Mind you, that’s really just for guitarists. You actually CAN bend down on a guitar by bending up first THEN picking the note and bending back down, and if doing it with your feet, that’s the only alternative to using the lever.

When I use the lever for guitar solos, it’s rare for me to actually play the bent notes, most of the time it’s notes above or below where I want to be and then I bend towards it. This way, you can continue playing new notes at pitch once the lever is back at zero.