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Posted by: Ben Higgins Apr 5 2015, 08:30 PM

If you've heard of bending from 'outside' notes then chances are you've heard of Marty Friedman. Many of you will know it from a jazz perspective but for us rockers Marty was the first one who attuned our ears to this new phenomenon.

What is it exactly? Well, an 'outside' note is any note not found within a scale.

So, if you were playing the B Minor scale like below, the outside notes will be any that is not indicated by the circle markers.



If you play an outside note over a chord then it will sound obviously out of place. I hesitate to use the word 'wrong'. It's not wrong as such but it will probably be noticeable to the listener, whether it's to their taste or not. If you play several outside notes in a row then it will definitely be noticeable!

If it's not on purpose then it's a mistake.. if it is on purpose then it's jazz

I digress. An outside note will be noticeable by the fact that is draws the listener to the fact it doesn't harmonically sound quite right. So when you play that note and bend it up into another tone that IS within the scale, it resolves the tension.

So, you've caught the listener, suggested a moment of discomfort and then totally blown that away by reaching a harmonically 'correct' tone. It's incredibly effective (as long as it's not overdone).

Going back to the B Minor scale diagram, you could try this for an example. Instead of playing the first 3 intervals as they are play the root, then the 2nd, then play C (which is the outside tone) and bend it up a whole tone so that it becomes the minor 3rd, the note of D. This is a popular Friedman trick which I stole for myself a long time ago and so should you!

And that's just one possible.. you can do pretty much anything with this. Aaaand, if you're particularly sneaky you can use it when you accidentally slide up to a wrong note. How many times have you slid up only to be a semitone too short? How annoying is that? Well, start being prepared to bend any note up a semitone just in case you don't land where you wanted. You might actually start doing it deliberately anyway just to get that outside bend effect. If you happen to slide up to a note that's 'in' and accidentally bend it up into another 'out' tone, just shift your finger up a fret and follow it up with yet another semitone.

I deliberately haven't accompanied this paragraph with any examples because I want you to try it for yourself and maybe you'll discover something different anyway

If you've understood and been intrigued by this concept then try out this lesson I made specifically to practise it.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Bending-from-Outside-Notes-Marty-Friedman-Style/

So, if you hit a wrong note, bend it into a 'right' one. If you don't, just pretend it's jazz.

Posted by: MisterM Apr 9 2015, 06:06 AM

Hi Ben

I think I've already heard this bend style without knowing the guy playing.
That I know : your lesson is full of emotion, I like bending style....

I'll try this later, when I finished my current lessons

Thank you

Posted by: Ben Higgins Apr 9 2015, 11:18 AM

QUOTE (MisterM @ Apr 9 2015, 05:06 AM)

Hi Ben

I think I've already heard this bend style without knowing the guy playing.
That I know : your lesson is full of emotion, I like bending style....

I'll try this later, when I finished my current lessons

Thank you