How to Combine Bend and Vibrato
A bend with vibrato applied at the top (bend-and-vibrato) is one of the most recognizable lead guitar moves, but it's not just 'do a bend and add vibrato' - the order and the exact point where the wobble starts decide whether it sounds natural.
The bend has to be solid on its own first
Before combining the techniques, the bend itself needs to reliably hit the target pitch with no vibrato (see the article on bend accuracy), and vibrato needs to be even on a regular, unbent note (see the vibrato article). Combining two not-yet-solid techniques at once is a reliable way to lose track of what's actually going wrong.
The order of motion
First the bend is pulled all the way to the target pitch, and only once that pitch is reached and briefly stable does the vibrato start around it - not at the same time as the pull itself. Vibrato started before the bend has reached its target blurs the target and just sounds like an unstable, slightly out-of-tune bend.
Exactly where the pitch wobbles
Vibrato on a bend wobbles around the ALREADY-BENT note, not the starting one - so if the bend goes from C up to D, the vibrato wobbles around D, slightly above and below it, not around C. Mixing up these two points is a common reason the whole move sounds blurry.
How to train the transition
Count out loud: '1' - the bend reaches its target, 'and-2-and-3' - vibrato in place, even pulses. Counting slowly from the start gives a clear boundary between the two phases of the move, which becomes intuitive at speed but needs a marker at the beginning.
Releasing after the vibrato
The move ends either with a smooth release of the string back to its starting position (a bend release) or simply lifting the finger at the bent pitch - both are musically valid, and the choice depends on the phrase. An abrupt, uncontrolled release with no fade-out is what most often makes the ending of the move sound sloppy, even when the bend and vibrato themselves were clean.
Try it in practice
Open exercises