The problem with bending on an arranger, to imitate guitar or horns, etc., is that a LOT of the time the 'real' thing bends on chord boundaries, rather than just in-between.... EXACTLY the time you have to take your left hand off the bender to trigger the next chord. Very frustrating.....

Here's a little tip, something to practice until it becomes natural......

Always try to decide BEFORE you make a bend whether you want to continue the phrase, or can make a break. In other words, let's say you wish to bend up to a note, and immediately keep playing (or add other notes into a chord).... You will get a far more natural result by playing the note you wish to bend TO, and starting the note with the lever already bent down, bend up TO the note you want, and then carry on playing. If you bend TO the note you want from above or below, you will have to release the bender (which often makes a little glitch in the transition) before you can continue playing.

Another little tip is to find all the sample boundaries in your favorite guitar or sax patch. That is, the two adjacent notes where you can hear a timbral change as the keymap uses a different sample for the next range of keys. Now, you can choose whether to bend the note below the sample boundary, and THEN hit it, or play the note above the sample boundary without a bend, or even bend down, THEN hit it. You will then get a pronounced change in timbre FROM THE SAME NOTE (that you hear, at least!)

Anytime you can increase the timbral range of a sound, you increase the expressive potential at your command. Horns, in particular, have a huge range of timbres they can produce with just one note. Any way of improving this on a keyboard is a plus.

It takes some practice, but you can play melodies that have little relationship between the note PLAYED, and the note HEARD, because you are constantly using the bender to shape the pitch of the note so that the NEXT note is slurred or glided to, or adjusted in timbre.

Have a go at it and see what you can do!