Robben Ford Discussion

telefunk1 · Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 12:14 pm Post subject:

Buzz Feiten, indeed! Some great guitar work, considering he was not really a guitar player before then! And the guitar on the double live Butter LP (which has the version of "Everything.." I am talking about), Ralph Wash plays some amazing out of the pocket stuff throughout this album. Who was this guy, is he still playing, anybody know? Inquiring minds want to know...

juspasinby2003 · Senior Member Joined: 18 Dec 2003 Posts: 255

JavaDiva · Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 7:35 pm Post subject: Ralph Wash

Checked out Ralph Wash on imusic.com - he and Bugsy Maugh went on to do an album with Todd Rundgren after Butterfield, he also recorded with Van Morrison, Country Joe McDonald and a disco group, Sylvester. After 1979 there's no other recordings listed for him.

juspasinby2003 · Senior Member Joined: 18 Dec 2003 Posts: 255

Thanks very much, JD! I'll see if I can dig up some of those recordings.

telefunk1 · Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2004 6:07 am Post subject:

And my thanks, too, JD.

Butter was kind of like Mayall in that the list of guitarists that passed through his bands was exceptional. After he moved on from the horn driven bands, my favorite Butter era was his Better Days band. Amos Garrett - talk about a tele-master! I see that Amazon has a live Better Days CD for sale - has anyone heard this, and is it worth the price of admission?

juspasinby2003 · Senior Member Joined: 18 Dec 2003 Posts: 255

telefunk1,
I have the Better Days LP, but I haven't listened to it in years, and my turntable is broken :-( As I recall, however, there is one song in particular that is worth the price of the package (can't recall the title). It was a major change of direction for Paul, and some people found it disappointing because it didn't fit their expectations. If you're a Paul Butterfield fan, as opposed to a Butterfield Blues Band fan, you should not be disappointed. Paul's vocals in that album were some of his best.

juspasinby2003 · Senior Member Joined: 18 Dec 2003 Posts: 255

jessa · Newbie Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 1

Hey I'm new on the boards and I was wondering if anyone here could possibly the scan the transcription of 'Work Song"? It would be greatly appreciated!

Bluelobster · Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 3:54 am Post subject: Re: Mindless Mastery Is The Goal.

Phill_B · Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 4:38 pm Post subject:

[quote="Aeolian"]I don't think that studying and playing from the heart are mutually exclusive. They just occur at separate times. I am mostly what a friend calls a "street" player who has picked up a bit of schooling over the years. It isn't the way I approach music but I find myself needing to delve into theory when I feel things getting stale and repetitive.

I'd like to take a minor exception to juspassinby's comment that at any given momment, Robben is fully aware of what he is playing out of. My experience of Robben at clinics and while watching things like "The Blues and Beyond) is that a certain times he is very aware that he is pulling from a whole/half scale or tritone sub, but at other times he has to stop and think about it for a bit. I think at one time he sat down with Don Mock or Joe Diorio, or analyzed some Coltrane thing, and worked out various substitutions and alterations. But he has been using them so long, they are a part of him the way a basic BB lick is part of all of us. You don't even think about it until someone points out that something you played sounds like BB. Then you run it back through in your head and go "oh yeah, I guess I practiced that a lot when I was 15". Or someone makes a comment about a shift you made at some point and you think back and go "oh, that's just switching from minor pentatonic to major" but you weren't thinking deliberately about doing that, and then you remember working out Eric's solo to Badge and realized were you got it from.

So even though I never went to Berkley or GIT, I welcome discussions of scales and substitutions. It's like reading a book and discovering some new words. It just makes you more literate and interesting if you are able to effectively add them to your vocabulary. Of course if you just spew them out of context or force them into places they don't fit, you won't around any listener interest, you'll just turn people off. I think what we're after is turning people on, in the way that Robben touches us.

And thinking occasionally while playing isn't always bad. It keeps things interesting. I was fortunate to catch Garth at the Baltic last weekend. Every so often you could see a light go on over his head, a kind of "oh yeah, this would fit in great right here" and then he'd go ahead and play it wonderfully, and it would fit because he knows what he's doing. And then that would inspire variations and alterations that just flowed out of him because he'd already established the idea. Then at other times his vast vocabulary would come into play and something would just fall out of him because it felt right at the moment. He closed the night with Europa and at one point in the head, he stuffed some altered riff in there that just floored me. It went by so quickly I can't remember what it was, and didn't bother to try and ask him about it as I'd bet he wouldn't remember what is was either. He just obviously felt like dressing up the melody a bit at that point and this thing just popped out. (Of course, if you're reading this Garth, and you do remember, I'd love to know Smile

)[/quote]

Garth told me that when he is thinking of things to play that they always come out different than what he had in mind.

Hi Everybody I just wanted to let you know that the official Garth Webber MySpace is now up and running (AKA The WebberSpace)!! Guitarist/SingerSongwriter Garth Webber has shared the stage with such people as Miles Davis, Gregg Allman, The Ford Blues, and many more. I am just trying to tell everybody that I can so please be sure to pass it on!!
www.myspace.com/garthwebber

Thanks everyone
Phillip