Robben Ford Discussion

[stratnut]

I can fake my way through this turn around but if someone can give suggestions for the best approach for soloing the chords I'd appreciate it. The part where it goes from G7 F#7 back to Bm. Thanks.

[Budda]

What a fun Tune to Jam on!

I try to emphasize the B and E Root Notes over the Bm7 and Em7 Chords. And then, take a little more liberty over Bars 9 & 10.

Speaking of those Measures, I think you'll get a better result with GM7 to F#7.

One of the things I like to play over the GM7, is Superimposed ii V Changes.

So, thinking Am7 - D7, here's a couple of ideas:

[frank0936]

I use Gmaj9 and F#9 for those chords and on the maj 9th I use the B harmonic minor scale.
Frank

[Budda]

frank,

Do you have any Lines you'd care to share? Your approach sounds like it would be very interesting. And I know I'd love to cop some ideas!


stratnut,

Are you still there? Did you ever read responses to your own Threads?

Hello, He-l-loooo.........

Did either response help?

[stratnut]

Thanks guys. Yes I'm here. I'm not on line all the time so... Anyway I'll check these suggestions out.

I find that when I hum along over the G7 chord that I'm actually humming the GM scale. Soo I guess I need to change the chord or just superimpose it anyway. I'm 99.9% sure the actual chord is G7 not major but I'll check the effect of using the major sound on the backup harmony to see if I like it. Over the F7 the C harmonic minor seems to work, but I'll have to find some less predictable licks over that.

My playing is pretty muttley. I pretty much try to insert whatever I'm into that month into the tuens my band does. Sometimes it works, sometimes...Well my band is called trainwreck for a reason.

Thanks again. I'll try to be more attentive.

[Budda]

I was just screwing with you, Man!


But yeah, I hope you get some mileage out of the ideas.

[frank0936]

There's a few different chords you can use there. One of my friends uses a G13 - F#7 and he also uses B harmonic minor over that. The Gmaj 9 to my ears just adds a subtle difference and it still has that edgy sound. Another friend uses the GM7, and I have heard G9 used also, but the GM9-F#7-Bm7 gives you a nice chromatic walk down from B-Bb-A on the D string and the B-Bb is in the harmonic minor scale, while of course the B and A are in the minor pentatonic so it ties it all back into the blues.
Frank

[stratnut]

OK. I don't know whats wrong with my ears but, after listening back to two backing tracks I downloaded, they both use some form of G Major. so I've been off my rocker for quiite a few years I guess. I'll check out a BB version on U tube to make sure. Anyway, the GMajor scale that fits there is the Lydian I beleive. and yeah the C harmonic minor fits pretty well over the F#7. The F#7 also sounds good altered with a flat or sharp 9 after GM9 (still using C harmonic), but my band mate plays pretty basic chords so....

The good news is after hashing this out with you guys, I can navigate thru these changes much better as long as I don't try to shred them, cause I play kinda slow. By the way I found that this is a great song to end phrases with a long note and practice an expressive vibrato. (Somewhere between BBs really fast and Yngwe's really bendy one.) Ending phrases with a longer held note with expressive vibrato works for other songs pretty well too, as it kind of commits me to the note without rushing off to the next idea, and gives me time to breath and concoct another (hopefully more meaningful) phrase.

Thanks for the tips. This forum is going to be invaluable for me.

[stratnut]

I tried the Am7 to D7 to F# thing and I felt that the Am7 clashed with the GM7 and the D7 didn't seem to resolve well to the F#7. Possibly resolving to GM7 before going to F#7 would be smoother. I know back cyling is suposed to be a tried and true technique in jazz, but for conventional pop/blues maybe its too much tension?

I typically (which is admittedly limited) build arpeggios from the 3rd, 5th and 7th of my roots. The Am7 is built on the 2nd or 9th of GM7 , so it seems pretty far out to my ears.

Sorry, not knocking you, just telling you that I couldn't get it to work for me. Maybe I'm missing something?

[Budda]

Cool, glad you gave it a try!

I can see where you'd hear some Tension with that Am7. It is the ii Chord of G, and then it's leading to even more Tension with the D7.

And the "Resolve" is to an F# Note. I like this one, because it's kind of a "Pivot" Note. It's the M7 of the GM7 (Leading Tone, and again, more Tension! LOL), as well as the Root of the F#7.

But the whole Line is based on the Tension/Release of that area of the Song Form. So it definately makes things tense up, until you return to Bm for the finish.

I can definately see how these sounds are not to everyone's taste. Just an idea I personally like.

But, thanks for the feedback. I really do appreciate it. And hopefully, some others here will chime in with more approaches.

P.S.

Frank0936's Voice Leading idea was very sweet! I've been using that one, myself.
Thanks Frank!

[frank0936]

Glad you liked it!
Frank

[Sampo]

[Funkifized]

The chord is definitely a GMaj7. The F#7 might sound a bit odd, as the G# is a it outside of the key, at least next to the G chord. G Lydian sounds good over the GMaj7 chord. B Harmonic Minor would work well over the F#7 chord. Of course, B.B. doesn't think of this stuff, he uses mainly B minor pentatonic.

[Funkifized]

The tune is totally diatonic, except for the F#7. B minor is relative to D Major. Play the D Major scale over the whole tune (same as B natural minor), as the G chord is GMaj7, diatonic to the key, and then change the A note to A# over the V chord (the F#7), which yields the B Harmonic Minor scale for that change.

[AlChuck]

Yeah, it seems that it's a very common misconception that it's a sharp five dominant chord rather that a major seventh in "Thrill" - probably because many other minor blues tunes have it that way.