Robben Ford Discussion

BlueRunner · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 5:46 am Post subject:

Vinni: Thanks for the great post. I live near Ojai and have gotten to one of the clinics about every other year. While going about my Saturday errands and chores it gave me a smile to think about all of you up there having a great time, and your post confirms that my thinking was correct. Hope you enjoyed your stay down here.
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JohnnyZ · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 5:50 am Post subject:

Excellent post, indeed!

The "half-whole tone-double diminished scale" mentioned- could someone please tab it out? I'd love to learn and practice it...
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Soul on Eleven

davidS · Member Joined: 17 Feb 2004 Posts: 34 Location: Dallas

Great post Vinni. Reminded me of the clinic I attended about 3-4 years ago. I have got to get back to another someday. Love your description of Robben, a very caring, humble, funny man indeed.

Vinni Smith · Member Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Posts: 24 Location: California

Vinni Smith · Member Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Posts: 24 Location: California

Oh, and I forgot to mention,

Robben also stated he uses Buzz Feiten tuning systems. He says he really likes them a lot and they work as advertised. I was talking to Jorge Santana not long ago and he took out his Strat and showed me the Buzz Feiten nut on that guitar. I am a stickler for tuning and I think I am going to look into putting them on my PRS guitars. I am also going to have a guitar made by Jason Schroeder and I see he is a dealer of this product as well.

Cool beans,

vinni
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JohnnyZ · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 3:17 pm Post subject:

patocaster · Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:27 am Post subject: More on the 6/23 Clinic

Vinni, great job on your recap. And thanks so much for the V-picks! Vinni had the best seat in the house, front and center.

A few more things:

In the morning session after what Robben called the longest introduction of a clinic ever (no one was complaining), Robben played a very cool blues w/jazz chords in E on his vintage 335 through the vintage B/F Deluxe Reverb. He commented afterword that "what I did there was bizarre...Indian-Country-Rock'n'Roll!" As a young player he asked Larry Coryell, "how do you all that 'out' stuff". Well, it's not really 'out' because if it were out it don't belong at all. Coryell responded, "oh that's the half-step, whole step scale". That was all the introduction and instruction he got on the diminished scale, of course that was all he needed. He added the sage advice, "Just don't play any wrong notes." And when you think about it, there's fewer wrong ones than right ones.

Vinni pointed out "to treat every 7th chord as a 5 chord". I would add Robben's statement that every V wants to go to the I or more precisely it's II-V-I and then he played a VI-II-V-I vamp, "hey that's 'I Got Rhythm'". He said "I have nothing more sophisticated than that. If you learn nothing else today, that's the key to door..." of course, there was more...

In the afternoon we discussed songwriting and Robben's effort to become a good songwriter. He's particularly proud of his songs on "Supernatural". He said, "write about what you know". Then he played:
Hey Brother
Don?t Lose Your Faith In Me
Good To Love
Cannonball Shuffle w/ focus on the turnaround
Moonchild Blues
Miles Blues (a descending and ascending groove) Robben said, "that's very hip. At first I thought it was kind of corny..."

Vinni mentioned Robben's humor. At one point he said his manager called "Water for the Wicked", Walter for the Weekend! Ha! Laughing

And when describing scales and their names, he said quoting Sonny Boy Williamson, "you can call it your mamie if you want." It doesn't matter what you call it, just play it...I think Vinni was the one who quoted Shakespeare; "a rose by any other name..."

Robben also recommended some essential listening: Miles Davis' "Kind Of Blue" and "Four & More" and "Fresh Cream" of which he said, "...Rock?s version of Miles Davis? 'Kind of Blue'... Best guitar playing I?ve ever heard." He also recommended the book "Zen Guitar" by Phillip Toshio Sudo.

Well I've gone on enough. Suffice it to say, a great time was had by all.

-Pat
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Vapormatic

Vinni Smith · Member Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Posts: 24 Location: California

Yeah, I had forgotten to mention the book Zen Guitar. I'm gonna order that for sure.
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Does this guitar make me look fat?

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davidS · Member Joined: 17 Feb 2004 Posts: 34 Location: Dallas

Vinni Smith · Member Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Posts: 24 Location: California

jconstant · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:17 pm Post subject:

If B&N doesn't work, there's always Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Guitar-Philip-Toshio-Sudo/dp/068483877X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-9670094-6492660?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183094292&sr=8-1

This book is worth its weight in gold.
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"Somebody's got to make some music around here." - Robben Ford

ropiyas · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:55 pm Post subject:

Tele295 · Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:27 pm Post subject:

A year later, I'm still trying to incorporate all the stuff I learned from Robben's clinic. The other guitarist in my band even noted the changes in my approach. I'm using Robben's tips even more now that we're down to a quartet.
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T2Russo · Newbie Joined: 11 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

Can someone scan the sheets he handed out?

I find it helps me a lot to have actual sheets of paper lying around to practice off of...

hipbluesman · Member Joined: 11 Apr 2004 Posts: 24

Can anyone post the hand outs at the clinic by any chance ?