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
00:00Hey everybody, Andy Timmons. Welcome back to Melodic Muse for Guitar World. And we're
00:21continuing talking about building, and today we're going to put some of these pieces together
00:25and play over a C-sharp minor blues. So I'm going to be trying to do the best I can to
00:30play some really beautiful melodies with bending, and I hope it inspires you. So let's get into
01:25it. So here's the chord progression.
01:55So
02:25as I start the solo, you know, I've always kind of have some kind of potential direction in mind.
02:33I want to start simply, and as the lines build, you'll see that I'm kind of ascending up the neck,
02:39as even though it's just one time through a blues form, and I might continue playing as the band
02:44vamps up, but even just this one time through the form, it's got a certain direction. It's
02:51starting kind of low, and building up, and building excitement, and kind of climaxing
02:55in a certain way before the band comes in fully. So when I start off on that C-sharp minor,
02:59I might not be remembering verbatim what I played, but some of the basic things that I was
03:07doing, and it's all really revolving around bending melodies through the chord tones, right? So I'm
03:12going to be very aware that if I'm on C-sharp minor 7, I know where the root is, where that
03:18third is, particularly, the fifth is, and where the flat 7 is, and where the root is, right? So
03:25I played something to the... right? So I'm making a melody, bending up to the 9th. Another common
03:39thing I do quite a bit is, even though I'm bending up to a scale tone, I might bend again to the next
03:45scale tone, and that's what I'm doing. I'm bending up to the 9th from the C-sharp, and then adding
03:52another half-step to that by achieving the third. Because again, I know that's kind of... that's
03:57what's outlining that harmony. That's what's giving you the tone of the chord. But I'm really
04:06featuring more of the 9th, because it's more of a... it's more of a kind of a tension note.
04:10Then I resolve it in a way, so I'm coming back down to the root, and eventually back down to the
04:17fifth. You know, the next... in the next phrase I get into, I'm bending further up through. There
04:34I get up, I'm getting up into this position here in the 9th fret, where I'm bending from the 5th
04:39to the flat 7th. Now that's a minor 3rd bend. So this time I'm not going up to the next
04:46scalar pitch, I'm actually skipping a tone, going to the next pitch. So that's... but I start by
04:53bending to that 7th, and that's a nice tension tone, because we're still on a static C-sharp
05:00minor. So that note, that's the sixth scale degree. So it's a kind of a cool... it's like
05:08that, the 9th, where it wants to resolve. So, but I'm bending up...
05:17Do that kind of thing all the time.
05:28Because I'm wanting to gather even more energy and kind of a climax to the solo,
05:32and then when it gets to the 5 chord, I utilize this bend.
05:38That's a very bluesy way of approaching the 5 chord, in that I'm starting on the root,
05:46bending from the flat 3rd to the 4th. And instead of releasing the flat 3rd,
05:53it's flat 3rd plus. It's not quite the major 3rd, not the minor 3rd.
05:58It's all right.
06:05Then I slide all the way up here, to where I'm fretting the F-sharp, I mean, yeah,
06:11the F-sharp bending up to the G-sharp. Here's the first time we get into a chromatic bend.
06:18So I'm achieving the root,
06:23letting it descend to the natural 7th, into the flat 7th.
06:28And all the way up to that high C-sharp bending from B to C-sharp.
06:45Actually, I think I included the flat 9, didn't I?
06:49So there's a chromatic all the way up to the flat 9 from the flat 7th.