Andy Timmons - How To Play 'On Your Way Sweet Soul'
MELODIC MUSE by Andy Timmons
HYBRID VEHICLE, PART 1
This month, Andy Timmons shares some of the inner workings of “On Your Way Sweet Soul,” which is a tune he wrote and recorded for Theme from a Perfect World (2016). The song is based on a relatively simple melodic riff that he performs with hybrid picking, a technique wherein flatpicking is combined with fingerpicking.
HYBRID VEHICLE, PART 1
This month, Andy Timmons shares some of the inner workings of “On Your Way Sweet Soul,” which is a tune he wrote and recorded for Theme from a Perfect World (2016). The song is based on a relatively simple melodic riff that he performs with hybrid picking, a technique wherein flatpicking is combined with fingerpicking.
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MusicTranscript
00:00 Hey everybody, Andy Timmons here, and welcome back to Melodic Muse, my column for Guitar
00:22 World.
00:23 Today we're going to look at my tune "On Your Way Sweet Soul" from the "Theme From A Perfect
00:26 World" CD by the Andy Timmons Band.
00:28 And it's a pretty simple melodic tune, and what I was recognizing in the way I played
00:33 the melody, it wasn't just all pick.
00:35 I'm using pick and fingers, sometimes called hybrid picking.
00:40 So we're going to delve into how I play this melody and see what the beauty can be with
00:43 hybrid picking.
00:44 [music]
01:03 As we get into playing this verse of "On Your Way Sweet Soul," first we do need to know
01:22 the chord progression, of course.
01:24 It's all E major, it's very simple.
01:26 E major 7 to C sharp minor 9, then an A major with a bit of a sharp 11 sound.
01:43 So the melodic content that I'll be employing is all pretty much E major pentatonic with
01:48 a little bit of just E major scale.
01:51 In this bit of the solo now, again we're talking about the use of the pick, but also the use
01:56 of the fingers.
01:57 And so, obviously with the pick or the plectrum you're getting a very specific sound, but
02:03 there's a lot of variance you can get with dynamics.
02:06 How light, how hard.
02:10 Some pick harmonics.
02:13 Well the same thing goes when you also use the flesh, the finger.
02:21 So when I'm doing any kind of hybrid picking type thing, I am basically using my pick and
02:28 then using my middle finger.
02:34 So maybe just come up first with a quick scale.
02:39 [music]
02:41 I'm picking the first on the G string.
02:49 Just to get comfortable, but listen to some of the overtone.
02:52 You can get by just using the flesh and just how I'm kind of picking up underneath it.
02:59 Of course, look no further than Mark Knopfler and Jeff Beck for great examples of guys that
03:04 used, with Jeff later in his career of course exclusively, almost exclusively using his
03:09 fingers and Mark Knopfler as well.
03:14 This first phrase, I was thinking about that E major position here.
03:23 Now I'm using the pick on the G string, the pick on the note B.
03:31 And then bending up from the F sharp to the G sharp.
03:37 And it's just giving that note a real dynamic pop.
03:40 I'm kind of slapping.
03:43 Just picking up underneath it and kind of snapping the string.
03:50 It would be a lot of harmonic if I hit it just right.
04:03 And there again, now I rise up to a different position.
04:09 Up to that 11th fret on the G string, bending up a whole step to that G sharp.
04:16 Real sweet note over that E major, it's the third of the chord.
04:24 And then...
04:31 That phrase there is interesting because I'm going back down to the other position, bending
04:34 up.
04:35 And then there's a little, it's a hammer then a note out of nowhere.
04:43 Pull off.
04:44 Then I'm just hammering the note E on the G string.
04:48 And then pulling it up to C sharp because we're on the C sharp chord now.
04:57 Then hammering and bending again.
04:59 So a lot of information without any right hand.
05:06 And then going down to the note B on the G string.
05:11 And using the middle index finger again instead of using the pick.
05:14 I wanted to get that flesh on there.
05:23 And that...
05:29 So we're on the A major now.
05:31 So I'm leaning.
05:36 All that melody is heading down to...
05:39 Getting to that C sharp.
05:40 And I'm always going to be at some point of that bar hitting that third of that chord.
05:49 And this note, that's that sharp 11.
05:59 So it's just really nice melodic content.
06:00 But also, you know, starting with that middle finger.
06:05 This is all pick.
06:13 And then a little hybrid.
06:15 It's E major pentatonic.
06:19 So just a pick, hammer, then middle finger.
06:22 Get a nice little resolution there up here in this position.
06:30 Seventh fret.
06:32 So with my middle finger, I've got the pinky on the note E on that ninth fret.
06:37 And then the G sharp A. Using the pick on the right hand and just using my index finger.
06:44 Yeah.
06:46 Another little hybrid.
07:09 So as you can see, when you're playing simple melodic phrases, it's really handy to have
07:13 a really wide palette of tones available to make each note as special as you can.
07:19 Because a lot of times it's going to be a note that sits there and breathes a bit.
07:23 So by having the pick and the different sound of the flesh, you can really, really broaden
07:28 that palette.
07:29 Thanks for watching.
07:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]