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
00:00everybody andy timmons welcome back to melodic muse for guitar world and we're continuing talking
00:22about building and today we're going to put some of these pieces together and play over c sharp
00:26minor blues so i'm going to be trying to do the best i can to play some really beautiful melodies
00:32with bending and i hope it inspires you so let's get into it
00:56so
01:03So here's the chord progression.
01:33So here's the chord.
02:03So here's the chord progression.
02:33I have to start simply, and as the lines build, you'll see that I'm kind of ascending up the neck, even though it's just one time through a blues form.
02:42And I might continue playing as the band vamps up.
02:45But even just this one time through the form, it's got a certain direction.
02:51It's starting kind of low and building up and building excitement and kind of climaxing in a certain way before the band comes in fully.
02:57So when I start off on that C sharp minor, I might not be remembering verbatim what I played, but some of the basic things that I was doing, and it's all really revolving around bending melodies through the chord tones, right?
03:12So I'm going to be very aware that if I'm on C sharp minor seven, I know where the root is, where that third is particularly, the fifth is, and where the flat seven is, and where the root is, right?
03:25So I played something to the, right?
03:30So I'm making a melody, bending up to the ninth.
03:34Another common thing I do quite a bit is, even though I'm bending up to a scale tone, I might bend again to the next scale tone.
03:46And that's what I'm doing.
03:46I'm bending up to the ninth from the C sharp.
03:51And then adding another half step to that by achieving the third.
03:56Because again, I know that's kind of, that's what's outlining that harmony.
03:59That's what's giving you the tone of the chord.
04:04But I'm really featuring more of the ninth, because it's more of a, it's more of a kind of a tension note.
04:13Then I resolve it in a way, so I'm coming back down to the root, and eventually back down to the fifth.
04:26You know, in the next, in the next phrase I get into, I'm bending further up through.
04:31There I get up, I'm getting up into this position here in the ninth fret, where I'm bending from the fifth to the flat seven.
04:40Now that's a, that's a minor third bend.
04:44So this time I'm not going up to the next scalar pitch.
04:47I'm actually skipping a tone, going to the next pitch.
04:50So that's.
04:52But I start by bending to that seventh.
04:54And that's a nice tension tone, because we're still, we're on a static C sharp minor.
05:00So that note, that's the sixth scale degree.
05:04And so it's a kind of a cool.
05:07It's like the, it's like that, the ninth, where it wants to, it wants to resolve.
05:13So, but I'm bending up.
05:17Do that kind of thing all the time.
05:18As I'm wanting to gather even more energy and kind of a climax to the solo on that, when it gets to the five chord, I utilize this bend.
05:38That's a very bluesy way of approaching the five chord in that I'm, I'm starting on the, on the root.
05:44I'm bending from the flat third to the fourth.
05:50And instead of releasing to the flat third, it's flat, flat third plus.
05:55It's not quite the major third, not the minor third.
06:01It's all right.
06:05And I slide all the way up here to where I'm fretting the, the F sharp.
06:09I mean, yeah, the, the, the F sharp bending up to the G sharp.
06:12So here's the first time we get into a chromatic bend.
06:18So I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm achieving the root.
06:23Letting it descend to the natural seven to the flat seven.
06:26All the way up to that high C sharp bending from B to C sharp.
06:45Actually, I think I included the flat nine, didn't I?
06:49So there's a chromatic.
06:51All the way up to the flat nine from the flat seven.
06:53All the way up to the flat seven.
06:54All the way up to the flat seven.
06:55All the way up to the flat seven.
06:56All the way up to the flat seven.
06:57All the way up to the flat seven.
06:58All the way up to the flat seven.
06:59All the way up to the flat seven.
07:00All the way up to the flat seven.
07:01All the way up to the flat seven.
07:02All the way up to the flat seven.
07:03All the way up to the flat seven.
07:04All the way up to the flat seven.
07:05All the way up to the flat seven.
07:06All the way up to the flat seven.
07:07All the way up to the flat seven.
07:08All the way up to the flat seven.
07:09All the way up to the flat seven.
07:10All the way up to the flat seven.
07:11All the way up to the flat seven.
07:12All the way up to the flat seven.