@@hler7576 Did they tho? I almost felt like he provoked a mass "oh god we do do that, dont we?" kind of reaction xD Almost like it was good that it happened and it made alot of people want to freshen up their sound a little?
@@Pericles777 prog metal encompasses a lot more than just djent though as far as I know. I mean is Means End djent? I wouldn't say so, but maybe it is to some
There is a reason why big boomer bends is a GREAT controversy. A) it’s actually a huge insight about the changes in popular music when fully unpacked. B) it’s so tight. Just three words. C) we all know he is right at some level. D) Considering the source is one of our leading innovators of the electric guitar this is almost blasphemy from within the church. E) Tim is incredibly sweet about it while threatening the core of blues based guitar. I only wish he wouldn’t soften it. It’s such a great thing to argue about because it is about the nature of rock moving beyond the blues and it’s direct influence.
Not the place to ask, but are you ever bringing back The Portal? It's not even a year since your last episode but it feels like forever. Or just go talk to Sam Harris on his podcast. Me along with I'm sure many others miss your voice.
Tim Henson doesn't just want to undermine blues guitar playing, he said in an interview with MusicRadar that he wants all "guitar music" to end. Guitars are precocious instruments, and I think Tim realizes how much this limits music. Instead of relying on bends to convey the cathartic emotions underlying blues music, why not find more creative and intentional alternatives through harmony and rhythm? This is the Hip-hop philosophy. I like your point (C). I think even Hendrix knew it. Following the B.B. King era, Hendrix represented the beginning of integrating harmonic elements, like double stops, with melody in guitar solos. I believe we are currently witnessing an extension of that idea.
you lost all credibility with point C... we all know he is right at some level? ultimately, the most beautiful thing about music is that there is no such thing as right or wrong, and the moment you begin trying to apply such rules is the moment you forfeit your ability to call yourself an artist... is Tim right? well, Tim might be right for Tim, but Tim is not the omnipotent arbiter of music and there are no immutable laws which apply to music theory
Please point out at least on piece of work by Tim that is supposedly threatening anything besides soulless boredom. Something besides a jazz-style technical masturbation session, basically.
Yeah I feel bad for those guys having to sit there awkwardly while being filmed but its also amusing. I vote to rename them "Prince Neck Tattoo And His Humble Moustache Crew". Dude seems cool though.
The love and admiration Rick has for fellow guitarists is palpable. Tim is a hugely impressive young guitarist with a mature perspective. No wonder Rick is a big supporter.
Love the" boomer bends" the "weedly weelie", the "chugga chugga", the "drop D darkness" and the "wiggle stick tricks" as well as being able to play as acurate as a "trip hammer". It's all good.
I think we can all agree that players in the 70's and 80's defined so much of what is modern day guitar playing and any player who has ever tried to put that "feel" element into their playing knows how tough it is. it's not as simple as learning the blues scale and doing double stops. Great players make those bends give emotion and that's something that I see a lot of younger players respecting a lot. And likewise I love seeing older players get tripped out from the modern day techniques. That mutual respect is guitar playing at it's best!
I actually like some modern and old players and if I never listened to fusion or Jazz or some modern metal, I might have not even thought of some techniques I now use and like like double picking and those fast little bends like Mike Moreno does. I like many genres, but I think it's even good for some guitarists to even check out genres they don't like for maybe finding some techniques they might like and use. "Feel" is subjective, but I think even with lots of distortion some people could still get feel. One solo that comes to my mind for more distortion feel right away is The Best of Times ending solo, but yeah of course lots of guitar players around before the 2000s making music influenced a lot of guitar players today. I respect how Eddie Van Halen actually inspired many, even some players I like, even though I really like his stuff.
Gilmour is a perfect example of emotion and feel rather than showcasing technique. Very unique solos that reflect his path in life, which cant be taught.
Exactly where I’m at. I’m looking and looking for something that I latch onto but I just cannot get into the music. That being said every single member of this band is an absolute master of their craft
@@vincenzomigliore9749 you nailed exactly how I feel as well, I think the EDM beats and trap music influence is the only thing which throws me off from really getting into them. There are some exceptions with songs like Neurotica which I really dig, that said they are all phenomenal musicians in the highest tiers of skill
@@cloudbloom One thing I respect though, is those beats are actually played on a real kit, with real drums, as opposed to everything being sampled on drumpads and exclusively looped through laptops. It's not easy, and since it's never the sounds but the prerecorded and general lack of talent necessary in EDM, this changes that for me.
I've always kinda pondered how people think he comes off as arrogant. I guess it's possible it just comes from the way the band presents itself, but he is like the most passive guitarist I've seen.
Thank you so much, Rick. I probably would never have heard of Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, or Misha Monsoor had it not been for your channel. You have opened up my musical world.
I think we can all agree that bending is an indispensable aspect of the guitar's expressiveness, especially as opposed to instruments that only play 'straight' notes (like a piano).
It's not about bending anyway. It's about how you bend. Same with pentatonic stuff. It's not the pentatonic scale itself, it's that stereotypical bluesy application of it that we think of when someone says pentatonic stuff which can be pretty corny.
@@Isaiah_McIntosh Yes of course, Tim was just using a colorful term to describe a certain kind of bending technique, but it is obvious he appreciates bending in its various forms.
If I remember right, Denny Dias was a notable guitarist who was known for not bending. I need to listen to his solos to verify, but maybe you guys are more familiar with his playing.
In essence "boomer bends" is about a generation finding its own voice and I personally find that very healthy. Just a few years ago we were discussing if rock music was dead and now we're essentially discussing what else a guitar can do that hasn't been done and how does the younger generations generate a voice.
And yet, after watching 2 of his videos with "boomer bends" in the title, I still have no idea what they are. Is it just any bend in general? Is it a large bend? Bending up to a tritone? A quarter tone bend up from a minor third?
@@telequacker-9529 It's when bends are used in a certain way. e.g. A whole step bend followed by playing the same note on the adjacent string. It was very common in classic rock songs. You can hear Tim mimicking the boomer bend with his voice a few times in this video.
@@telequacker-9529 what johnnycbad said. Perfect example of boomer bending is the solo in Black Sabbath's Paranoid. The second Tim does "way-neeh, way-neeh, way-neeh" Paranoid is what first comes to mind.
Ricks face when Tim hits the guitar head on the table, lmfao. Everyone has been in both seats of that moment for sure, holy hell what an awesome split second moment.
I’m pretty old school, grew up playing Zeppelin, Hendrix and Van Halen and have been slow to embrace or even listen to new music. When I stumbled upon Polyphia in a Pandora or Spotify mix it blew my mind and I was hooked. Tim is great, and rather than disrespectful he is carrying forward the tradition of his (and our) heroes- “Stand up next to a mountain and chop it down with the edge of your hand.” J. Hendrix 😃
Honestly, I think the difference in generations is that the younger generations have the advantage of learning faster and sharing techniques easier due to having the Internet. I'm gen-x, so I had to learn by ear off the record, and new techniques were shared by either taking some lessons in person or learning them off a friend in their basement. Having the Internet to hone your craft is a HUGE advantage! I see young dudes in their teens with the same skills I had to work towards for 15 years haha!
Yeah, as a fellow Gen-Xer i had to listen with big ass headphones on when learning to play. I had this giant cassette/turn table stereo with EQ so i could isolate just the guitar or bass or drums.
They still make music today? I have yet to hear anything modern that isn't dismal trash. I do agree with you some some extent. However, your point has just made the awful state of music today even more unbelievable.
I remember how hyped I was, when a friend showed me how to play pinch harmonics. Before that, I was absolutely convinced that I am missing some effects that were necessary to play those.
I can't help but smile any time anyone shouts out Mateus. He's by far been my biggest guitar-inspiration in my life and I think he deserves all the accolades and so much more! Bend on
I absolutely love the Boomer Bends term. We need this. Creates more interest in guitar playing across all generations. That benefits all of us! More guitar players = thriving scene = more music with guitar. Win for all of us!
@@j.d.o5709 I disagree. It is extremely accurate. He's not talking about bends in general, but a particular style of bending that instantly evokes classic rock, hence the boomer bit. I do it a lot, and like the sound, but this is a reminder to not overuse it, because it's been done a lot. He's right, there are generational differences in guitar playing.
@@j.d.o5709 it refers to old style blues bending that got overused to convey feeling, he just wanted people to be more creative with their bends instead of using the same old stuff
Nice bonus at the end with the discussion and demonstrations of Tim's plugins. I think we need some videos on ear training to learn how to distinguish various levels of compression, chorus, reverb, gain, etc. Rick, your ability to recognize these things is amazing.
There is definitely a distinction between Blues based bending (boomer bends)and what he is doing. Tim and his band are really paying attention to everything around them from video game music to EDM and so much more as well as vocal style bends of classic rock.
I thought it was funny. It's not like he was disrespecting everyone's guitar heroes. The boomer guitar heroes have such a massive degree of influence, fame, and historical significance that the current young guitar players can never hope to achieve. And kudos to these guys for aiming at different sounds/techniques rather than just trying to rehash what has already been done.
Why can't the current young guitar players not achieve the same? That's total BS. I get most inspired by current artists. A Jimmy Page or Slash doesn't make me want to pick up my guitar. Maybe. Erica Johnson and Yngwie but that's about it and I'm going on 40.
@@mike04574 to be honest though, that is a very old on going joke, I dont think is a big deal, he is just getting on the boomer/dad guitar joke wagon, guys like nik nocturnal, rudy adobe and the subreddit where guitar players mock other players and stuff make similar if not even more offensive jokes all the time, the dad or blues or now, boomer bends being a very old joke running
It's fun to see how Rick and Tim are just laughing at this "controversy" and the reactions of the internet. I thought what Tim said about learning the "boomer bends" from classic rock and that being a rite of passage was really interesting. It reminds me of how the greatest players absorb, learn, incorporate and then transcend the techniques and style of those that preceded them.
I'm a boomer and yes, we bend. We also laugh at ourselves and are not so precious to break before we bend. I love the comment Tim made during that conversation and I'm also glad that you both got together to clear it up something that is nothing. At least we get to see you both some more. As Tim said with the appropriate tone, you gotta love the internet!
He is an absolute amazing, accomplished, virtuoso guitarist that has been and currently is making fresh new guitar music that has never been done before. If it was 1985 when being a super virtuoso guitarist was what everyone wanted to be, was so popular so widely accepted, everyone wanted to go to shows to see that style of music being played and also people bought albums Tim would be a household name he would be so widely accepted he would be a guitar hero like malmsteen, Steve vai, Eddie Van Halen. In the current time with guitar music not being very popular it’s pretty surprising he and his band are as big as they are but obviously that because of the pure talent and extremely high quality music. Tim is very well respected but man if he was coming up in the 80’s he would be one of the top 5 guitar hero’s of the 80’s, I think most people will kinda understand what I am trying to say.
Music is extremely temporal and this style would likely not make any sense in the 80s or 90s. Players "like this" back then may have had an album on Shrapnel, but it's unclear if people would be interested in a 60 something yr old playing this way these days. I think Tim is perfectly placed in time. Most of what players like this show (yes, there are -many-) is completely composed beforehand. Their development of the language tends to be limited in exchange for composition and performance. There's nothing wrong with this. Just a different choice. Tim is one of my favorites not just because I like his playing so much, but because he found a voice that managed to break through the noise. That's not an easy thing to do.
Everything on the internet has haters Responding to them keeps them relevant Just say less, I've actually learned, it takes more than being a virtuoso to write good music, Aw man I could play some immaculent complicated stuff, but what good is it if it doesn't interest anyone? Like a random frank zappa song of just noises and guitar solos, people who don't know what's going on won't get it. This is why polyphia is actually successful while playing virtuosity It has to have the "beat" sound to it. It has to be trendy and modern, (the album covers say this a lot) It's like, virtuosic playing, but, with a loss of integrity by trying to use rap or hip hop sounds as a means of being popular, I mean, take red hot chili peppers, Both the guitarist and the bassist, are separately famous for being amazing virtuosic players, But when you go back and look over their music from 2022 back to the 80s, You can hear they didn't change their sound or follow any trends through their entire career, Even their recently released album has that same feel and energy that they've always had, But the thing about Flea an John, they know exactly what *not* to play to give more feel in the song, (Knowing what not to play, probably the most important part of playing funk) I'm not saying Tim henson is bad or anything, I'm not saying beats are bad or anything, I'm just saying it's not about virtuosity, but it's also not about "not trying" There's some middle ground between your ability and what you're able to explore as an artist I want to see artists explore more what "paintings" they can make rather than how complex can they play
@@selfactualizer2099 Right on. Check out Tatran. They could fill the louvre with all of their "paintings." What's really interesting is that music like Polyphia seems to represent and express the younger generations so well. The precarity, the sheer volume of information they're exposed to, the pacing of the modern world, its all in there. This is one of the reasons I really appreciate their music. It's temporal, its relevant, it's incredibly well executed. Beyond that, it doesn't matter if you like it anymore because it's so damn reflective of the times. To me, that is the very definition of art.
I almost bought into the bs everyone was spewing about this kid. I’m happy I didn’t rush to judgment. He’s a good kid and has a very original sound to his playing.
TIL: the biggest difference between blues and jazz that an idiot like me can tell is that blues abuses tf outta bends and if you find some in jazz they're not only rare but there was probably a specific point being made by the performer.
The band sitting there silently observing Tim and Rick interact reminds me of the scene from Dances with Wolves when Kevin Costner's character is showing the Sioux Indians how to make coffee lol.
Well anytime something is good people try and imitate it. Sometimes to it’s own detriment which I think is what he was saying. Puts you in a box rather than being fully expressive anymore.
@@JosePineda-jn8jk Hmm, I didn't get that vibe. He was describing it as just a particular way of playing notes. A tool in the toolbox. A style of playing that he considers to have been common in the '80s. Yes, music styles move on, and those bends might not be used as much, but at the same time he specifically says that he *does* use it, so he obviously feels that it's still got its place!
@@Bramble451 Oh but I’m referring to the original interview where they were discussing different types of ways to push guitar playing forward. He does explain himself here but the context of the original conversation I think is also important. And that is the vibe I got from the original thing which kind of explains why he defends it the way he does here. But even just piggybacking off what you said he uses those things to play a specific style which to me does indicate putting yourself in a box rather than being able to use everything and anything.
"Controversy" lol. The term fits really well because that whole era of guitar playing in popular music was greatly defined by the integration of blues elements, bending being one of the most obvious aspects.
I had the pleasure and privilege of watching an intimate concert in the early-mid eighties of the " Passion, Grace and Fire" tour of Al Di Meola, John Mclaughlin and Paco De Lucia. The opening act was one of my favorite guitarists Steve Morse, as with the main attraction also on acoustic guitar. At the end of the show he was invited to sit-in with the other three for the encores. Four awesome guitar icons side by side trading solos. While Steve Morse could shred like all the others (and the audience knew that) and the others were busy playing "Tumeni Notes" he chose to add tastefull bends to his solos. For every bend he'd get an appreciating cheer from the audience who by then was swamped by all the technicality of the concert. He stole the show!
The stats on Spotify confirm, there is a huge increase in interest in the music from the 60's through to the 90's from a demographic in their 20's, there is no reciprocal trend.
Could be a valid critique on the music, but also seems like a valid observation that younger people are often actively looking to discover new inspiration while many older people have stopped searching for new inspiration.
@@philip6502 Nah, it's because it's been scientifically proven that after a certain age your brain actively rejects new music if you haven't already gotten it in the habit of searching for new music. It's just the reality, it's the reason that every generation the older people look down on the younger people's new music. Has nothing to do with quality, has everything to do with old people letting their brains stagnate in terms of actively searching for new music. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing I'll let you decide, doesn't change the fact that it's the truth though.
I think the issue with "boomer bends" isn't so much the tasteful ones - the issue becomes when people, trying to imitate the playing style of some fantastic guitarists, reduce their style down to "does bends," without understanding the broader context of when or why. It's just a way to describe a really reductive genre trope, the same way people are with "SoundCloud rapper-" is that moniker ever used positively anymore?
Exactly right, they lack the musical context to why they are bending. I feel a lot of rock and metal guitarists have a hard time remembering that blues and gosple birthed their music
Hey Rick, if you're ever in the mood to review bands with 80's/70's influence, I highly suggest *awesome* band today called *Fire* *Tiger* ... Influences include Survivor, Journey, Heart, The Cure, Van Halen, U2, Laura Brannigan, Jefferson Starship, etc. They've got so many great songs, but I'd start with Energy.
I agree but obviously he felt that he had to. “Boomer” is widely used as an ageist insult, unfortunately. There were people who thought he was insulting them and being condescending about the music they like, and the guitar style they like to play.
Gen X here… much ado about nothing. If I’m playing a straight (classical) or jazz bends just aren’t there. Everything else is fair game. The poor kid shouldn’t bow to the mob, especially in a matter as subjective as music.
@@jimmycampbell78 Boomer is a slur. It's either slurs for all, or slurs for none. Anything less is unequal. So the boomers get to be offended. I don't see the problem.
Jeff Beck was the first player to break the 'Boomer bend' mould with his very square precise 'keytar' like bends in imitation of Jan Hammer mid 70s. Boomers Vai and Satriani built on this in the 80s. Hendrix and Michael Landau are probably the greatest 'Boomer benders' in my book.
Blues guitar technique influenced "classic rock" for so damn long, so the name fits. The thing is, blues bends were adopted by guitarists to imitate blues *vocalists* doing a "blues wail", which is even more expressive when hitting a blue note, in that liminal space between semitones.
I am happy to hear this it gives me an opportunity to keep my early boomer playing style fresh. I liked the last video where you talked about the blues disappearing, had not thought of that and me having really started at the beginning of the blues rock craze
I'm not into Polyphia but I can really respect those guys. Tim has some really great chord voicings that he uses and obviously intense chops. Seems like a nice dude as well . They're all fantastic musicians and clearly put a lot of work into their craft.
His playing is super impressive but what really got me hooked as a fan from the early years was the overall composition of each track. I feel like he has a good ear for writing distinct motifs and let's things breathe and leaves space for each band member/ production styles. Your comment was 2 weeks old so I know you've probably heard their new stuff but would love to hear your opinion on their newest song Ego Death
"Boomer bends" is the funniest description for that specific type of bend and I will die on the boomer bend hill if that isn't the greatest fucking description I've ever heard. I am somehow surprised people got mad about it because Tim was clearly just describing that very stereotypical bluesy stuff and not even in a derogative way. It was just a comment trying to place where in time it was most iconic. I'm here for it and I cannot wait for the sequel trilogy, Gen X'pected Drop D, Millennial Djent-ing and the Gen Z Spacebar. 🤣🤣🤣
Total respect for Henson. In my opinion, "boomer bends" are just basic bends, in their simplest forms. It's the player who makes the difference. Simple as that. Dimebag was a beast, but his awesome bends are nothing I haven't heard from EVH before. Mateus Asato's bends are tasteful, but they're nothing I haven't heard from David Gilmour before.
I'm a boomer and I knew EXACTLY what he meant when he said it - I thought that was really funny! This is how I now refer to them myself now - htanks Tim!
@@juankplaysmusic You're spreading negativity all over this comment section. Most of us are trying to have a pleasant conversation. Please consider the possibility that you might be overreacting.
Tim is so self aware for someone his age and someone that’s so absurdly talented and frankly that just elevates his greatness. Own the boomer bends, and laugh it off when someone coins the term ‘Henson voicing’ for jazzy rock inversions…
I'm late but I understood immediately what he meant. I then went to jam with someone i'd never met before and my first thought was "ah, he playing boomer bends" and chuckled internally.
Massive respect for Tim and Rick. Watching someone like Tim is very inspiring. I also enjoy the humor, it takes a quick wit for those kinds of remarks. Gladly adopting the boomer bends terminology :)
Noticed how Tim said "someone who played .... long before I was born" which sounds so properly respectful instead of "someone who played 30 years ago". He actually sounded a bit tentative as he strung those words together but still pulled it off like it was spontaneous. It's why the guy is such a marketing genius too....his sensibilities just puts everyone around him at ease, nothing about him offends.
I don't know who really got 'so mad'. I've ready many comments, and most people were trying to understand what did he really mean by that comment - "Did he mean the bends itself, or the style and/or application of them? Or maybe the tendency to overuse them, instead of playing actual interesting and expressive lines?". Things like that. And when asked by Rick, Tim kind of answered that, but mostly he was defensive about it, and needlessly so. As for the younger gens being softer, I'd say that the boomers were already pretty soft and self-indulging as a cohort, and it went downhill from there... Which is understandable, you know, 75 years of peace and prosperity in the West possibly makes each next generation progressively softer.
Not a big fan of this band,But in all honestly,This boy and his band can play man,Watched a few of there videos,He’s a good kid and outrageously talented,Great interview Rick👍👍
Poor Tim! definitely getting the sense that he feels under attack. It should be easy to tell he was joking if you've watched an interview of his. People gotta stop taking things personally , I play boomer bends all the time and I LOVE the way they sound
Unfortunately hes been attacked a few times for things he's said taken out of context. He did an interview and made a joke and people wanted to burn him at the stake thinking he was serious.
Rick. You influence me in ways guitarist's can't. Thank you bud. You inspire me to produce my music better. Will be releasing it soon and you are one of the people to thank. Thank you Rick.
@@j.d.o5709 I dont think thats why hes saying that. People criticize polyphia for playing too fast and not having enough emotion in their music. They're basically saying sorry we dont do boomer bends. Its a response to an insult.
@@j.d.o5709 “boomer bends” means bends played in boomer style. You know, those Eric Clapton and all other guitar players of the 60s and 70s. Led Zeppelin etc. Not all bends. Just like yellow cars doesn’t mean that all cars are yellow lol. And he didn’t say that they were wrong or stupid. He said that he doesn’t play them. He’s allowed to that. Just like jazz or blues players can say that about not shredding and not wanting to cos they don’t like it. Opinions are not the same as hating on something. Don’t be offended by opinions.
I’m 54 and thought it was funny, I don’t see what the problem is. I’ve been making fun of a certain type of boomer musician - their obsession with Eric Clapton and refusal to acknowledge music after 1980 - since I was in high school. So in my mind, he nailed it.
@@maidenthe80sla They insult pop music for being repetitive, but dare you make a passing comment about how you want to explore beyond the same set of old blues licks and melodies being played over the same 3 chord changes since 100 years.
@@aayandadan9340 Feelz = making faces while playing bendy blues licks, and Toanz = playing through low powered vintage pickups with tone knob turned all the way down. That's the only way to play electric guitar. Don't even think about doing anything else. Actually I take that back, Toanz of an electric guitar come from tonewood, obviously.
@Maiden the 80's L.A. I feel your pain, I’ve been catching hell for my outspoken views on music and “musical luddites” since I closed the door on classic rock when I was 15. My parents listened to rock at home, and my cousins were teenagers in the 70’s, and they started feeding me Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Aerosmith, David Bowie etc when I was in 1st grade. So by 1982 when I turned 15, I knew just about every major band & song on rock radio and just like you said, I was itching for something new. There was new wave in the US and all these amazing British bands like The Cure, Joy Division, Siouxsie and The Banshees, OMD, Wire…I didn’t need to listen to what later became “classic rock” because it was in my head and I owned a lot of records. So many people don’t get that and take it as a personal attack. I’m glad you responded first, because you & I are on the same page. I still love every band I’ve ever been into, but I have to keep moving forward and exploring new music. There’s so much good stuff out there!
I still use boomer bends all the time. I find they have great versatility and you can bend different intervals in relation to each other. PS: Tim Henson is a monster on guitar.
I'm 28, I also hate when people use the term Boomer due to the internet making it a low IQ response to problems/arguments. It's like when people say "Come on, it's **insert current year**). with that being said, anyone who got angry at Tim for saying Boomer Bends should take a chill pill. It was clearly not said out of hate or ignorance.
I will say it as a millennial, "you're gay" became socially unacceptable so we moved on to "you're a boomer", but it's the same thing, a derogatory term used to denigrate a group of people.
Tim at 1:37, "Let's throw some Boomer Bends in there, let's get it"! Bwahahahahaha!! At 3:34, "Waaangyaaaangwaaangyaannng"! LLLLMAAAOOO! Dude! I'm in tears!!
I think Tim's original 'boomer bends' comment was hilarious, and it doesn't change the fact that I still love to play 'em, and it is possible too think both of these thoughts at the SAME EXACT TIME
The funniest thing is I took the same path as Tim Henson by learning Blues, Classic rock studying the greats mastering that style, then I got into emo music, and that progressed into death metal. But from there I took elements of those styles and incorporated into my playing. I then took elements of jazz, fusion and the world of music was my oyster. Taking the Bruce Lee approach to music and style, take what works for you, removed what doesn't and you end up with something that is both defined and unique.
I just watched Avatar: The Last Airbender recently, and I can't hear this many references to "my favorite benders" without imagining Tosin Abasi flinging fireballs or tidal waves, etc.
The late great Sonny Sharrock talked about the LA 80s guitar scene in terms of "jugglers" wherein guitarists would juggle between their bag of tricks (e.g. string skipping, sweeping, tapping) to try to distinguish themselves from other guitarists. It was the same with the Bob Bradshaw racks then - guys would say "my settings are different" (when they were just minor variations). Many of Sharrock's observations are valid today particularly with the Instagram guitarists. In any case, inter and intra genre (as well as generational) tension has always been there and one hopes it leads to something interesting which it usually does. Can't say I'm a fan of the rapid "slip-slidey" vibrato but accept that it's part of a new vocabulary.
I previously new nothing about Tim Henson before the "Boomer Bend" thing. However, I plan on checking out Tim and his band. He is obviously a very talented musician, to say the least. The generational take on this subject makes sense. I myself have found myself not liking the way guitarists older than me (I'm 66) vibrato. That really fast wirey vibrato. I can't stand it, but to them, it's just how they play. I prefer the wide, slow vibrato (Mick Ralphs, Brian May). I know, both older than me. I also can't stand fast vocal vibrato either (Stevie Nicks comes to mind). At the end of the day there's no right or wrong. We all need to express it like we feel it. Anyway, my 2 cents worth. :-)
Agreed. It's a lot like dialects in many ways, or generation-specific phrases/slang. As some people get older, they may get upset over how the younger generation is 'ruining language' and the younger generation in turn mark their identity or "in group" by not using particular features of how old people speak. Nothing to get too worried about if one understands that dynamic is constantly ongoing. Tim is a great musician.
Polyphia is technically proficient. Beyond that? It's pompous (extremely) and busy. Not much feel.. all head, little heart. Hearing that one of those guys is the impetus for this generational bickering doesn't surprise me. I'm in the middle on this subject (between generations) and frankly, the old cats have vibe and developed their thing in front of people, after burning a joint, and did it to get laid. The kids now? They developed their thing in front of a laptop, after mom picked them up from lessons, and they did it for ... something to do after eating to much Adderall... The motivations aren't the same, nor are the musical outcomes on a similar plane.
@@colinburroughs9871 Alright, you win. That's the shittiest, the 'hot garbage'-level take on any musical subject I've read on the Internet in a very long time.
@@genesises judgmental? Yeah. But I didn't say I was in the middle on the issue of Polyphia- I said I was in the middle between the 20 somethings and the 70 somethings.
The "Boomer Bend" really came from the blues, and in the blues it came from slide guitar. So the string bend was imitating the slide. I suppose the slide was imitating the singing voice. The sliding-bending thing was happening in country music, too. I'm sure Henson is thinking of certain cliché blues-rock licks that are characteristic of the music of the late '60s and early '70s and now might be called "Dad Rock". But kids like that stuff, believe it or not. There was a lot of good music in that era and it's still good.
Yep, lots of kids like that stuff, thankfully. My kids (ages 10 to 17) love music from that era. My 15-year-old plays guitar, bass, drums, and piano, and he loves the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Boston, and plenty of other bands from the '60s and '70s, as well as lots of music from the '80s, '90s, and beyond.
Also remember the blues harmonica was a necessary bending sound, which the guitar also emulated or vice versa, I love bending the string to how I feel at the time, I never put a title such as "boomer bend" on each bend lol , I just play whats on my mind.
Robin Trower "lives" in the bends! Him, Hendrix, SRV, Kenny Wayne Shepard, et al, that funky-blues style of playing "gets it" for me. What can I say...the naked truth... Anyhoo, great video! Nice to see the young mister Tim on Beato's channel! Fantastic stuff!
Watching Tim and Tosin and the modern guitar players like these guys is exciting and terrifying! You think you’re kinda getting a handle on what already exists. Then you hear their stuff and it just really blows your mind as to the evolution of guitar playing and how far they’re taking it now! These guys are like the Bugattis of guitar playing and I’m like a t-model ford lol exciting but scary at the same time!
@@danyroger96 no lol, shitty, boring blues licks played in the same 4 keys over the same i-iv-v chord progression by old lawyers playing a $6,000 les paul get boring real quick, there's no variation, and I'm saying this as someone who mainly plays the blues and I love stevie ray vaughan, bb king, eric clapton, hendrix, gilmour and jimmy page. the problem is that boomers like to hate on people for 'playing too fast' or 'having no feel' when they're too lazy to improve, if you don't like innovation, just say it, people like you would have hated on jimi if he was born today.
@@aayandadan9340 " I play blues and like BB King" Well clearly you don't if you have this disdain for "i-iv-v chord progressions" and "old lawyers playing a $6,000 les pauls. "the problem is that boomers like to hate on people for 'playing too fast' or 'having no feel'" Every single one of those players you listed have said the exact or similar things regarding phrasing and feel so I guess they are just "boomers" And every single player you listed learned from those i-iv-v chord progression that you have so much hate for. No you clearly would have been the one who hated Jimi because Jimi liked to jam on 12 bar blues and play "shitty boring blues licks" and played with Acts like Little Richard and Curtis Knight whose repertoire was built on those evil "i-iv-v chord progressions"
Henson's style, technique, and emotion in his phrasing, some mesmerizing stuff! Favorite New guitarist and band, guys are really awesome and absolutely floored at what direction they are taking things in, some really legendary status stuff.. the color's in their music is mind blowing amazing depth... Amazing stuff.. creative beyond creative 👍👍 yeah I suppose I'm a fan 😁 coolest humble musicians around..
I still can't get over the fact that one of my favourite RUclipsrs, with immense knowledge of classical, jazz etc etc, frequently collabs with my fav band.
Holy crap, Rick. I learn something new with every video I watch of yours. I had never heard the term "boomer bends", but it makes since (I was born in '58), but it's fitting. What I had learned was players like Tim Henson and Ichika Nito. I have to listen to their work a bit more, but no doubt they are very talented, and that sound is kind of growing on me. One clear distinction in listening to Tim Henson and saying some people get hurt by that term - our generation, the boomer generation, just sucks-it-up and moves on and do not get hung up on the terms. This is great interview, too.
Say 'Ok Boomer!" to a Boomer and see how fast they "suck it up and move on". My parents are huge snowflakes. Offended by every thing that is different from 1965
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Good stuff. As a boomer, I can say Tim Henson has nothing to apologize for.
Love your channel. Cool to see you on here.
It's stupid that anyone got triggered over it in the first place.
Same. As a gen-x guitarist, I love the new style Tim and Scott have helped to pioneer and can also appreciate his sense of humor.
@@hler7576 Did they tho? I almost felt like he provoked a mass "oh god we do do that, dont we?" kind of reaction xD Almost like it was good that it happened and it made alot of people want to freshen up their sound a little?
As a gen Xer, I agree with you, but with a touch of dissonance and cynicism and tuned down.
I once referred to Djent as "millennial mutes." It helped clarify what type of muting I was talking about - no malice.
Lol 😂
I love it.
That's hilarious!
Progressive metal heads, or djenters if you prefer, are typically well practiced and humble so none of us will take it personally or cry about it!
@@Pericles777 prog metal encompasses a lot more than just djent though as far as I know. I mean is Means End djent? I wouldn't say so, but maybe it is to some
"What a handsome and thoughtful young woman" - My Grandma
I'm f 'n dead
ROFL 🤣
I was really trying to put words to it all ... That's It! A generation defined! We need to make Patric's Grandma POTUS.
@@enchantederic3792 lol what?
lmaooooo
There is a reason why big boomer bends is a GREAT controversy. A) it’s actually a huge insight about the changes in popular music when fully unpacked. B) it’s so tight. Just three words. C) we all know he is right at some level. D) Considering the source is one of our leading innovators of the electric guitar this is almost blasphemy from within the church. E) Tim is incredibly sweet about it while threatening the core of blues based guitar.
I only wish he wouldn’t soften it. It’s such a great thing to argue about because it is about the nature of rock moving beyond the blues and it’s direct influence.
Not the place to ask, but are you ever bringing back The Portal? It's not even a year since your last episode but it feels like forever. Or just go talk to Sam Harris on his podcast. Me along with I'm sure many others miss your voice.
Tim Henson doesn't just want to undermine blues guitar playing, he said in an interview with MusicRadar that he wants all "guitar music" to end. Guitars are precocious instruments, and I think Tim realizes how much this limits music. Instead of relying on bends to convey the cathartic emotions underlying blues music, why not find more creative and intentional alternatives through harmony and rhythm? This is the Hip-hop philosophy.
I like your point (C). I think even Hendrix knew it. Following the B.B. King era, Hendrix represented the beginning of integrating harmonic elements, like double stops, with melody in guitar solos. I believe we are currently witnessing an extension of that idea.
Wierd seeing u here holã
you lost all credibility with point C... we all know he is right at some level?
ultimately, the most beautiful thing about music is that there is no such thing as right or wrong, and the moment you begin trying to apply such rules is the moment you forfeit your ability to call yourself an artist... is Tim right? well, Tim might be right for Tim, but Tim is not the omnipotent arbiter of music and there are no immutable laws which apply to music theory
Please point out at least on piece of work by Tim that is supposedly threatening anything besides soulless boredom. Something besides a jazz-style technical masturbation session, basically.
I like how Rick brings in the entirety of Polyphia just to talk to Tim as he asks him to do a tutorial on his own plug-in.
Yeah I feel bad for those guys having to sit there awkwardly while being filmed but its also amusing.
I vote to rename them "Prince Neck Tattoo And His Humble Moustache Crew". Dude seems cool though.
@@Zirc0nium69 😂 I'm gonna think of them as Prince Neck Tattoo and the Mustache Crew from now on 😅
I think it was part of a larger interview, and this is just a scene from it. But it is definitely awkward.
They also remind me of D’Artagnant and the three musketeers 😂
The love and admiration Rick has for fellow guitarists is palpable. Tim is a hugely impressive young guitarist with a mature perspective. No wonder Rick is a big supporter.
Ricky is a fantastic interviewer!!!
I love his hair. Silver fox rawr!
He's gotta be one of the most classical musicians out there right now
We need a Rick breakdown of Ego Death!
"palpable" 🙄 drama queen
Love the" boomer bends" the "weedly weelie", the "chugga chugga", the "drop D darkness" and the "wiggle stick tricks" as well as being able to play as acurate as a "trip hammer". It's all good.
Bro can you briefly explain what those mean lmao, I'm new to these new terms
I’m dead….. HAHHAHAHHA
Again, all GEN X TECHNIQUES!
@@KelticKabukiGirl Guilty as charged sir!
@@2k13Ghost I'm upset no one has addressed this but I will try once I get home 🖤
I think we can all agree that players in the 70's and 80's defined so much of what is modern day guitar playing and any player who has ever tried to put that "feel" element into their playing knows how tough it is. it's not as simple as learning the blues scale and doing double stops. Great players make those bends give emotion and that's something that I see a lot of younger players respecting a lot. And likewise I love seeing older players get tripped out from the modern day techniques. That mutual respect is guitar playing at it's best!
I actually like some modern and old players and if I never listened to fusion or Jazz or some modern metal, I might have not even thought of some techniques I now use and like like double picking and those fast little bends like Mike Moreno does. I like many genres, but I think it's even good for some guitarists to even check out genres they don't like for maybe finding some techniques they might like and use. "Feel" is subjective, but I think even with lots of distortion some people could still get feel. One solo that comes to my mind for more distortion feel right away is The Best of Times ending solo, but yeah of course lots of guitar players around before the 2000s making music influenced a lot of guitar players today. I respect how Eddie Van Halen actually inspired many, even some players I like, even though I really like his stuff.
It's more convenient to actually feel what you're playing. Too many people try to pretend
Just came here to say i love your covers man 🔥
Gilmour is a perfect example of emotion and feel rather than showcasing technique. Very unique solos that reflect his path in life, which cant be taught.
@@guitarsolos89 nah, his bending was amazing, most 'blooz dads' today that play $6000 les pauls can't even bend in tune
I’m not a huge fan of his band but they are undeniably talented. Dude is an amazing guitarist. Virtuoso type amazing.
That much is true.
Exactly where I’m at. I’m looking and looking for something that I latch onto but I just cannot get into the music. That being said every single member of this band is an absolute master of their craft
@@vincenzomigliore9749 you nailed exactly how I feel as well, I think the EDM beats and trap music influence is the only thing which throws me off from really getting into them. There are some exceptions with songs like Neurotica which I really dig, that said they are all phenomenal musicians in the highest tiers of skill
@@cloudbloom One thing I respect though, is those beats are actually played on a real kit, with real drums, as opposed to everything being sampled on drumpads and exclusively looped through laptops. It's not easy, and since it's never the sounds but the prerecorded and general lack of talent necessary in EDM, this changes that for me.
I've always kinda pondered how people think he comes off as arrogant. I guess it's possible it just comes from the way the band presents itself, but he is like the most passive guitarist I've seen.
"no one said, you couldn't bend" pretty much sums up a great conversation.
I would buy a "Bend it Like a Boomer" shirt.
you can get tshirts made with whatever u want printed on ebay etc. I recently got a fuck joe biden one done, looks great.
@@martynapalm4950 Let's go Brandon.😉
@@guileteemgowitevryteeng1711 lets go brandon
Shut up and take my money dot gif
@@guileteemgowitevryteeng1711 If it werent for boomers you would be wearing a german hat 🖕😠🖕
Thank you so much, Rick. I probably would never have heard of Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, or Misha Monsoor had it not been for your channel. You have opened up my musical world.
Did you check also Ichika Nito ?
^
3 extremely typical modern guitarists, there's even more Avant Garde musicians out there if you look hard enough ;)
I think we can all agree that bending is an indispensable aspect of the guitar's expressiveness, especially as opposed to instruments that only play 'straight' notes (like a piano).
It's not about bending anyway. It's about how you bend. Same with pentatonic stuff. It's not the pentatonic scale itself, it's that stereotypical bluesy application of it that we think of when someone says pentatonic stuff which can be pretty corny.
@@Isaiah_McIntosh Yes of course, Tim was just using a colorful term to describe a certain kind of bending technique, but it is obvious he appreciates bending in its various forms.
If I remember right, Denny Dias was a notable guitarist who was known for not bending. I need to listen to his solos to verify, but maybe you guys are more familiar with his playing.
@@larryhall2805 Denny yes, hardly bent, played like a bee bopper. Fine guitarist indeed. He had nifty ideas.
not indispensable imo.
Man, Rick's enthusiasm for learning new methods, and taking on new details is infectious. May we all be like Rick. Dismiss nothing.
I love how all the other polyphia members just sit there wondering about the meaning of life
They're stoned
@@citizennozmeda7232 how would you even know that, do you know them? no, not likely. Sounds like you're just projecting buddy.
@@sailsofcharon9224 i dont think it was meant with malice, they talk abt it pretty often in most interviews
In essence "boomer bends" is about a generation finding its own voice and I personally find that very healthy. Just a few years ago we were discussing if rock music was dead and now we're essentially discussing what else a guitar can do that hasn't been done and how does the younger generations generate a voice.
It was the heavy, still prevalent influence of blues in rock
Rick music is still dead. The general population doesn’t know who this kid is.
@@fr201 rock influences a shitton of new records, it'll never be "dead"
@@FelixHureau I don't mean literally dead, it's just no longer the cultural force it once was. It's a niche genre now.
@@fr201 "niche"
"Boomer bends" is such a surgically precise term that you have to really try to get mad about it.
Well, most of the time, “Boomer” also means “outdated” nowadays. I’m not a boomer, btw:)
And yet, after watching 2 of his videos with "boomer bends" in the title, I still have no idea what they are. Is it just any bend in general? Is it a large bend? Bending up to a tritone? A quarter tone bend up from a minor third?
@@telequacker-9529 It's when bends are used in a certain way. e.g. A whole step bend followed by playing the same note on the adjacent string. It was very common in classic rock songs.
You can hear Tim mimicking the boomer bend with his voice a few times in this video.
@@telequacker-9529 what johnnycbad said. Perfect example of boomer bending is the solo in Black Sabbath's Paranoid. The second Tim does "way-neeh, way-neeh, way-neeh" Paranoid is what first comes to mind.
@@telequacker-9529 Chuck Berry Bends.
Jerry Cantrell has made an amazing career out of signature bends like this lol
As did David Gilmour, bends are his thing.
@@ExpatZ266 cantrell is gen x, gilmour is boomer. Sorry, I keep getting mistaken for a boomer at a distance so it's a point with me lol
Also made Black gives way to blue along with duvall inez and kinney which is an amazing album
Well obviously, many people did, if boomers didn't use it, it would be a "classifiable" thing.
@@russellzauner LOL! I'm GenX too, just appreciate the boomers bends as well as East Bay Ray and Cantrell.
Ricks face when Tim hits the guitar head on the table, lmfao. Everyone has been in both seats of that moment for sure, holy hell what an awesome split second moment.
I’m pretty old school, grew up playing Zeppelin, Hendrix and Van Halen and have been slow to embrace or even listen to new music. When I stumbled upon Polyphia in a Pandora or Spotify mix it blew my mind and I was hooked. Tim is great, and rather than disrespectful he is carrying forward the tradition of his (and our) heroes- “Stand up next to a mountain and chop it down with the edge of your hand.” J. Hendrix 😃
Honestly, I think the difference in generations is that the younger generations have the advantage of learning faster and sharing techniques easier due to having the Internet. I'm gen-x, so I had to learn by ear off the record, and new techniques were shared by either taking some lessons in person or learning them off a friend in their basement. Having the Internet to hone your craft is a HUGE advantage! I see young dudes in their teens with the same skills I had to work towards for 15 years haha!
agreed. less than 2 years using the net as a teacher i improved more than the previous 30
lol, remember having to learn how to tune by ear? I actually had a tuning fork. I don't know how many high e strings I broke tuning up to high.
Yeah, as a fellow Gen-Xer i had to listen with big ass headphones on when learning to play. I had this giant cassette/turn table stereo with EQ so i could isolate just the guitar or bass or drums.
They still make music today? I have yet to hear anything modern that isn't dismal trash. I do agree with you some some extent. However, your point has just made the awful state of music today even more unbelievable.
I remember how hyped I was, when a friend showed me how to play pinch harmonics. Before that, I was absolutely convinced that I am missing some effects that were necessary to play those.
I can't help but smile any time anyone shouts out Mateus. He's by far been my biggest guitar-inspiration in my life and I think he deserves all the accolades and so much more! Bend on
I absolutely love the Boomer Bends term. We need this. Creates more interest in guitar playing across all generations. That benefits all of us! More guitar players = thriving scene = more music with guitar. Win for all of us!
I hope others don't make the same mistake I made in thinking that "boomer bends" meant an old person getting decompression sickness
@@j.d.o5709 I disagree. It is extremely accurate. He's not talking about bends in general, but a particular style of bending that instantly evokes classic rock, hence the boomer bit. I do it a lot, and like the sound, but this is a reminder to not overuse it, because it's been done a lot.
He's right, there are generational differences in guitar playing.
@@j.d.o5709 it refers to old style blues bending that got overused to convey feeling, he just wanted people to be more creative with their bends instead of using the same old stuff
@@j.d.o5709 100% agreed.
Nice bonus at the end with the discussion and demonstrations of Tim's plugins. I think we need some videos on ear training to learn how to distinguish various levels of compression, chorus, reverb, gain, etc. Rick, your ability to recognize these things is amazing.
There is definitely a distinction between Blues based bending (boomer bends)and what he is doing. Tim and his band are really paying attention to everything around them from video game music to EDM and so much more as well as vocal style bends of classic rock.
I thought it was funny. It's not like he was disrespecting everyone's guitar heroes. The boomer guitar heroes have such a massive degree of influence, fame, and historical significance that the current young guitar players can never hope to achieve. And kudos to these guys for aiming at different sounds/techniques rather than just trying to rehash what has already been done.
didnt have to use the word boomers. Pretty much all guitarists should learn that in the beginning stages
@@mike04574 yeah every guitar player should learn how to bend, but I think Tim was referring to repetititve bends you often hear in solos.
Why can't the current young guitar players not achieve the same? That's total BS. I get most inspired by current artists. A Jimmy Page or Slash doesn't make me want to pick up my guitar. Maybe. Erica Johnson and Yngwie but that's about it and I'm going on 40.
@@mike04574 to be honest though, that is a very old on going joke, I dont think is a big deal, he is just getting on the boomer/dad guitar joke wagon, guys like nik nocturnal, rudy adobe and the subreddit where guitar players mock other players and stuff make similar if not even more offensive jokes all the time, the dad or blues or now, boomer bends being a very old joke running
Different techniques...like not bending😂😂😂😂😂
You're a genius!!!!!😂😂😂😂😂
It's fun to see how Rick and Tim are just laughing at this "controversy" and the reactions of the internet. I thought what Tim said about learning the "boomer bends" from classic rock and that being a rite of passage was really interesting. It reminds me of how the greatest players absorb, learn, incorporate and then transcend the techniques and style of those that preceded them.
Wait this actually became a controversy? I only saw people memeing it
It's a foolish symptom of the internet. I can't care.
@@shashankiyer5751 the word boomer is used in a negative context often, so people assumed it was the case this time.
@@dagnisnierlins188 It was
@@bobbystockerdrums it literally wasn't rock for brains
I'm a boomer and yes, we bend. We also laugh at ourselves and are not so precious to break before we bend. I love the comment Tim made during that conversation and I'm also glad that you both got together to clear it up something that is nothing. At least we get to see you both some more. As Tim said with the appropriate tone, you gotta love the internet!
He is an absolute amazing, accomplished, virtuoso guitarist that has been and currently is making fresh new guitar music that has never been done before. If it was 1985 when being a super virtuoso guitarist was what everyone wanted to be, was so popular so widely accepted, everyone wanted to go to shows to see that style of music being played and also people bought albums Tim would be a household name he would be so widely accepted he would be a guitar hero like malmsteen, Steve vai, Eddie Van Halen. In the current time with guitar music not being very popular it’s pretty surprising he and his band are as big as they are but obviously that because of the pure talent and extremely high quality music. Tim is very well respected but man if he was coming up in the 80’s he would be one of the top 5 guitar hero’s of the 80’s, I think most people will kinda understand what I am trying to say.
Music is extremely temporal and this style would likely not make any sense in the 80s or 90s. Players "like this" back then may have had an album on Shrapnel, but it's unclear if people would be interested in a 60 something yr old playing this way these days. I think Tim is perfectly placed in time.
Most of what players like this show (yes, there are -many-) is completely composed beforehand. Their development of the language tends to be limited in exchange for composition and performance.
There's nothing wrong with this. Just a different choice.
Tim is one of my favorites not just because I like his playing so much, but because he found a voice that managed to break through the noise. That's not an easy thing to do.
Everything on the internet has haters
Responding to them keeps them relevant
Just say less,
I've actually learned, it takes more than being a virtuoso to write good music,
Aw man I could play some immaculent complicated stuff, but what good is it if it doesn't interest anyone?
Like a random frank zappa song of just noises and guitar solos, people who don't know what's going on won't get it.
This is why polyphia is actually successful while playing virtuosity
It has to have the "beat" sound to it. It has to be trendy and modern, (the album covers say this a lot)
It's like, virtuosic playing, but, with a loss of integrity by trying to use rap or hip hop sounds as a means of being popular,
I mean, take red hot chili peppers,
Both the guitarist and the bassist, are separately famous for being amazing virtuosic players,
But when you go back and look over their music from 2022 back to the 80s,
You can hear they didn't change their sound or follow any trends through their entire career,
Even their recently released album has that same feel and energy that they've always had,
But the thing about Flea an John, they know exactly what *not* to play to give more feel in the song,
(Knowing what not to play, probably the most important part of playing funk)
I'm not saying Tim henson is bad or anything,
I'm not saying beats are bad or anything,
I'm just saying it's not about virtuosity, but it's also not about "not trying"
There's some middle ground between your ability and what you're able to explore as an artist
I want to see artists explore more what "paintings" they can make rather than how complex can they play
@@selfactualizer2099 Right on.
Check out Tatran. They could fill the louvre with all of their "paintings."
What's really interesting is that music like Polyphia seems to represent and express the younger generations so well. The precarity, the sheer volume of information they're exposed to, the pacing of the modern world, its all in there.
This is one of the reasons I really appreciate their music. It's temporal, its relevant, it's incredibly well executed. Beyond that, it doesn't matter if you like it anymore because it's so damn reflective of the times.
To me, that is the very definition of art.
Their music sucks.his tone sucks.
Digital sucks😅
I almost bought into the bs everyone was spewing about this kid. I’m happy I didn’t rush to judgment. He’s a good kid and has a very original sound to his playing.
People were spewing bs? LOL quit those forums.
Really? People were hating?
This "kid" will be 29 yrs old next month, so hardly a kid imo
@@drew_peabawls13 That's a kid to a boomer.
"Boomer bends" to me just equals the blues lol. I think it's a funny and accurate term though.
TIL: the biggest difference between blues and jazz that an idiot like me can tell is that blues abuses tf outta bends and if you find some in jazz they're not only rare but there was probably a specific point being made by the performer.
“Blues” lawyers and doctors? 🤣😂
100% accurate and funny! I love it
Yeah!! As soon as I heard the term "boomer bend", the classic blues bend came to mind hahaha
Yeah that's what I think when I think "boomer bends".
He’s a good dude. People need to chill the f out. I think Boomer bends is hilarious
Buncha snowflakes. Lol
Baby Boomers are real people too.
The band sitting there silently observing Tim and Rick interact reminds me of the scene from Dances with Wolves when Kevin Costner's character is showing the Sioux Indians how to make coffee lol.
😂😂😂🤣 Best comment ever!
I love Scottie just trying to find the last fry in the bag when Tim shouts him out.
I had never heard of Tim Henson before that comment and now I’m a huge polyphia fan.
I would argue this is a net positive.
I'm calling it: Zoomer sweeps.
Nice
People been sweeping since at least Malmsteen in the 80s though.
@@DeathBringer769 people have been sweeping since the creation of the broom though
@@yoyomaster989
Mom: Can you sweep the floor please, honey?
Zoomer: Unfortunately, it has no strings.
@@MedalionDS9 Paleolithic period banging sticks and rocks
I was so excited when I first saw David Gilmore playing, and saw how important bends are to his distinctive sound.
Well anytime something is good people try and imitate it. Sometimes to it’s own detriment which I think is what he was saying. Puts you in a box rather than being fully expressive anymore.
@@JosePineda-jn8jk Hmm, I didn't get that vibe. He was describing it as just a particular way of playing notes. A tool in the toolbox. A style of playing that he considers to have been common in the '80s. Yes, music styles move on, and those bends might not be used as much, but at the same time he specifically says that he *does* use it, so he obviously feels that it's still got its place!
@@Bramble451 Oh but I’m referring to the original interview where they were discussing different types of ways to push guitar playing forward. He does explain himself here but the context of the original conversation I think is also important. And that is the vibe I got from the original thing which kind of explains why he defends it the way he does here. But even just piggybacking off what you said he uses those things to play a specific style which to me does indicate putting yourself in a box rather than being able to use everything and anything.
"Controversy" lol.
The term fits really well because that whole era of guitar playing in popular music was greatly defined by the integration of blues elements, bending being one of the most obvious aspects.
I had the pleasure and privilege of watching an intimate concert in the early-mid eighties of
the " Passion, Grace and Fire" tour of Al Di Meola, John Mclaughlin and Paco De Lucia. The
opening act was one of my favorite guitarists Steve Morse, as with the main attraction also on acoustic guitar. At the end of the show he was invited to sit-in with the other three for the encores. Four awesome guitar icons side by side trading solos. While Steve Morse could shred like all the others (and the audience knew that) and the others were busy playing "Tumeni Notes" he chose to add tastefull bends to his solos. For every bend he'd get an appreciating cheer from the audience who by then was swamped by all the technicality of the concert. He stole the show!
Don't apologize Tim! I'm older and appreciate the new style you are pioneering!
We should call it Zoomer bends. I'm not a Boomer but the forgotten, Gen X.
@@AD1978leo I'm GenX as well
The stats on Spotify confirm, there is a huge increase in interest in the music from the 60's through to the 90's from a demographic in their 20's, there is no reciprocal trend.
Great observation…
Could be a valid critique on the music, but also seems like a valid observation that younger people are often actively looking to discover new inspiration while many older people have stopped searching for new inspiration.
@@Bonzoso21 That's because some of us have found all the inspiration we could need or use.
@@philip6502 Nah, it's because it's been scientifically proven that after a certain age your brain actively rejects new music if you haven't already gotten it in the habit of searching for new music. It's just the reality, it's the reason that every generation the older people look down on the younger people's new music. Has nothing to do with quality, has everything to do with old people letting their brains stagnate in terms of actively searching for new music. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing I'll let you decide, doesn't change the fact that it's the truth though.
@@BensonOfD I wasn't replying to your post which was in regard to music only, I was replying to another mentioning inspiration.
I think the issue with "boomer bends" isn't so much the tasteful ones - the issue becomes when people, trying to imitate the playing style of some fantastic guitarists, reduce their style down to "does bends," without understanding the broader context of when or why. It's just a way to describe a really reductive genre trope, the same way people are with "SoundCloud rapper-" is that moniker ever used positively anymore?
Spot on man.
Exactly right, they lack the musical context to why they are bending. I feel a lot of rock and metal guitarists have a hard time remembering that blues and gosple birthed their music
You guys take this way too seriously
"Bending is cool." - Tim Henson, 2:45 Controversy over!!
@@juankplaysmusic you have to try really hard to be offended by what he said. It was a lighthearted jab at the very most
Phew...
@@juankplaysmusic gonna cry?
Was I the only one cracking up when Tim pans to Scott, the 'future of bends', casually stuffing his face with chips?
No, this was possibly the best part of the entire clip
Hey Rick, if you're ever in the mood to review bands with 80's/70's influence, I highly suggest *awesome* band today called *Fire* *Tiger* ...
Influences include Survivor, Journey, Heart, The Cure, Van Halen, U2, Laura Brannigan, Jefferson Starship, etc. They've got so many great songs, but I'd start with Energy.
When I heard the first bar of Energy, I subscribed. Epic band!!!
check your dm
Yawwwnnnn.
Hey everyone! @@kevinslaney486 doesn't like a band! See, nobody cares.
@@kevinslaney486 Get thee to a nappery!
Why does Tim sound like he's giving a MeToo apology. It's not a big deal lol
I agree but obviously he felt that he had to. “Boomer” is widely used as an ageist insult, unfortunately. There were people who thought he was insulting them and being condescending about the music they like, and the guitar style they like to play.
Because he accidentally called out every guitarist on earth. lol
@@jimmycampbell78 it’s only insulting if you let it be. I’m a Boomer and like Rick I’m laughing my ass off...🤣😂
Gen X here… much ado about nothing. If I’m playing a straight (classical) or jazz bends just aren’t there. Everything else is fair game. The poor kid shouldn’t bow to the mob, especially in a matter as subjective as music.
@@jimmycampbell78 Boomer is a slur. It's either slurs for all, or slurs for none. Anything less is unequal. So the boomers get to be offended. I don't see the problem.
Jeff Beck was the first player to break the 'Boomer bend' mould with his very square precise 'keytar' like bends in imitation of Jan Hammer mid 70s. Boomers Vai and Satriani built on this in the 80s. Hendrix and Michael Landau are probably the greatest 'Boomer benders' in my book.
Blues guitar technique influenced "classic rock" for so damn long, so the name fits. The thing is, blues bends were adopted by guitarists to imitate blues *vocalists* doing a "blues wail", which is even more expressive when hitting a blue note, in that liminal space between semitones.
I am happy to hear this it gives me an opportunity to keep my early boomer playing style fresh. I liked the last video where you talked about the blues disappearing, had not thought of that and me having really started at the beginning of the blues rock craze
I'm not into Polyphia but I can really respect those guys. Tim has some really great chord voicings that he uses and obviously intense chops. Seems like a nice dude as well . They're all fantastic musicians and clearly put a lot of work into their craft.
His playing is super impressive but what really got me hooked as a fan from the early years was the overall composition of each track. I feel like he has a good ear for writing distinct motifs and let's things breathe and leaves space for each band member/ production styles. Your comment was 2 weeks old so I know you've probably heard their new stuff but would love to hear your opinion on their newest song Ego Death
Amazing plug-in Tim & Neural DSP ❤️
I thought it was pretty average
HIs playing is so interesting, unorthodox , and brilliant. The guy is definitely a notch up the evolutionary chart from us old-ass guitar players.
I'm a boomer and though I loved boomer bends, they do get old after a while. What I love the most Polyphia is how different they are!
"Boomer bends" is the funniest description for that specific type of bend and I will die on the boomer bend hill if that isn't the greatest fucking description I've ever heard. I am somehow surprised people got mad about it because Tim was clearly just describing that very stereotypical bluesy stuff and not even in a derogative way. It was just a comment trying to place where in time it was most iconic. I'm here for it and I cannot wait for the sequel trilogy, Gen X'pected Drop D, Millennial Djent-ing and the Gen Z Spacebar. 🤣🤣🤣
What do you mean by spacebar?? Lol just curious
Total respect for Henson. In my opinion, "boomer bends" are just basic bends, in their simplest forms. It's the player who makes the difference. Simple as that. Dimebag was a beast, but his awesome bends are nothing I haven't heard from EVH before. Mateus Asato's bends are tasteful, but they're nothing I haven't heard from David Gilmour before.
I'm a boomer and I knew EXACTLY what he meant when he said it - I thought that was really funny! This is how I now refer to them myself now - htanks Tim!
As a boomer can I just say: that guy is an insanely great guitarist.
Indeed. Dude can play!!!
Shame about his music though
And yet soooooo boring....
If it started this much controversy, then what Tim said was good for discussing the evolution of rock guitar.
@@juankplaysmusic You're spreading negativity all over this comment section. Most of us are trying to have a pleasant conversation. Please consider the possibility that you might be overreacting.
Tim is so self aware for someone his age and someone that’s so absurdly talented and frankly that just elevates his greatness. Own the boomer bends, and laugh it off when someone coins the term ‘Henson voicing’ for jazzy rock inversions…
He's older than Hendrix was when he died.
I'm late but I understood immediately what he meant. I then went to jam with someone i'd never met before and my first thought was "ah, he playing boomer bends" and chuckled internally.
Henson is gotta be the best guitar player of his generation. Just the way he plays opened up another chapter of guitar. The guy is a genius.
Checkout Ichika Nito . . .definitely a coin toss
@@Jagshemasher I have he's amazing as well.
Didn't know music was a competition lmao
@@elpeluca7780 it's not.. never was, however it's impressive the music Henson creates.
Plini >
Wow, I lost my train of thought!! NO one plays and understands music like Tim! Thank you. positivity peace love joy bliss and respect to you all
Massive respect for Tim and Rick. Watching someone like Tim is very inspiring.
I also enjoy the humor, it takes a quick wit for those kinds of remarks.
Gladly adopting the boomer bends terminology :)
I can't stop laughing. This is funnier than I expected.
Noticed how Tim said "someone who played .... long before I was born" which sounds so properly respectful instead of "someone who played 30 years ago". He actually sounded a bit tentative as he strung those words together but still pulled it off like it was spontaneous. It's why the guy is such a marketing genius too....his sensibilities just puts everyone around him at ease, nothing about him offends.
i love how boomers always talk about how the younger generations are so soft yet they're getting so mad over a guy saying "boomer bends"
To true 🤣🤣
Hahaha
I don't know who really got 'so mad'. I've ready many comments, and most people were trying to understand what did he really mean by that comment - "Did he mean the bends itself, or the style and/or application of them? Or maybe the tendency to overuse them, instead of playing actual interesting and expressive lines?". Things like that. And when asked by Rick, Tim kind of answered that, but mostly he was defensive about it, and needlessly so. As for the younger gens being softer, I'd say that the boomers were already pretty soft and self-indulging as a cohort, and it went downhill from there... Which is understandable, you know, 75 years of peace and prosperity in the West possibly makes each next generation progressively softer.
They aren't, the internet is. Today's internet is people getting offended for other people.
I'm a boomer and I thought it was hilarious. It makes it even more hilarious if some of them got mad over it! 😂😂
Not a big fan of this band,But in all honestly,This boy and his band can play man,Watched a few of there videos,He’s a good kid and outrageously talented,Great interview Rick👍👍
Poor Tim! definitely getting the sense that he feels under attack. It should be easy to tell he was joking if you've watched an interview of his. People gotta stop taking things personally , I play boomer bends all the time and I LOVE the way they sound
Agree! This "cancel culture/mentality" is getting insane. Really
Unfortunately hes been attacked a few times for things he's said taken out of context. He did an interview and made a joke and people wanted to burn him at the stake thinking he was serious.
He already passed through that kind of critiques years ago.
Rick. You influence me in ways guitarist's can't. Thank you bud. You inspire me to produce my music better. Will be releasing it soon and you are one of the people to thank. Thank you Rick.
I'm a boomer and I had to laugh so hard when he said that. And I knew immediately what he meant. Are there really people who feel offended by it? 😂
@@j.d.o5709 I dont think thats why hes saying that. People criticize polyphia for playing too fast and not having enough emotion in their music. They're basically saying sorry we dont do boomer bends. Its a response to an insult.
@@dylankempthorne They don’t do boomer bends. They do zoomer noodles.
@@j.d.o5709 50 iq comment
@G Demolished your comment deserves more likes. If only it were a stand alone comment, it would receive them!
@@j.d.o5709 “boomer bends” means bends played in boomer style. You know, those Eric Clapton and all other guitar players of the 60s and 70s. Led Zeppelin etc. Not all bends. Just like yellow cars doesn’t mean that all cars are yellow lol.
And he didn’t say that they were wrong or stupid. He said that he doesn’t play them. He’s allowed to that. Just like jazz or blues players can say that about not shredding and not wanting to cos they don’t like it. Opinions are not the same as hating on something. Don’t be offended by opinions.
I’m 54 and thought it was funny, I don’t see what the problem is. I’ve been making fun of a certain type of boomer musician - their obsession with Eric Clapton and refusal to acknowledge music after 1980 - since I was in high school. So in my mind, he nailed it.
@@maidenthe80sla They insult pop music for being repetitive, but dare you make a passing comment about how you want to explore beyond the same set of old blues licks and melodies being played over the same 3 chord changes since 100 years.
@@chnacr2 bUt iT hAs fEeLz aNd tOaNZ
@@aayandadan9340 Feelz = making faces while playing bendy blues licks, and Toanz = playing through low powered vintage pickups with tone knob turned all the way down. That's the only way to play electric guitar. Don't even think about doing anything else.
Actually I take that back, Toanz of an electric guitar come from tonewood, obviously.
@@maidenthe80sla Try Luca Turilli's Rhapsody and the Turilli/ Lione Rhapsody for a really good metal - classical mix.
@Maiden the 80's L.A. I feel your pain, I’ve been catching hell for my outspoken views on music and “musical luddites” since I closed the door on classic rock when I was 15. My parents listened to rock at home, and my cousins were teenagers in the 70’s, and they started feeding me Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Aerosmith, David Bowie etc when I was in 1st grade. So by 1982 when I turned 15, I knew just about every major band & song on rock radio and just like you said, I was itching for something new. There was new wave in the US and all these amazing British bands like The Cure, Joy Division, Siouxsie and The Banshees, OMD, Wire…I didn’t need to listen to what later became “classic rock” because it was in my head and I owned a lot of records. So many people don’t get that and take it as a personal attack. I’m glad you responded first, because you & I are on the same page. I still love every band I’ve ever been into, but I have to keep moving forward and exploring new music. There’s so much good stuff out there!
We need a Polyphia interview video!
I still use boomer bends all the time. I find they have great versatility and you can bend different intervals in relation to each other.
PS: Tim Henson is a monster on guitar.
Clay, Clay, and Scottie look like me at 8 waiting for church to be over.
Love the plug-in showcasing
I'm 28, I also hate when people use the term Boomer due to the internet making it a low IQ response to problems/arguments. It's like when people say "Come on, it's **insert current year**). with that being said, anyone who got angry at Tim for saying Boomer Bends should take a chill pill. It was clearly not said out of hate or ignorance.
I will say it as a millennial, "you're gay" became socially unacceptable so we moved on to "you're a boomer", but it's the same thing, a derogatory term used to denigrate a group of people.
@@freehey629 Sticks and stones. Stop crying
@@RD-jr8nv that's such a boomer thing to say
@@RD-jr8nv That standard applies to all or it applies to none.
Tim at 1:37, "Let's throw some Boomer Bends in there, let's get it"! Bwahahahahaha!! At 3:34, "Waaangyaaaangwaaangyaannng"! LLLLMAAAOOO! Dude! I'm in tears!!
6:30
@@jacknicholson5794 Yep! Bwahaha!
I think Tim's original 'boomer bends' comment was hilarious, and it doesn't change the fact that I still love to play 'em, and it is possible too think both of these thoughts at the SAME EXACT TIME
The funniest thing is I took the same path as Tim Henson by learning Blues, Classic rock studying the greats mastering that style, then I got into emo music, and that progressed into death metal. But from there I took elements of those styles and incorporated into my playing. I then took elements of jazz, fusion and the world of music was my oyster. Taking the Bruce Lee approach to music and style, take what works for you, removed what doesn't and you end up with something that is both defined and unique.
I just watched Avatar: The Last Airbender recently, and I can't hear this many references to "my favorite benders" without imagining Tosin Abasi flinging fireballs or tidal waves, etc.
Im just glad to see young people pushing the limits of guitar and gaining a young audience.
Underrated comment. This is incredibly important.
I absolutely love where guitar is going. It’s still evolving
"That's a beautiful reverb"
"Thank you!"
One of the most musician thing u can say
One Clay wore Bathory tee and another Clay wore Rush one.
Those are one of my favourite bands, man!!❤
The late great Sonny Sharrock talked about the LA 80s guitar scene in terms of "jugglers" wherein guitarists would juggle between their bag of tricks (e.g. string skipping, sweeping, tapping) to try to distinguish themselves from other guitarists. It was the same with the Bob Bradshaw racks then - guys would say "my settings are different" (when they were just minor variations). Many of Sharrock's observations are valid today particularly with the Instagram guitarists. In any case, inter and intra genre (as well as generational) tension has always been there and one hopes it leads to something interesting which it usually does. Can't say I'm a fan of the rapid "slip-slidey" vibrato but accept that it's part of a new vocabulary.
What a cool and humble dude... much respect to Tim Henson.
I previously new nothing about Tim Henson before the "Boomer Bend" thing. However, I plan on checking out Tim and his band. He is obviously a very talented musician, to say the least. The generational take on this subject makes sense. I myself have found myself not liking the way guitarists older than me (I'm 66) vibrato. That really fast wirey vibrato. I can't stand it, but to them, it's just how they play. I prefer the wide, slow vibrato (Mick Ralphs, Brian May). I know, both older than me. I also can't stand fast vocal vibrato either (Stevie Nicks comes to mind). At the end of the day there's no right or wrong. We all need to express it like we feel it. Anyway, my 2 cents worth. :-)
Agreed. It's a lot like dialects in many ways, or generation-specific phrases/slang.
As some people get older, they may get upset over how the younger generation is 'ruining language' and the younger generation in turn mark their identity or "in group" by not using particular features of how old people speak.
Nothing to get too worried about if one understands that dynamic is constantly ongoing.
Tim is a great musician.
Polyphia is technically proficient. Beyond that? It's pompous (extremely) and busy. Not much feel.. all head, little heart. Hearing that one of those guys is the impetus for this generational bickering doesn't surprise me. I'm in the middle on this subject (between generations) and frankly, the old cats have vibe and developed their thing in front of people, after burning a joint, and did it to get laid. The kids now? They developed their thing in front of a laptop, after mom picked them up from lessons, and they did it for ... something to do after eating to much Adderall... The motivations aren't the same, nor are the musical outcomes on a similar plane.
@@colinburroughs9871 damn you are beyond judgmental - and you consider yourself in the middle on this subject? impressive
@@colinburroughs9871 Alright, you win. That's the shittiest, the 'hot garbage'-level take on any musical subject I've read on the Internet in a very long time.
@@genesises judgmental? Yeah. But I didn't say I was in the middle on the issue of Polyphia- I said I was in the middle between the 20 somethings and the 70 somethings.
The "Boomer Bend" really came from the blues, and in the blues it came from slide guitar. So the string bend was imitating the slide. I suppose the slide was imitating the singing voice. The sliding-bending thing was happening in country music, too. I'm sure Henson is thinking of certain cliché blues-rock licks that are characteristic of the music of the late '60s and early '70s and now might be called "Dad Rock". But kids like that stuff, believe it or not. There was a lot of good music in that era and it's still good.
Yep, lots of kids like that stuff, thankfully. My kids (ages 10 to 17) love music from that era. My 15-year-old plays guitar, bass, drums, and piano, and he loves the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Boston, and plenty of other bands from the '60s and '70s, as well as lots of music from the '80s, '90s, and beyond.
FYI Metallica, Nirvana, and Nickelback are dad rock.
@@justinatest9456 how can you even mention nickelback in the same sentence as nirvana. Not even considering the generational gap
@@caprise-music6722 Dad rock don't discriminate. And FYI again, Metallica are the more respected band on that list.
Also remember the blues harmonica was a necessary bending sound, which the guitar also emulated or vice versa, I love bending the string to how I feel at the time, I never put a title such as "boomer bend" on each bend lol , I just play whats on my mind.
Robin Trower "lives" in the bends! Him, Hendrix, SRV, Kenny Wayne Shepard, et al, that funky-blues style of playing "gets it" for me. What can I say...the naked truth...
Anyhoo, great video! Nice to see the young mister Tim on Beato's channel! Fantastic stuff!
Watching Tim and Tosin and the modern guitar players like these guys is exciting and terrifying! You think you’re kinda getting a handle on what already exists. Then you hear their stuff and it just really blows your mind as to the evolution of guitar playing and how far they’re taking it now! These guys are like the Bugattis of guitar playing and I’m like a t-model ford lol exciting but scary at the same time!
Boomer bends - when you can play 2 minute solo on just one note, it's great.
And it would sound way better than any millennial shred!
@@danyroger96 no lol, shitty, boring blues licks played in the same 4 keys over the same i-iv-v chord progression by old lawyers playing a $6,000 les paul get boring real quick, there's no variation, and I'm saying this as someone who mainly plays the blues and I love stevie ray vaughan, bb king, eric clapton, hendrix, gilmour and jimmy page. the problem is that boomers like to hate on people for 'playing too fast' or 'having no feel' when they're too lazy to improve, if you don't like innovation, just say it, people like you would have hated on jimi if he was born today.
@@aayandadan9340 " I play blues and like BB King" Well clearly you don't if you have this disdain for "i-iv-v chord progressions" and "old lawyers playing a $6,000 les pauls. "the problem is that boomers like to hate on people for 'playing too fast' or 'having no feel'" Every single one of those players you listed have said the exact or similar things regarding phrasing and feel so I guess they are just "boomers" And every single player you listed learned from those i-iv-v chord progression that you have so much hate for. No you clearly would have been the one who hated Jimi because Jimi liked to jam on 12 bar blues and play "shitty boring blues licks" and played with Acts like Little Richard and Curtis Knight whose repertoire was built on those evil "i-iv-v chord progressions"
note is the wrong word buddy. you can bend to 3 different notes at least. what you mean is fret I guess
@@aayandadan9340 What a strange bitter reply.
I was not even aware. Saw the title and just thought about GHS Boomers strings. 😂
Henson's style, technique, and emotion in his phrasing, some mesmerizing stuff! Favorite New guitarist and band, guys are really awesome and absolutely floored at what direction they are taking things in, some really legendary status stuff.. the color's in their music is mind blowing amazing depth... Amazing stuff.. creative beyond creative 👍👍 yeah I suppose I'm a fan 😁 coolest humble musicians around..
Tim Henson is a genius! As well as you Rick. Thank you for re-awakening my playing interest Rick!
I had no idea about Tim Henson until I saw him on Everything music, I have nothing but total respect for this guy's creativity.
I'm a Boomer and take zero offence to it - like most of my buddies of my generation wouldn't. I think it's a great analogy and hilarious
People are so upset and this guy's literally: "boomers exist, and so do bends, why you crying?"
I still can't get over the fact that one of my favourite RUclipsrs, with immense knowledge of classical, jazz etc etc, frequently collabs with my fav band.
Straight on -love the interview! Do one with Mario Camarena from Chon too - that guy is amazing ;)
Holy crap, Rick. I learn something new with every video I watch of yours. I had never heard the term "boomer bends", but it makes since (I was born in '58), but it's fitting. What I had learned was players like Tim Henson and Ichika Nito. I have to listen to their work a bit more, but no doubt they are very talented, and that sound is kind of growing on me. One clear distinction in listening to Tim Henson and saying some people get hurt by that term - our generation, the boomer generation, just sucks-it-up and moves on and do not get hung up on the terms. This is great interview, too.
Say 'Ok Boomer!" to a Boomer and see how fast they "suck it up and move on". My parents are huge snowflakes. Offended by every thing that is different from 1965