Andy Timmons - Exploring Expressive String Bending Techniques
This month, Andy Timmons discusses the beauty, and the importance, of string bending. String bending is truly a huge part of the guitar’s potential to be one of the most expressive instruments. Well-controlled string bending, and string bending with vibrato, will really make your melodies sing.
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MusicTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:27 Hey everybody, Andy Timmons here. Welcome back to my Melodic Muse column for Guitar World.
00:31 Today we're going to explore the beauty and importance of bending.
00:34 String bending truly is a huge part of the guitar's potential to be one of the most expressive instruments.
00:39 And well-controlled bending can really make your melody sing.
00:42 So let's begin by reinforcing some fundamentals we should all be working on.
00:46 So let's dig into some bending. I'm going to do some really simple stuff to work on our foundational strength.
00:51 And we're going to do everything in the key of C sharp minor today.
00:54 Right, so just kind of get that sound in your head.
00:58 Maybe play your pentatonic scale.
01:00 [MUSIC]
01:04 We're going to bend, the first bend is on the B string.
01:06 We're going to bend a whole step from the note B to C sharp.
01:10 I'm going to use my ring finger and behind that I'm going to use my first and second finger to give it the strength to bend right up to that C sharp.
01:22 Always good to check the note fretted that you're bending up to.
01:26 [MUSIC]
01:30 I'm really trying to find, I call it the center of the pitch.
01:34 You know, if you're going to be a little below it.
01:36 [MUSIC]
01:38 Or a little above it.
01:40 Always sharp is going to be way more uncomfortable to hear than really in tune or slightly flat.
01:46 There can be a sweetness to just under pitch.
01:48 But today let's really try to find the center of that pitch.
01:52 [MUSIC]
01:55 So notice a few things that are happening with my left hand.
01:58 Not only am I using my other two fingers behind the ring finger to give that finger the strength.
02:05 But I'm also, there's a bit of tension at the underneath of my hand is gripping.
02:10 I feel some tension here, but also notably that thumb is anchoring.
02:15 You know, it's a very Hendrixian thing.
02:18 You'd always see those huge hands around that strat neck.
02:22 And that thumb was coming over not only to fret notes, but also to give himself the strength to really bend.
02:28 [MUSIC]
02:35 So I know that everybody's hand size is different.
02:38 Everybody's technique is different as far as their hand placement on the neck.
02:41 Some people really like to have their thumb behind the neck.
02:43 And I think that will prove to be slightly more difficult to get the type of bending that I do.
02:49 [MUSIC]
02:50 We can try.
02:51 [MUSIC]
02:52 See, if I try to play with my thumb behind the neck, I have nowhere near the power of.
02:57 [MUSIC]
02:59 And it's not really that I'm grabbing the top of the fretboard so much.
03:02 But there is a bit of pressure and tension happening behind at the top of the neck with this part of the thumb.
03:08 [MUSIC]
03:11 And everybody's neck width might be different as well.
03:14 [MUSIC]
03:17 But if you can get that thumb in a position where, hello, hello, it'll give you that power.
03:23 [MUSIC]
03:24 So again, and the other part of this little exercise is I want you to attempt to do this bend with zero vibrato.
03:31 Because a lot of times as guitarists, if we fret a note, we instantly want to move it.
03:36 But a really good practice is to do these things but add no vibrato, to really know and be accurate with your pitch.
03:44 Because if you're moving it, you might be surrounding it and sometimes to good effect, sometimes to not so good effect.
03:52 So I'm bending right to the note and holding it.
03:56 So that's going to reveal two things.
03:57 A, are you in tune?
03:59 And B, do you have the strength to keep that up?
04:02 [MUSIC]
04:04 Right?
04:05 And once you've really started to hone in on that pitch, then let's start adding.
04:10 [MUSIC]
04:17 It's always a good exercise to try to play it very slowly.
04:19 Again, we tend to employ a bit of nerve where we just start kind of moving, shaking our hand a certain way.
04:27 But if it's uncontrolled and it's too fast, it can sound a bit nervous and out of tune, right?
04:32 Not that fast vibrato can't sound beautiful.
04:34 It can. It has its place.
04:35 But right now...
04:36 [MUSIC]
04:43 And there's obviously so many different types of vibrato.
04:45 [MUSIC]
04:47 But I'm also getting my strength, again, from the underneath of my hand gripping the bottom of the fretboard and also towards the back of the neck, the top.
04:57 And that's a very slight.
04:58 I'm just going slightly.
04:59 [MUSIC]
05:01 I'm basically releasing the pitch slightly and coming back up to it.
05:04 [MUSIC]
05:07 One of my first vibratos I ever learned, which I didn't really think was a vibrato.
05:11 It's more of a bend.
05:12 It was from Ace Frehley of Kiss.
05:14 [MUSIC]
05:16 He would bend that note a whole step and release all the way back down to the original note.
05:20 [MUSIC]
05:26 He had wonderful control.
05:27 And that bend was always in tune, man.
05:29 I was very overlooked when it comes to quality bending, man.
05:32 He was a big early influence for me.
05:34 We'll get into other influences later.
05:36 Now let's try this exercise on the G string.
05:38 I'm going to be bending now from the F sharp to the G sharp, staying in C sharp minor.
05:42 [MUSIC]
05:44 So it's the same as we did earlier.
05:46 It's a whole step bend.
05:47 [MUSIC]
05:49 But now we're bending from the F sharp to the G sharp.
05:51 You can check the note on the same string if you want.
05:53 [MUSIC]
05:54 But in this case, I'm going to check it on the B string.
05:57 That G sharp there on the B string on the ninth fret.
06:00 [MUSIC]
06:05 And again, finding the center of that pitch, not above it.
06:08 [MUSIC]
06:09 It's a little sharp.
06:10 [MUSIC]
06:11 Clearly a little flat.
06:13 [MUSIC]
06:16 And another point, another great thing about only bending to that pitch
06:20 and not adding vibrato initially--
06:22 [MUSIC]
06:23 A, we're going to really find the pitch.
06:25 We're going to be accurate with that.
06:28 We're going to get the strength.
06:29 But then as a singer would, they don't necessarily add vibrato right when they
06:33 sing a note.
06:34 They sing the note in a very pure tone and then add the vibrato for the
06:38 musicality.
06:39 [MUSIC]
06:48 And it's basically just lowering that pitch slightly.
06:51 [MUSIC]
06:54 There it is.
06:55 [MUSIC]
06:58 So now let's play a phrase that's going to combine bending both on the G
07:00 string and the B string, still in C sharp minor.
07:03 [MUSIC]
07:11 So I added a little something to that.
07:13 [MUSIC]
07:16 So I dismount.
07:17 I release that bend in a very melodic, musical way.
07:21 [MUSIC]
07:24 Right?
07:25 I gave it--
07:26 [MUSIC]
07:28 I gave it some duration.
07:29 [MUSIC]
07:32 Then I released it.
07:33 [MUSIC]
07:36 It's almost like I played--
07:37 [MUSIC]
07:39 Right?
07:40 That's the melody.
07:41 [MUSIC]
07:43 But how much more emotional, how much more effective it is if you've got that
07:47 strength and the ability to really get it tuneful, but all with bends.
07:52 [MUSIC]
07:56 And then that one last note from the B to the C sharp.
07:59 [MUSIC]
08:01 And since that's our moment of singing, we're going to give it some duration
08:05 and then add that vibrato.
08:06 [MUSIC]
08:14 That last note, I release it.
08:15 [MUSIC]
08:18 And then pull off to that E.
08:20 [MUSIC]
08:28 Got to pay royalties now to Lennon and McCartney.
08:31 [MUSIC]
08:35 [MUSIC]