Boomer Bend

A guitar string bending technique that is just about the laziest trope of the last 60 years of electric guitar. Coined by Polyphia guitarist Tim Henson, the boomer bend was introduced to mainstream boomer audiences by boomer guitarists such as Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. It’s commonly associated with ‘da blooze’ and can be heard in sundry dive/sports bars and holes-in-the-wall from Tallahassee to Thailand. Technically it encompasses either bending from the 4th to the (b)5th on the third string, or from the b7 to the root on the first -all within the pentatonic minor box shape. This is typically accompanied with a facial expression between sucking a lemon and a constipated bowel movement. Performative soul. What happens when white people try to be Albert King.

I’m too lazy to learn scales or theory on guitar so boomer bends have been a life-saver. Hey, it was good enough for most of the bands at Woodstock!

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