Holdsworth, Abercrombi, Julian Lage, Gambale, ... They never cared about such narrow borders and created something unique. To me, Jazz means to improvise over more or less complex changes, explore your instrument harmonics, rhythm and play, what ever you want. By the way, I made some Videos in which I am playing over Standards and am using quite a lot Bendings. Would be glad, if you would like to watch them 🙂 Here are some of my videos: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3mqk6h5fd-KpK8 and: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYaQnHWur7yHiKc and: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oH2xgHdjrL-Sr9k Cheers Ben

[@Guitar54]

I think that part of the reason string bending is not used so much in jazz is the gauge of the guitar strings. Thicker strings enable a cleaner sound of chord structures that are not used in genres of music that are more reliant on bending.

[@MiguelBaptista1981]

Don't think Jazz world isn't full of people with very limited tastes. I remember three people in my life that wanted to limit my musical learning, my jazz combo teacher that told me my instrument wasn't for jazz (portuguese guitar), I had another jazz teacher tell me never to use b9 in music because it is just wrong (I wonder if he ever heard of Paco Delucia, or flamenco for that matter) , and another jazz student tell me I shouldn't play eletric guitar because it didn't suit me, and he never saw me play before (i played for 20 years before joining that "jazz school". So yea. Never limit your learning and remember, only you control your practice time, and focus. Only you command where your music will lead you, no one else, not even "very erudite, nationally famous and venerated jazz legends". As long as you work at it to prove your language true.

[@JensLarsen]

You'll find people who have strong opinions in any genre. You shouldn't let that hold you back 🙂

[@MiguelBaptista1981]

@@JensLarsen Course Jens, but didn't expect it at one of the highly rated jazz schools in my country. The conflict in students arises when those wrongful limitations are imposed by people that have a strong academic and personal authority over you. As you said, shouldn't hold you back, there's plenty of good music schools and teachers in the world.

[@JensLarsen]

@@MiguelBaptista1981 You'll encounter that everywere. Often it is better to focus on what you can learn from someone instead of what you should not learn 🙂🙂

[@MiguelBaptista1981]

@@JensLarsen True

[@Hecatom]

Does your teacher know about Latin Jazz?

[@jasongoodrow949]

The late, great Chuck Wayne told me that the ability to bend was what made the guitar "better" than the piano while the ability to play chords made the guitar "better" than the saxophone. Admittedly he was a bit hungover at the time. Curious why you didn't address Jeff Beck's Goodbye Porkpie Hat, though the argument could be made that's all rock phrasing and he doesn't, to my knowledge, solo over the changes. If memory serves the not-late, not-great Ted Nugent used to find the spots on stage where his F hole guitar would catch certain feedback and put tape on them during soundcheck so he could feed back in tune in concert. Thank you for these videos! Very entertaining. Your bends at the beginning of the Donna Lee head are a glimpse of an undiscovered country just waiting for some kid to shed their way into a new style. Or Scofield - he's still young at heart.

[@NickGranville]

Great video Jens! I love to bend strings. What I find is some guitar players don’t change how they bend notes when they play jazz. They play like SRV etc in a jazz context and then wonder why it doesn’t really work. Trying to play like a horn player helps when bending notes I reckon.

[@JensLarsen]

Yes, exactly! "Why do they get annoyed at the jam session after 25 blues licks on All the things you are? Damn Jazz police!"

[@scottbaekeland9750]

Just a tip. I use a piece of soft foam ( like the stuff made for cushions etc.) cut to fit in my F holes on a semi hollow body to cut down feedback. Easy to remove but helpful sometimes on a tiny stage or at higher volumes.

[@mladen777]

It’s interesting to me that outside the fusion, not many solid body guitars vere used in jazz. I guess it has to do with the thing that after hendrix and biches brew, most of the best musicians played some kind of fusion. And also the ones that liked old school jazz guitar had infulences in hollow body players. But if you think about it, it makes completly sense to use solid body guitar with distortion, it’s much closer to a saxophone sound, especialy the later Coltrane stuff, the expresivnes and so on… you only need to be careful with the noise, but I think especialy now with the technology it fits really good. John McLaughlin talked about a similar topic and when you think about it, Hendrix sounded more similar to Coltrane in some specific ways than “jazz guitarists”. Of course the general vocabulary was completly different, but I’m pointing out the thing I said “in certain ways”.

[@luisnunes3863]

No reason not to put a hot humbucker on a semi-hollow, in fact Schecter as one...

[@mladen777]

@@luisnunes3863 Feedback? I saw Steve Vai video where he tried all sorts od hollowbody guitars for 1 live song and the only one with no issues was John Scofield signature which is more like 335 style guitar.

[@luisnunes3863]

@@mladen777 Possible... There has to be a reason it's not done, other than tradition. That said, amps can take active pickups and stay clean and if all fails, there's a noisegate pedal...

[@ptose]

I disagree about Hendrix sounding more similar to Coltrane than jazz guitarists, because there are guys like Tisziji Munoz, and Munoz sounds way closer to Coltrane than Hendrix without any doubt. But in fairness Munoz was probably inspired also by Hendrix so in that sense you're right.

[@daveberkheimer2166]

This topic has occupied far more space in my mind than it should. Having said that, I have two questions..... sort of. 1) Name another instrument that is limited to the use of certain techniques (and I'm not talking far out weird stuff like playing with your feet) dependent upon the type of music you are playing? As a horn player, in my younger days I played a lot of orchestral music from many periods and I never ever remember any restrictions on technique. In fact, I was often surprised by the new techniques I had to learn, especially for modern orchestral works. 2) Is a rock player who doesn't bend much or at all, like say, Jerry Garcia, not a rock player? Or take someone like Grant Green using traditional blues phrases in his playing.... are they jazz phrases now because he didn't bend his notes? And what about the old traditional delta blues artists, some of who did no bending at all?

[@JensLarsen]

It is indeed weird that this topic gets so much attention (as I explain in the video, I never really thought about it when I learned) 1 - Nobody is limiting anything, I am at most giving suggestions for why there isn't as much of it in the history of recorded Jazz. 2 - If you define a a rock player as someone who bends then maybe Jerry Garcia is not a rock player ( I don't know his playing, so I go by your comment) But that definition doesn't really make any sense does it? Jazz is full of Blues phrases, they are just often executed differently, but they are still blues phrases.

[@RC32Smiths01]

Interesting perspective. I am always open to so many different takes. Thank you for this rather cool discussion!

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@marcusstoica]

Great video Jens. Bird always seemed to know the perfect time to incorporate the blues, and he was one of the greatest to ever do it in bebop.

[@garethevans2650]

On bass there's actually more "bending" in jazz where most are fretless and in rock/pop/metal it's 99% fretted and rarely bent/slid.

[@EricOde]

Well-balanced thoughts. If I could bend notes on the piano, I would. Jazz musicians (well, any musicians, really) should feel free to experiment with the tools they have and use what works for them.

[@mathemystician]

Great video Jens! Thanks for being such a patient expositor.

[@FlatlandMando]

These are questions & answers I have never even considered. Like a music class in several minutes. Enjoyed all the content here by the way as well as the short example phrases offered by various players.

[@TedBoyRomarino]

Musical styles are like languages. Think about how ah english person vocalizes the letter R and how a french person does the same thing. Totally different. Bending is not a typical phoneme in jazz language.

[@oldtimetinfoilhatwearer]

Exactly. It's not really a sin to be bilingual, but you probably shouldn't try to speak Urdu to a Finn.

[@oskarileikos]

@@oldtimetinfoilhatwearer I don't think that analogy works, because music isn't the same thing as language. The real reason why bends aren't common in jazz is only because that's the convention - most jazz players just don't do it. But the fact that most jazz players don't do it doesn't mean you shouldn't. Conventions are not set in stone.

[@henryfaulkner6051]

Yes I do Agree with You Sir about bending in a Jazz Piece...However does that mean that Gypsy Jazz, is really not Jazz at all..?

[@rileymerino6340]

This is the reason over the last few years I feel like I’ve gravitated towards Honky Tonk guitarists over jazz guitarists (specifically players like Leon Rhodes, Danny Gatton, or Albert Lee who blend both). I feel like any instrument deserves to be utilized to its best potential. Why do we constantly say, “solo like a horn player/singer” and then vibe people who don’t roll their tone all the way off, stay on the neck pickup, and avoid a natural element of guitar language like the plague? It’s truly kinda weird and in my estimation, a stubborn misuse of the instrument that stems from “tradition” but also a lack of imagination.

[@ariellbitton9700]

Yup 👍

[@dclucky2477]

Excellent comment. Often wondered the same even though I'm guilty of it too

[@yeonakim858]

Ok boomer.

[@beachhunting69]

Thumbs up on referencing Danny Gatton. Sky King is one of my favorite songs.

[@Dreamdancer11]

Thats why i never really vibed with jazz...you can either be pretentious or happy...i chose to be happy...thats why its rock guitar for me.....

[@robinbalean958]

Django used quite a lot of bends in a non-blues context and when I play that style I use them too. I agree that bending doesn't generally work in bebop.

[@erichnussbaum]

Bebop was when jazz went from the pelvis to the head. It is kind of a castrated music. No more body and soul, only brains. ;-)

[@rockstarjazzcat]

Listen to Johnny Hodges for thirty seconds and tell me it has no place. (A lot of straight ahead emulating guitarists have always seemed myopic on points like this, to me. Lots of self-limiting beliefs out there. I look forward to hearing your take, Jens. Cheers, Daniel)

[@rockstarjazzcat]

The bends found in Swing and say Fusion sax lines are typically executed very differently than in typical blues guitar riffs. Wealth of musical devices to explore out there-erm, in moderation, like everything. And AC/DC definitely needs more synth bass. 🥂

[@rockstarjazzcat]

Having hung out backstage with them, it’s likely those champagne glasses contain sparkling water. But definitely more synth bass is needed in all genres. 😎🤘🏼

[@TheReillyDiefenbach]

Jeep's Blues being a prime example.

[@brucesmith3740]

Gene ammons had bebop chops. He played with a big band with Charlie Parker. Ammons bends notes on his last half of his career. And always kept the bebop thing going.

[@XiaNingTian]

I think bends work depending how you go about it. The lack of sustain on my hollow body does push me to keep my bends quick. Most of the time I do double stops with a slight bend just to get it to sound a little dirty and raspy like a trumpet. Tossing in some pedal steel style bends can fun too on certain cadences. I'm not a strict jazzer by any means and I'm okay with that. I like to try and blend jazz, rock, blues and country where I can because they all stem from the blues.

[@CentrifugalSatzClock]

Maybe .005% of all the Jazz guitarists I've known could effectively do up bends! I think the fact that its hard to do properly and must be maintained is a deal killer for most. Even the great Joe Pass who had amazing skills would occasionally do ugly bends, Barney Kessel could pull off some lemons too. I think a great video would be examples of bad bends by jazz greats! There is a mountain of examples out there!

[@andrewwestaway5508]

Interesting article thanks Jens. I think all music originates from voice and I suspect instrumentalists are really frustrated singers. Slurring is a natural vocal technique used in singing all over the world. Blues singers traditionally sang a lot of slurs and even quarter tones. This is still evident in jazz vocalists like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Mel Torme. Technically they sometimes seem to sing 'flat' but they know exactly what they're doing. I read somewhere that the original blues scales, which came from Africa, have been shoe-horned into western scale intervals which had already become subordinated to the fixed piano intervals. Prior to the invention of the piano, musicians re-tuned their intervals depending on what mood they wanted to create, much as Indians do with ragas. What is Monk doing playing 'between' the notes? Why did Gerschwin attempt to 'elevate' blues by writing 'Porgy And Bess' as a western style opera and 'Rhapsody In Blue' as a classical composition? The other bendy technique is vibrato which is also universal and widely used in jazz, except as Jens explains, when players are aiming for speed. Perhaps we should look beyond guitarists for inspiration?

[@foljs5858]

The kind jazz concernd with bending, is too formulaic to matter... there are jazz musicians bending (pun intended) all the rules, including much stricter than "no bending"

[@matthewcates2337]

I’m pretty sure bending was a way for blues players to emulate older, delta blues slide playing. I’ve always heard early jazz guitar soloists were trying to emulate what they heard horn players doing.

[@gilcarlson2]

Jens, Thanks for posting this. I found it informative, thoughtful, technical, historical and entertaining. So, pretty much a grand slammer. You've really taken it to a new level with some of the comic inserts. One made me laugh out loud and that's saying something. I find it interesting that people even ask this question which to me indicates where we are today in the world and music. When I was coming into to Jazz in the '70's (I'm spectacularly old), the world was a different, more fluid place than today. There was less identity politics, no Cancel Culture, no Hate Radio or Jazz Police and probably less wannabees and poseurs. This was a time when you had radio stations that were manned by people, not machines, so an entirely different aesthetic resulted. I can remember hearing George Benson's 'Breezin' on my car radio station and being blown away by his guitar playing. Of course, the next song might have been something by Dolly Parton (God bless her), but that was OK. You mention John Scofield, of whom I am also a fan and he has said in interviews that his playing is a synthesis of everything he grew up with and in America, Rock 'n Roll was definitely a strong presence at that time. I mean, if you were a white boy with an electric guitar and you wanted to meet some girls; well anyway, I'm digressing. If you listen, even Metheny does bends now and again. He has a song 'Soul Cowboy' which features a bend in the melody. It's really cool. John McLaughlin has a couple of beautiful Jazz songs where bends are prominently featured, like 'New York on My Mind', in addition to the 'blow-your-mind' fusion stuff. I also enjoyed your take on guitar and amp technology as it relates to making music. Definitely spot on. I have a Hofner New President (I collect more obscure Jazz boxes - mainly because I don't have an extra 7K sitting around), that I just outfitted with plugs for the F holes. It's an interesting way to fight feedback. Finally, I would say to people reading this, if you feel like the music is missing the 'soul' you want, then go back and listen to some Fusion albums and then come back around in 6-months or so. Different strokes for different folks. Thanks again, Gil

[@daegabmusic59]

Also Allan Holdsworth, who has always had "a foot in Rock and a foot in Jazz" and is one of the most soulful guitarists in my book, gradually got away from bending. He did use the whammy bar to bend notes (in slow passages) but eventually gave that up too... I remember reading an interview where he said: "Now it's like tennis shoes: everyone has got a pair...".

[@kojam1]

Been thinking 🤔 about this. Love bending strings. There's something so satisfying about it. It's therapeutic at times.. Remember as a kid watching BB King on TV. Sparked something in me. Couldn't wait to learn to play and to bend. True, most jazz doesn't guitar have string bending. That's ok though. It's STILL amazing...

[@jinjxmusic]

I appreciate your take on this. Everything you said is right on. I came up playing in The African American Church. A lot of people would be surprised to find that many of the "OG" church cats didn't bend on guitar - many of them came from a "the blues is the devil" consciousness and so they knew that too much bending would be associated with "evil" and they'd catch flack. So these OG church cats would keep bending to a minimum and found other ways (primarily focus on progressions as well as certain chord sounds) to convey emotion. This flies in the face of people who associate that type of thing with African American musicians but that's not a completely view as far as I'm concerned. I personally don't do much bending and when I've tried to articulate that I personally am just not so big on it and my criticisms of it I've had people LITERALLY get angry and try and lash out saying: "HOW CAN YOU SHOW EMOTION WITHOUT BENDING?" It's actually sad because you realize that, for many players, their "thing" is built upon myths and, even more frustrating, is that at times players come off like a giant weird caricature and, I'd assume, many know it and are really defensive about that being called to the light. My belief is that bending notes can sound really cool, and when done minimally/tastefully add a certain sensibility to one's thing. It's just when I see those big budget music camps and some guy is 60 years old, on stage with his presumed hero and the first thing he does is bend that high E up as high and hard as he can with a big grin on his face. I'm happy if that makes him happy... but I hard cringe every time.

[@dougtube2006]

This may be a little off-topic but I grew up in a church where Guitar was considered evil. Now I go to a church where you have to have a big old pedal board to be in the game. My how things change… One extreme to the other…

[@jinjxmusic]

@@dougtube2006 ​Believe you me I get it. I grew up in mostly (non-african american) AG churches. I remember the late 90s and the "Hillsong meets U2" really took hold. All of a sudden random little churches were all trying to sound exactly like "one thing" and that meant the enormous board with the delays/reverbs/tubescreamer-SD1 and a combination of sensibilities that can make even really wonderful guitarists sound kind of homogenized trying to chase this thing. I realize I was so blessed to grow up hearing my Uncles play something that was relatively unique to their thing. This was the 80s/90s and these guys were playing Carvin, Peavey it was more about them doing them - not trying to "nail" a trend.

[@dougtube2006]

@@jinjxmusic Yeah… I pretty much agree with you there… Not that some of the songs aren’t good but I have a hard enough time playing these days to be putting in all that time trying to “dial it in.“. Besides, I like jazz anyhow 😎

[@brandoncoventry5662]

Thank you for this great discussion! Jim Hall is another one who occasionally bends, but in a very different way to lead into a note, You'd be so nice to come home to off of concierto for example

[@hamiltonburger4574]

Good post Jens. I enjoyed this. However, I was hoping that you would have mentioned Larry Carlton and how he very effectively incorporates bends into his phrasing. BTW - I really like the way you edit your posts and always incorporate humor into it. I recognize that takes a lot of time and I appreciate you going that extra mile with your channel. I guess that's why I'm a Patreon member!

[@sgcim956]

Larry Carlton is a great fusion player, but he's not a jazz player.

[@hamiltonburger4574]

@@sgcim956 And never the twain shall meet? Hmmmm... What is "Jazz"?

[@erickmatthewlynch2058]

Django bends defy a lot of what you mentioned. His bends were quick ornaments, decorating VERY melodic, swinging phrases. And on acoustic guitars. Though it was also pre-bop and gypsy jazz, not bebop necessarily.

[@JazzGuitarScrapbook]

I like the way DL sounds with the bends

[@JensLarsen]

Yes, I think the main reason is actually that bending sucks as a technique for Bebop themes 😁 It is not about how it sounds at all

[@strahinjaristic6544]

Aww man I'm a big fan of your channel, great to see you here. From now on I will try and play Dona lee with bends. Tho Jens is right fast it's really hard and it lacks clarity

[@JazzGuitarScrapbook]

@@strahinjaristic6544 oh I couldn’t do it haha

[@strahinjaristic6544]

@@JazzGuitarScrapbook Pff nonsens, you can do anything! Right now I'm in the middle of conservatory exams. But when that's done I will make a youtube video bending notes in bop themes. And hopefully make it sound ok. And tag you somehow

[@ramcfd]

Love this !! my great guitar and Jazz master ,told me bending is no jazz a decade back .

[@LMVtron1]

I feel like people who haven't studied much jazz/bebop language using excessive amount of bends can be quite off putting; it can give off the 'rock guitarist trying to do jazz' vibe. When a master like John Scofield bends a note, it is pure heaven.

[@bassyey]

Really depends on how much bend the player does. A listener like you would know from the get go. They can't fake it.

[@AzraErtas9523]

Sounds like you care who's playing rather than what's being played.

[@daveberkheimer2166]

I agree. It does seem a bit ham handed to say, "No, don't bend" while at the same time embracing guys like Scofield.... and others. It reminds me of the recent interview of Scofield by Rick Beato where John talks about playing a gig with a older more traditional Jazz guitarist, a guitarist who John said he admired, who raked him over the coals for the way he played.

[@gogpoydi]

In traditional jazz it's off-putting but jazz fusion who cares

[@winstonsmith8240]

Yeah, but almost anything John Scofield does is pure heaven, so I'm not sure if that's a fair comment. 🙂

[@RockPopMandolin]

Interesting video. But you forgot Django Reinhardt. He used bending quite a lot in his playing, combined with a lot of short notes. Created a totally unique sound. I guess it depends on the player and sound they want to achieve.

[@mtdnelson]

I haven't watched the video yet... but I came here to see if anyone had mentioned Django. I was surprised how many comments I had to read first!

[@Jacko4859]

Honestly I’ve never really thought about this as it didn’t occur to me that bending isn’t that used in bebop at all. I personally listen to Fusion as my preferred listening in terms of jazz so players like Guthrie govan, Issei Noro etc use bending quite a lot especially Guthrie in their playing, where in bebop bending isn’t nearly as used or as useful like in fusion. Quite an interesting point that different techniques just don’t Work that well depending on the style

[@JensLarsen]

Great to see someone come at with an open mind, that stands out in this comment section 😁

[@Jacko4859]

@@JensLarsen thank you for the response and overall the incredible information you provide for us. I’ve personally have learnt a lot from your knowledge that I try and incorporate into my own playing along with my other inspirations. Could have gone into a music school to do jazz as I got an offer to but instead I have decided to pursue a degree in mathematics and teaching. However guitar and jazz will be a thing I do for life and your content makes it all the more enjoyable.

[@Dani-ff6gq]

Big ups for mentioning Issei Noro. One of my favorite players and is one that definitely doesn’t get the attention that he deserves.

[@arvh1952]

Makes Perfect Sense everything you said Jens. You covered all aspects of it. I agree most with the theory where you said it has to do with the evolution of the guitar from an acoustic to modern electrics with a lot of sustain. Also in my humble opinion the one of the main components of jazz guitar language (or Jazz in general) is the presence of large intervals in the runs (as evidenced in most arpeggios) and bending does not reflect this language (occasional bending to one semitone on an ornament is of course part of the language). Probably because Jazz guitarists emulated horn players (although listening to Coltrane sounds like he can go from a low C to a High D in one fell swoop :-) ) . THanks for this piece.

[@KeefsCattys]

Really excellent and well laid out reasons . Enjoyed very much , Thanks

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@oldtimetinfoilhatwearer]

I agree about the bluegrass stuff. I play a full set of 14s on my dread. Not physically practical to bend all the time.

[@xnoiidb]

An excellent overview on the lack of bends in jazz! Though, I think Jeff Beck (amongst others) may disagree a bit. As for the why behind the lacking, I'd wager it had to do with the instrumentation mostly. High tension strings, low output pickups, and the fact that no other jazz instrument can do it sorta made bending a note a weirdness that probably didn't jive too well. As for bluegrass, I'd say there's a similar but slightly different reasoning: a lot if the lead phrases and runs mimic the fiddling runs the Irish/Scots brought over. John Fahey (and the other American Primitivists) use bends quite a bit in their compositions and they're usually lumped in with Bluegrass and Americana.

[@DevrimOdabas]

Another reason might be that aside from the normal compression, bending tends to sound better on even slightly overdriven guitar tones than clean tones. It doesn't have to be distorted all the way but a slight overdrive can add so much to the sound of bends. With jazz guitar you typically have a clean tone with the treble rolled off so maybe it doesn't sound as good.

[@JensLarsen]

Overdrive is actually also compression if you think about it 🙂

[@DevrimOdabas]

@@JensLarsen yeah but with overdrive aside from the sustain boost you get with normal compression, you also get this saturation sound in the high end. Thats what i was referring to

[@JensLarsen]

@@DevrimOdabas That actually will depend on the Amp design and eq. A lot of fender amps break up in the lower frequencies first actually.

[@DevrimOdabas]

@@JensLarsen thanks for the info 🙂

[@michaelthomas9243]

Barney Kessel uses bends on his fantastic recording of Autumn Leaves! Also world class chord melody playing. He swings so hard it will make the hairs on the back of your next stand up!