Chords for Andy Timmons Guitar Lesson - One Finger, One String Explanation - Melodic Muse
Tempo:
120 bpm
Chords used:
A
Am
D
B
E
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
For our first concept, I want to share something with you that I've done.
When I got back into private teaching, not doing enough of it these days,
but when I got back into it about five years ago, I developed this little kind of exercise
to kind of check out where a player is and then immediately try to help them with playing more melodically.
And essentially the concept is I would sit with my student and we would just kind of play,
come up with a simple chord progression, usually A minor [B] to G to F,
and just have them play, just have them, you know, just rock out, play some blues,
whatever they're comfortable doing, gives me a sense of where they are, what they're playing, etc.
But then what I like to do is I take everything that they know and I take it away from them.
I'm going to do the same thing to you right now.
So this concept is very simple.
It's basically limiting you to playing on one string and with one finger.
So you can call it the one finger, one string approach.
Let's say it's an approach, right?
And so over this chord progression, which is what we're going to apply this to today,
it [Am] is indeed A minor to [G] G major [F] to F major to [G] G major.
[Gb] And so for most players, you know, most everybody's pretty comfortable in the key of A.
They [Am] got the A minor pentatonic.
[Eb] [C]
[Am]
[A] [Am] [D]
[A] All that's going to sound great.
All your A minor pentatonic.
Those that are more astute might realize,
okay, this all relates to [B] [D] Aeolian, you know, [A] six motives C major.
[D] So they may be thinking [Am] scales,
[D] [Am] [Em] [A]
maybe thinking blues licks.
[E] [Bb]
[D] [E] So it may sound great, right?
And usually sounds fine.
But then with this exercise, then I will apply, after they've done that,
then I introduce this concept of, okay, now taking all that away from you,
you got one finger and [A] one string.
And essentially what I give them is the G string and your index finger.
And we're going to take the pentatonic scale on that one string,
going to add the second scale degree, because I like that sound.
But I'm avoiding the sixth scale degree for a very specific reason.
But here are the notes.
You got that A in the second fret on the G string,
[B] B, fourth [Bb] fret, fifth fret C, [D] seventh fret D, [Em] ninth fret E,
then skipping the sixth scale degree and jumping to [Gm] the G on the twelfth fret,
and then back up to [A] the A on the fourteenth fret.
[E] So now what I usually encourage is, now let's play that same chord progression,
but limiting you to that finger and that string and those notes, right?
And I've experienced such epiphanies with so many of these players where
they may have been sounding fine with the material that they were presenting
prior to me introducing this concept.
But as soon as I take all that away [A] and they start playing,
all they have is their ear.
And that's when some magic happens.
Nine times out of ten, melodies start happening.
And why is that?
It's part intellectual, because I've given you some intellect,
I've given you some parameters, but then what's guiding that process
is what I'm calling the aural act.
By hearing the one note, they're being guided to something else.
They want to move that somewhere.
And where's it going to go?
So we're going to give some examples here.
I'm going to do the same approach myself,
and I want you to also try it with a backing track.
I want you to play.
I want you to just have fun with the track as you normally would play,
and then introduce this
When I got back into private teaching, not doing enough of it these days,
but when I got back into it about five years ago, I developed this little kind of exercise
to kind of check out where a player is and then immediately try to help them with playing more melodically.
And essentially the concept is I would sit with my student and we would just kind of play,
come up with a simple chord progression, usually A minor [B] to G to F,
and just have them play, just have them, you know, just rock out, play some blues,
whatever they're comfortable doing, gives me a sense of where they are, what they're playing, etc.
But then what I like to do is I take everything that they know and I take it away from them.
I'm going to do the same thing to you right now.
So this concept is very simple.
It's basically limiting you to playing on one string and with one finger.
So you can call it the one finger, one string approach.
Let's say it's an approach, right?
And so over this chord progression, which is what we're going to apply this to today,
it [Am] is indeed A minor to [G] G major [F] to F major to [G] G major.
[Gb] And so for most players, you know, most everybody's pretty comfortable in the key of A.
They [Am] got the A minor pentatonic.
[Eb] [C]
[Am]
[A] [Am] [D]
[A] All that's going to sound great.
All your A minor pentatonic.
Those that are more astute might realize,
okay, this all relates to [B] [D] Aeolian, you know, [A] six motives C major.
[D] So they may be thinking [Am] scales,
[D] [Am] [Em] [A]
maybe thinking blues licks.
[E] [Bb]
[D] [E] So it may sound great, right?
And usually sounds fine.
But then with this exercise, then I will apply, after they've done that,
then I introduce this concept of, okay, now taking all that away from you,
you got one finger and [A] one string.
And essentially what I give them is the G string and your index finger.
And we're going to take the pentatonic scale on that one string,
going to add the second scale degree, because I like that sound.
But I'm avoiding the sixth scale degree for a very specific reason.
But here are the notes.
You got that A in the second fret on the G string,
[B] B, fourth [Bb] fret, fifth fret C, [D] seventh fret D, [Em] ninth fret E,
then skipping the sixth scale degree and jumping to [Gm] the G on the twelfth fret,
and then back up to [A] the A on the fourteenth fret.
[E] So now what I usually encourage is, now let's play that same chord progression,
but limiting you to that finger and that string and those notes, right?
And I've experienced such epiphanies with so many of these players where
they may have been sounding fine with the material that they were presenting
prior to me introducing this concept.
But as soon as I take all that away [A] and they start playing,
all they have is their ear.
And that's when some magic happens.
Nine times out of ten, melodies start happening.
And why is that?
It's part intellectual, because I've given you some intellect,
I've given you some parameters, but then what's guiding that process
is what I'm calling the aural act.
By hearing the one note, they're being guided to something else.
They want to move that somewhere.
And where's it going to go?
So we're going to give some examples here.
I'm going to do the same approach myself,
and I want you to also try it with a backing track.
I want you to play.
I want you to just have fun with the track as you normally would play,
and then introduce this
Key:
A
Am
D
B
E
A
Am
D
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ For our first concept, I want to share something with you that I've done.
_ When I got back into private teaching, _ not doing enough of it these days,
but when I got back into it about five years ago, I developed this little kind of exercise
to kind of check out where a player is and then immediately try to help them with playing more melodically.
And essentially the concept is I would sit with my student and we would just kind of play,
come up with a simple chord progression, usually A minor [B] to G to F,
and just have them play, just have them, you know, just rock out, play some blues,
whatever they're comfortable doing, gives me a sense of where they are, what they're playing, etc.
But then what I like to do is I take everything that they know and I take it away from them.
I'm going to do the same thing to you right now.
So this concept is very simple.
It's basically limiting you to playing on one string and with one finger.
So you can call it the one finger, one string _ approach.
Let's say it's an approach, right?
And so over this chord progression, which is what we're going to apply this to today,
it [Am] is indeed A minor to [G] G major [F] to F major to [G] G major.
[Gb] And so for most players, you know, most everybody's pretty comfortable in the key of A.
They [Am] got the A minor pentatonic. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ [A] All that's going to sound great.
All your A minor pentatonic.
_ Those that are more astute might realize,
okay, this all relates to [B] _ [D] Aeolian, _ _ _ _ _ you know, [A] six motives C major. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] So they may be thinking [Am] scales, _ _ _
[D] _ _ [Am] _ [Em] _ _ _ [A] _
maybe thinking blues licks.
[E] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _
[D] _ _ [E] _ _ _ So it may sound great, right?
And usually sounds fine.
But then with this exercise, then I will apply, after they've done that,
then I introduce this concept of, okay, now taking all that away from you,
you got one finger and [A] one string.
And essentially what I give them is the G string and your index finger.
_ And we're going to take the pentatonic scale on that one string,
going to add the second scale degree, because I like that sound.
But I'm avoiding the sixth scale degree for a very specific reason.
But here are the notes.
You got that A in the second fret on the G string,
_ _ [B] B, fourth [Bb] fret, fifth fret C, [D] _ seventh fret D, [Em] ninth fret E,
then skipping the sixth scale degree and jumping to [Gm] the G _ on the twelfth fret,
and then back up to [A] the A on the fourteenth fret. _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ So now what I usually encourage is, now let's play that same chord progression, _
but limiting you to that finger and that string and those notes, right?
_ And I've experienced such epiphanies with so many of these players where
they may have been sounding fine with the material that they were presenting
prior to me introducing this concept.
But as soon as I take all that away [A] and they start playing,
all they have is their ear. _ _
_ And that's when some magic happens.
Nine times out of ten, _ melodies start happening.
And why is that? _
_ It's part intellectual, because I've given you some intellect,
I've given you some parameters, but then what's guiding that process
is what I'm calling the aural act.
By hearing the one note, they're being guided to something else.
They want to _ _ move that somewhere.
And where's it going to go?
_ _ So we're going to give some examples here.
I'm going to do the same approach myself,
and I want you to also try it with a backing track.
I want you to play.
I want you to just have fun with the track as you normally would play,
and then introduce this
_ For our first concept, I want to share something with you that I've done.
_ When I got back into private teaching, _ not doing enough of it these days,
but when I got back into it about five years ago, I developed this little kind of exercise
to kind of check out where a player is and then immediately try to help them with playing more melodically.
And essentially the concept is I would sit with my student and we would just kind of play,
come up with a simple chord progression, usually A minor [B] to G to F,
and just have them play, just have them, you know, just rock out, play some blues,
whatever they're comfortable doing, gives me a sense of where they are, what they're playing, etc.
But then what I like to do is I take everything that they know and I take it away from them.
I'm going to do the same thing to you right now.
So this concept is very simple.
It's basically limiting you to playing on one string and with one finger.
So you can call it the one finger, one string _ approach.
Let's say it's an approach, right?
And so over this chord progression, which is what we're going to apply this to today,
it [Am] is indeed A minor to [G] G major [F] to F major to [G] G major.
[Gb] And so for most players, you know, most everybody's pretty comfortable in the key of A.
They [Am] got the A minor pentatonic. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ [A] All that's going to sound great.
All your A minor pentatonic.
_ Those that are more astute might realize,
okay, this all relates to [B] _ [D] Aeolian, _ _ _ _ _ you know, [A] six motives C major. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] So they may be thinking [Am] scales, _ _ _
[D] _ _ [Am] _ [Em] _ _ _ [A] _
maybe thinking blues licks.
[E] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _
[D] _ _ [E] _ _ _ So it may sound great, right?
And usually sounds fine.
But then with this exercise, then I will apply, after they've done that,
then I introduce this concept of, okay, now taking all that away from you,
you got one finger and [A] one string.
And essentially what I give them is the G string and your index finger.
_ And we're going to take the pentatonic scale on that one string,
going to add the second scale degree, because I like that sound.
But I'm avoiding the sixth scale degree for a very specific reason.
But here are the notes.
You got that A in the second fret on the G string,
_ _ [B] B, fourth [Bb] fret, fifth fret C, [D] _ seventh fret D, [Em] ninth fret E,
then skipping the sixth scale degree and jumping to [Gm] the G _ on the twelfth fret,
and then back up to [A] the A on the fourteenth fret. _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ So now what I usually encourage is, now let's play that same chord progression, _
but limiting you to that finger and that string and those notes, right?
_ And I've experienced such epiphanies with so many of these players where
they may have been sounding fine with the material that they were presenting
prior to me introducing this concept.
But as soon as I take all that away [A] and they start playing,
all they have is their ear. _ _
_ And that's when some magic happens.
Nine times out of ten, _ melodies start happening.
And why is that? _
_ It's part intellectual, because I've given you some intellect,
I've given you some parameters, but then what's guiding that process
is what I'm calling the aural act.
By hearing the one note, they're being guided to something else.
They want to _ _ move that somewhere.
And where's it going to go?
_ _ So we're going to give some examples here.
I'm going to do the same approach myself,
and I want you to also try it with a backing track.
I want you to play.
I want you to just have fun with the track as you normally would play,
and then introduce this