Andy Timmons - Finding The Melody Via Alternative String-Bending Techniques
MELODIC MUSE by Andy Timmons
THE BENDS, PART 3
We've been discussing string bending techniques and the many different melodies, sounds and emotive qualities available to guitarists via different ways to bend and shake the strings. Our previous examples have been in the key of C# minor, and this month’s musical example will be played over a 24-bar minor blues form in that key. Andy Timmons' goal here is to present some beautiful and musical lines that are performed with a variety of bending techniques, which he hopes will ultimately inspire you to do the same in your own improvisations.
THE BENDS, PART 3
We've been discussing string bending techniques and the many different melodies, sounds and emotive qualities available to guitarists via different ways to bend and shake the strings. Our previous examples have been in the key of C# minor, and this month’s musical example will be played over a 24-bar minor blues form in that key. Andy Timmons' goal here is to present some beautiful and musical lines that are performed with a variety of bending techniques, which he hopes will ultimately inspire you to do the same in your own improvisations.
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MusicTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Hey, everybody.
00:18 Andy Timmons.
00:19 Welcome back to Melodic Muse for Guitar World.
00:21 And we're continuing talking about building.
00:23 And today, we're going to put some of these pieces
00:25 together and play over C-sharp minor blues.
00:27 So I'm going to be trying to do the best I can
00:30 to play some really beautiful melodies with bending.
00:33 And I hope it inspires you.
00:34 So let's get into it.
00:35 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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00:56 [PLAYING MUSIC]
01:26 [PLAYING MUSIC]
01:29 So here's a chord progression.
01:31 [PLAYING MUSIC]
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01:48 [PLAYING MUSIC]
01:52 [PLAYING MUSIC]
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01:58 [PLAYING MUSIC]
02:26 As I start the solo, I've always
02:29 kind of have some kind of potential direction in mind.
02:33 I want to start simply.
02:35 And as the lines build, you'll see
02:37 that I'm kind of ascending up the neck,
02:39 even though it's just one time through a blues form.
02:43 And I might continue playing as the band vamps up.
02:46 But even just this one time through the form,
02:48 it's got a certain direction.
02:51 It's starting kind of low and building up
02:53 and building excitement and kind of climaxing
02:54 in a certain way before the band comes in fully.
02:57 So when I start off on that C sharp minor--
02:59 [PLAYING MUSIC]
03:02 --I might not be remembering verbatim what I played,
03:05 but some of the basic things that I was doing--
03:08 and it's all really revolving around bending melodies
03:11 through the chord tones, right?
03:12 So I'm going to be very aware that if I'm on C sharp minor 7,
03:16 I know where the root is, where that third is, particularly,
03:21 the fifth is, and where the flat 7 is,
03:24 and where the root is, right?
03:25 So I played something to the--
03:26 [PLAYING MUSIC]
03:30 So I'm making a melody, bending up to the ninth.
03:34 [PLAYING MUSIC]
03:38 Another common thing I do quite a bit
03:40 is, even though I'm bending up to a scale tone,
03:43 I might bend again to the next scale tone.
03:45 And that's what I'm doing.
03:46 I'm bending up to the ninth from the C sharp.
03:49 [PLAYING MUSIC]
03:51 And then adding another half step to that
03:54 by achieving the third.
03:56 Because again, I know that's what's outlining that harmony.
03:59 That's what's giving you the tone of the chord.
04:02 [PLAYING MUSIC]
04:05 But I'm really featuring more of the ninth,
04:07 because it's more of a tension note.
04:10 [PLAYING MUSIC]
04:13 Then I resolve it in a way to where
04:15 I'm coming back down to the root,
04:16 and eventually back down to the fifth.
04:18 [PLAYING MUSIC]
04:22 And the next phrase I get into, I'm
04:30 bending further up through--
04:31 [PLAYING MUSIC]
04:34 There I get up.
04:34 I'm getting up into this position
04:36 here in the ninth fret, where I'm bending
04:38 from the fifth to the flat seven.
04:40 Now, that's a minor third bend.
04:42 [PLAYING MUSIC]
04:44 So this time, I'm not going up to the next scalar pitch.
04:47 I'm actually skipping a tone going to the next pitch.
04:50 So that's--
04:50 [PLAYING MUSIC]
04:52 But I start by bending to that seventh.
04:54 [PLAYING MUSIC]
04:56 And that's a nice tension tone, because still, we're
04:58 on a static C-sharp minor.
05:00 So that note--
05:01 [PLAYING MUSIC]
05:03 That's the sixth scale degree.
05:04 So it's kind of a cool--
05:05 [PLAYING MUSIC]
05:08 It's like the ninth, where it wants to resolve.
05:10 [PLAYING MUSIC]
05:13 But I'm bending up.
05:14 [PLAYING MUSIC]
05:17 I do that kind of thing all the time.
05:18 [PLAYING MUSIC]
05:21 Because I'm wanting to gather even more energy and kind
05:31 of a climax to the solo on that.
05:32 When it gets to the five chord, I utilize this bend.
05:36 [PLAYING MUSIC]
05:38 That's a very bluesy way of approaching the five chord,
05:42 in that I'm starting on the root,
05:46 bending from the flat third to the fourth.
05:48 [PLAYING MUSIC]
05:50 And instead of releasing the flat third, it's flat third plus.
05:55 It's not quite the major third, not the minor third.
05:58 [PLAYING MUSIC]
06:01 Then I slide all the way up here to where I'm fretting the F-sharp--
06:09 I mean, yeah, the F-sharp bending up to the G-sharp.
06:14 Here's the first time we get into a chromatic bend.
06:18 So I'm achieving the root, letting it descend to the natural seventh
06:25 into the flat seventh.
06:26 [PLAYING MUSIC]
06:34 And all the way up to that high C-sharp bending from B to C-sharp.
06:38 [PLAYING MUSIC]
06:41 Actually, I think I included the flat nine, didn't I?
06:49 So there's a chromatic all the way up to the flat nine from the flat seventh.
06:53 [PLAYING MUSIC]
06:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:04 (upbeat music)
07:06 you