MELODIC MUSE by Andy Timmons
HYBRID VEHICLE, PART 1
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. 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
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. 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 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Hey, everybody.
00:19 Andy Timmons here.
00:19 Welcome back to Melodic Muse, my column for Guitar World.
00:22 Today we're going to look at my tune, "On Your Way, Sweet Soul,"
00:25 from the theme from A Perfect World CD by the Andy Timmons band.
00:28 And it's a pretty simple melodic tune.
00:31 And what I was recognizing in the way I played the melody,
00:33 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
00:42 and see what the beauty can be with hybrid picking.
00:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:48,
01:18 As we get into playing this verse of "On Your Way, Sweet Soul," first,
01:22 we do need to know the chord, progressional chords.
01:24 It's all E major.
01:25 It's very simple.
01:27 E major 7 to C sharp minor 9, and then an A major with a bit of a sharp 11
01:40 sound.
01:40 So the melodic content that I'll be employing
01:46 is all pretty much E major pentatonic with a little bit of just E major
01:50 scale.
01:51 In this bit of the solo now, again, we're
01:53 talking about the use of the pick, but also the use of the fingers.
01:57 And so obviously with the pick or the plectrum,
02:02 you're getting a very specific sound.
02:03 But there's a lot of variance you can get with dynamics.
02:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:10 How light, how hard.
02:12 Some pick harmonics.
02:15 Well, the same thing goes when you also use the flesh, the finger.
02:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:21 So when I'm doing any kind of hybrid picking type thing,
02:25 I am basically using my pick and then using my middle finger.
02:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:35 So maybe just come up first with a quick scale.
02:37 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:42 Or I'm picking the first on the G string.
02:46 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:49 Just to get comfortable.
02:50 But listen to some of the overtone.
02:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:55 You can get by just using the flesh and just how I'm kind of picking up
02:58 underneath it.
02:59 Of course, look no further than Mark Knopfler and Jeff Beck
03:02 for great examples of guys that used--
03:05 with Jeff later in his career, of course, almost exclusively
03:09 using his fingers and then Mark Knopfler as well.
03:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:15 So this first phrase--
03:15 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:19 I was thinking about that E major position here.
03:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:23 Now I'm using the pick on the G string to pick the note B.
03:28 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:31 And then bending up from the F sharp to the G sharp.
03:33 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:37 And it's just giving that note a real dynamic pop.
03:40 I'm kind of slapping.
03:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:43 Quite slapping on the bass.
03:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:46 Just picking up underneath it and kind of snapping the string.
03:48 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:52 It would be a lot of harmonic if I hit it just right.
03:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:00 And there again, now I rise up to a different position.
04:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:09 Up to that 11th fret on the G string,
04:11 bending up a whole step to--
04:12 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:15 That G sharp.
04:16 It's a real sweet note over that E major.
04:18 It's the third of the chord.
04:19 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:23 And then--
04:25 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:28 And that phrase there is interesting,
04:32 because I'm going back down to the other position, bending up.
04:35 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:38 And then there's a little--
04:39 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:41 It's a hammer, then a note out of nowhere.
04:42 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:44 Pull off.
04:45 Then I'm just hammering the note E on the G string.
04:48 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:49 And then pulling it off to C sharp,
04:50 because we're on the C sharp chord now.
04:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:55 Then hammering and bending again.
04:59 So a lot of information without any right hand.
05:01 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:06 And then going down to the note B on the G string.
05:08 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:11 And using the middle index finger again,
05:13 instead of using the pick.
05:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:16 Wanted to get that flesh on there.
05:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:21 And that--
05:24 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:27 So we're on the A major now.
05:31 So I'm leaning.
05:31 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:35 So all that melody is heading down to--
05:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:40 Getting to that C sharp, because I'm always
05:41 going to be, at some point of that bar,
05:43 hitting that third of that chord.
05:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:49 And this note--
05:49 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:52 That's that sharp 11.
05:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:56 So it's just really nice melodic content.
06:01 But also, you know, starting with that middle finger.
06:04 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:07 This is all pick.
06:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:13 And then a little harbor.
06:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:16 That's E major pentatonic.
06:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:19 So just a pick, hammer, then middle finger.
06:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:25 I'm getting a nice little resolution there up here
06:29 in this position, seventh fret.
06:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:32 So with my middle finger, I've got the pinky on the note E
06:36 on that ninth fret, and then the G sharp A.
06:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:40 Using the pick on the right hand,
06:41 and just using my index finger.
06:42 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:45 Yeah.
06:46 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:49 Another little hybrid.
06:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:59 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:03 So as you can see, when you're playing simple melodic phrases,
07:12 it's really handy to have a really wide palette of tones
07:16 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
07:21 sits there and breathes a bit.
07:23 So by having the pick and the different sound of the flesh,
07:26 you can really, really broaden that palette.
07:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:33 (upbeat music)
07:36 you