Guitar pre-bends and pre-dives

Guitar pre-bends and pre-dives are techniques commonly performed on electric guitars, where the performer changes the initial sounding pitch of strings before playing notes, either by bending strings to tighten them or using the vibrato bar to loosen them.

In Dorico Pro, guitar pre-bends and pre-dives are properties of notes belonging to fretted instruments, meaning they only apply to single notes.

Guitar pre-bends

Guitar pre-bends indicate that the performer should bend the string before playing the note to raise the pitch; for example, to repeat a note that was at the end of a previous guitar bend. The pitch can then be lowered after starting to sound.

On notation staves, guitar pre-bends are notated using an angled line between the noteheads at the start and end. However, unlike guitar bends, the parenthesized auxiliary notehead at the start is shown automatically as part of the pre-bend. On tablature, guitar pre-bends are notated using a solid vertical line with an arrowhead at the top, a bend interval above the arrowhead, and a small fret number below the line to indicate the start pitch.

Guitar pre-dives

Guitar pre-dives indicate that the performer should use the vibrato bar to lower the pitch before playing the note. The pitch can then be raised after starting to sound.

On notation staves, guitar pre-dives appear the same as guitar pre-bends. On tablature, guitar pre-dives are notated using a dashed vertical line with an arrowhead at the top, a bend interval above the arrowhead, and a small fret number below the line to indicate the start pitch.