Robben Ford Discussion

[jconstant]

The August 16th clinic in Ojai, CA was an incredible experience. I spent the better part of a day sitting four feet from not only my biggest musical inspiration, but one of the greatest guitar players to walk the planet.

The clinic started at 10:00 so of course I arrived at 8:45. Robben and his wife Anne arrived just a few minutes later to set up the room. The clinic was held in the Ojai Womens Center. Aside from the high temperatures the room was the perfect place for something like this. As soon as he and Anne set things up they let us come in and pick a place to sit - first come, first served. I picked a seat right in front of his Deluxe Reverb and '54 Les Paul. (Lesson #1 - It pays to get there early)

We started right on time and Robben asked everyone to introduce themselves and say why they were there. He mentioned that he meant to have another amp with him but they were all in the shop. I'm not sure if he would have had another that people would have been able to play along with him at times or not, but what a great thing that would have been. He started with the very basics - he gave everyone handouts that included a picture of a piano keyboard. He briefly described intervals, major, minor, etc., and altered chords. I think for a few people this was totally new information and others were already well versed in music theory. One interesting note, when he talked about intervals and used the keyboard as an example he referred to "major 2nd, major 3rd, major 4th, major 5th, etc.". Well, where I come from (which is Iowa, by the way) we have perfect 4ths and perfect 5th, not major. Oh well, regardless of what he calls them he obviously knows his stuff and can play the shit out of it. I just thought it was kinda funny. Moving on...he talked scales, modes, tri-tone substitutions, and chords. If there was one thing to learn in the morning half of the class it was this -its all about the chords. He made it very clear on more than one occassion. Learn chords. He said that once he really learned chords that's when things really opened up for him.

We broke for lunch and a few of us started walking down the street with Robben just chatting it up. It was almost surreal walking down the street with Robben Ford and for a minute I thought perhaps he was going to go with us to lunch. But, he had other plans and took off in another direction.

We met back up at 1:30 and continued with more about chords. He gave us a chord chart for Moonchild Blues and we went through the song for quite some time. We talked about the chords in some detail and broke the song down.

The was quite a lot of Q & A in the afternoon and Robben even pulled some CD's out of his bag and we listened to them together. He played some BB King (Blues on Top of Blues) and talked about how inspirational it was. Not entirely sure why we did this but hey, I suppose there are worse things I could do with my time. He even had a copy of his new CD with him but he didn't play any of it. i tried to encourage him to but he said he wouldn't feel right about it.

At 4:00 we concluded and Robben spent a lot of time talking with several of us one-on-one as he signed guitars, CD's, and let people take pictures.

The guy is incredibly generous and humble. He sees himself as a regular guitar player rather than a huge inspiration that he is to so many people. Its quite a big deal when someone of his talent takes time to pass along his knowledge to others in this way. Maybe other players do the same kind of thing but I'm not aware of them. I suppose this was what it would have been like for him to attend a Mike Bloomfield clinic - truly a lifetime experience.

If there is a clinic anywhere near you (or not, one participant came from France) and you have the means, do not pass up this chance to spend a day with an incredible musician and person. I took a few pictures for those that are interested. (Note: some are blurry because I turned my flash off as to not bother Robben. This slowed the shutter speed and made it difficult to get good shots)

Enjoy!

http://homepage.mac.com/jconstant/PhotoAlbum24.html

[telefunk1]

Hi Jim:

Wow - thanks for review. Wish he would take this on the road, and down here to Texas. Any chance of sharing the handouts?

A note on the BB King CD - Blues on Top of Blues. BB was the main inspiration for Bloomfield, so it only makes sense that RF would go back and listen to BB. And, this CD is one of his best from the 60s. I have enjoyed it for years - there are some great cuts on it and it is a lot of fun to play along with. I recommend it if you are interested in the RF-Bloomfield-BB link.

[artandink]

My family and I just got back from a vacation in Southern California. We arrived in LA on the AUG 16, too late to make the clinic.

By chance we went to Santa Barbara on Sunday, the 17th, and took a leisurely drive back to LA, through Ojai (my wife heard it was a quaint town and worth seeing). Well, after stopping for a quick soda, we needed to reverse direction to head back so I went up a side street to make my u-turn. My daughter abruptly screamed out to me, "there's Robben Ford," as he went into some sort of local arts theater. I caught a glimpse and it could have been Robben, but not sure. If Robben Ford drives a Jeep SUV, it could very well have been him.

Anyway, after a week in LA and Las Vegas, that was our only possible celebrity sighting. BTW, I'm very impressed that my 13-year daughter knows what Robben Ford looks like. Yes, she is a guitarist.

Sorry for the tangential jump on your thread.

Art