Robben Ford Discussion

Bluelobster · Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:51 pm Post subject: first time

hi, first time i heard Robben was when my friend came back from GIT in 1984, he warned me that i was going to have a blast then he gave me a tape of Robben, Vinnie, Roscoe & may be the keyboard from yellow jackets playing a club in the valley. My first audio experience was a bootleg. What a thrill . I remember "talkin' about you" ........
The first time i ever seen him was exactly like jazz blues said.1986 Nice.
Then in 1989 i finally had the chance to see the now mithycal blueline.

kurt1981 · Member Joined: 17 Jun 2007 Posts: 21

The first time I heard Robben was in a guitar lesson. I was into all the shredhead guys like Vai and Petrucci. My teacher was a true jazz cat, and he wanted to find a crossover point for me. He made me this tape of Scott henderson and Allan holdsworth stuff, hoping one tune could catch my attention. There was also You cut me to the bone on that tape, the last tune. I dutifully listened to the entire tape, and that one cut really blesw my mind. I've been hooked since, though I still could never hope to play like Robben. One thing I do constantly though is to try and figure out his chordal voicings, they're really quite unique, and he's such a fantastic rhythm player, it really blows my mind. It's made me focus much much more on that aspect of my playing than lead work, which has made my lead chops kind of falter a bit lately!!! Gotta go practice!!!
Kurt

NEZTOK · Newbie Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 1

The first time that I heard Robben play was today Embarassed

, thanks to Justin Sandercoe's recommendation.

http://www.justinguitar.com/html/recommended.html#BluesCDs

LongIslandRod · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:24 am Post subject:

I'm going to guess in the late 70's. A record store had a promotional copy of "The Inside Story" which I bought and still own.

That was my first time............
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Rod

jconstant · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:14 pm Post subject:

A fantastic guitar player/friend of mine named Rod Chaffee asked my one day if I'd every heard of Robben Ford. I didn't, but if someone as good as Rod says it's good, I'm going to check it out. I bought Talk to Your Daughter on vinyl shortly after it was released. I'd never been into blues so when I heard it I though, 'Huh, interesting.' But something pulled me back immediately. I made a cassette tape of it for my car and I could not stop listening to it. It grew on my quickly and I've been addicted to Robben's music since then.

My first time seeing him live was at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, CA. Jaw-dropping is the best way to describe it. It was a life changing event.

Today, I've seen Robben play more times than I can remember. If I had to guess I'd have to say 50-60 times. Heck, I've even been to his house (please Jim, how many times do you have to remind everyone?).

I'll never tire of seeing Robben play.
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"Somebody's got to make some music around here." - Robben Ford

Metrodome · Member Joined: 30 Dec 2007 Posts: 23

The first time that I heard Robben play was with Andy Just at the Santa Cruz Blues Festival. I remember it was a tribute to Mike Bloomfield and Chris Cain was there too!! While I speakin' about Andy, he has a new MySpace Music page and be sure to add him and check out some tunes.

www.myspace.com/andyjustharmonica

Cheers

MatsD · Member Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 8

The first time I heard Robben was when the Talk To Your Daughter album was released in 1988. I really hated it! I thought this west coast/NY session musician approach to the blues was so awful and anemic that I developed rashes all over my body hearing it. I continued to passionately dislike Robben Ford for about a decade after that.

The turning point for me was the Blue Moon album in 2000. Then I started to revisit some of his previous albums and after a while I was hooked. Today I consider Robben to be one of the most tasteful blues guitarrists around. He's not very much of a singer, and as an artist in a more overall perspective, he' may not be up there with my alltime biggest heroes, but as a blues guitarist he certainly is.

A nice thing about Robben is that he really is more accomplished than he lets on most of the time. While players like Mike Stern and Scott Henderson never misses an opportunity to show off and demonstrate their jazz chops, Robben has adapted the Miles Davis approach that less often is more.

/Mats D

Zhurh · Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:57 am Post subject:

I saw the YellowJackets 25 years back 3-4 times; didn't even know who RF was.

It took picking the geetar back up after many years away to wake me up to Robben Ford; now I think I have all his books, dvd's and most of his cd's; one of my favorites. Chasing that sound that gives me so much enjoyment; like so many others I guess.
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Strats with surfers & blonds, Teles with fralins & novaks, Bruno Cowtipper

PKBrown · Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 6:42 am Post subject: First Time

I was getting into learning blues guitar and my wife turned me on to Robben from her love of the blues and his music, specifically--she'd had Talk to Your Daughter in her CD collection. For my birthday, she treated me to the Rockin' Blues Revue starring John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, Robben Ford & Eric Bibb on Friday September 30, 2005 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach, California. Since then I've really gotten into his jazz-inflected blues style and guitar tone. I love Truth, The Authorized Bootleg, and the new Into the Sun, and his songs Indianola, The Miller's Son, Badge, and Cannonball Shuffle. I've been to two of the clinics in Ojai and am ready to go back again--as I learn more each time and am even more ready now for some of the more advanced approaches he teaches. Robben's a wonderful musician and human being, who just keeps giving of himself.

jbear · Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 11:55 am Post subject:

My best friend went to Five Town's College on Long Island,, and he played me a tape of Inside Story and Larry's Strikes Twice...blew me away! I was getting into jazz and fusion (Beck, RTF, JLP, Dregs,Holdsworth...etc all). He also gave me a tape of Spears and Vox Humana, which got me into Scott Henderson. We would drive around in his van and he played all sorts of cool stuff. We'd jam in the basement of the American Legion Hall...freezing!!!!!
We were fortunate enough to be able to see Robben at Mikel's on a fairly regular basis. Small club...sit ten feet away. Robben was always friendly and personable. That was the first time for me. Now I am in the cultural wasteland that is Atlanta...He was here for Music Midtown once in like 95. Every once and a while cats come through but if you blink...I just blinked and missed Wayne Krantz. Wanted to cry!

PierreL · Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 6:25 am Post subject:

For me that must have been with the Soundpage record in Guitar Player (September 1988), which led me to buy Talk to your Daughter.

jconstant · Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 5:14 am Post subject:

PierreL · Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 1:49 pm Post subject:

Yeah, that was that one if I remember correctly.

PierreL · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2015 5:28 am Post subject:

And here it is : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D-ebXc76W4

big al · Member Joined: 04 Jul 2007 Posts: 18 Location: Ukiah

This is an old topic post, but I'm sure everyone on this forum remembers the first time they heard Robben's music.

For me, growing up in the same neighborhood, it was the Ford bros practising outside on their patio in Ukiah, Calif. We heard amplified music, walked over to their street and leaned against the fence listening. That was maybe the late 1960s...

Robben was actively playing all the time, including our high school band. He played saxaphone, alto I believe. I marched in the marching band with him! We did some parades, mostly playing at the school's football games and pep rallies. Also the concert band played a few performances a year. And Robben was a musical director of the Junior/Senior talent show (1970 I think), an incredible show, and a great variety of talent for our small berg.

But of course he was playing guitar, and he and his brothers played the blues at various places around the area, before he graduated and left on his incredible musical journey.

Many thanks Robben, for a lifetime of of your music!
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just another small town boy from northern california