An expressive guitar technique where a string is pushed or pulled toward one side of the fingerboard by the fretting finger in order to raise its pitch above where it would naturally be given the fret where it is fingered. A bend may be as small as a few cents or may raise the pitch by a half step, whole step, or more. While it is possible to bend nylon strings, the technique is most commonly used on steel-string acoustic guitars or electric guitars.
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