VS: Robben Ford on the Telecaster - "The Ugliest Musical Instrument?" (S3: E18)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 มิ.ย. 2020
- In this episode of the Vault Sessions, @RobbenFordofficial talks Mickey Baker, the importance of Paul Butterfield Blues Band, his desire to be jazz player, and the day that he realized he didn’t know any chords. Robben was selected as one of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century" by Musician magazine. He also was a member of the L.A. Express and Yellowjackets, and he has collaborated with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Larry Carlton, Rick Springfield, Kiss, and more. He plays one of our 1958 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop "Darkback" and a one-of-a-kind Natural Red Mahogany Fender Telecaster. He also plays his 1960 Telecaster and Epiphone Riviera.
Season 3 is packed with great players so click the subscribe button for updates.
Coming soon: Jimmy Herring, Samantha Fish, Stuart Mathis, Andy Wood (part 2), J.D. Simo, and dozens more. These sessions help keep the music alive by helping the Songbirds Foundation raise money to buy guitars for kids…check out our website to find out more- songbirdsfoundation.org. Thanks to our sponsors- The Riverview Foundation, Schillhahn-Huskey Foundation, GHS Strings, and Todd Sharp Amplifiers. Special thanks to John Dooley for the great video work.
#greatestguitarist #vaultsessions #guitarsforkids - เพลง
He seems so down-to-earth type of person, really genuine and no fluff.
Amazing player, incredible human and spectacular player. What a terrific video.
Robben Ford is my default go-to guitar player on TH-cam. I’ve played for 53 years, and have seen hundreds of concerts by the greatest guitarists.
Robben Ford has an authenticity, a joy for the instrument that is quite refreshing to me. I learn something every single time I watch and listen to him.
Gosh, he is so sympathetic! Legend
Robben is under rated
I like how his eyes lit up when he said " I can have it? " , trurly a very easy-going and humble gentleman, I'm so glad he has had a wonderful career and has been able to enjoy a life of making music.
There's 2 or 3 Pages in that first Micky Baker book that have all the Important jJzz Chords/Voicings a player could ever need. Changed my life. : )
Robben Ford . Genius.
It doesn't matter the guitar ... when your sound is in your head and in your hands, any guitar will speak your language! In this Robben is unique!
I really love Robben's smooth attack on each note ... not like the ice picky sound. He's really gifted in many ways.
As much as I love, cherish and adore a vintage Les Paul Custom (1959 is my favorite) I do love and appreciate the beauty and simplicity of a Telecaster
Anyone else just wish he would have kept playing on that LP? Man that tone was sweet.
A guitarist's guitarist. It's rare to hear a contemporary musician solo and offer the listener so many surprises. Robben is that kind of player.
A non-stop dispenser of wisdom. And I don't even think he's doing it deliberately.
We agree!
Hi Robben, I don't know if you will have time to read this comment, but I'm maybe a few years older than you, and there I was trying to play like Hendrix with a semi-hollow body guitar and a solid state Amp, and later with les Paul and a twin, so we are the same in that respect! Ha! Also I was gigging in Boston when I saw you do a seminar at Berklee around '74, I think, and people were starting to get massively into effects. I loved your reply to the student's question, "What about effects?" Robben, "Well I use a tube Amp, and I like adding a little reverb." Loved it!
Thank you Robben for the wonderful stories and music.
Robben was a hero of mine back in the 90's. I'm probably around the same age. Its weird to see our faces age like this, but our spirits are undimished and our souls are ageless. He is the same guy, same voice, same amazing talents. So good to see him here talking about our times and the incredible guitar music we all were exposed to back then. Love you Robben.
he sure has a great voice
I discovered him in 73 or 74, on the album "The Charles Ford Band". A fellow guitar player whose band I was in turned me onto him. I like him a lot, he's very cool and not egotistical. I still count him as one of my main influences though he's light years beyond my own style.
@benicecunt o.k. If you don't look at the man, and just listen to the music, you manage to go beyond the realization that he no longer looks like he did before. I too was very shocked by the way he looks now. I never got that he was a lot older than he appeared before.
But his playing has not changed. He is just so smooth and articulate in his music....
Robben's voice hasn't changed at all from his younger days, still clear and strident.
@@arthurblackhistoric That's true too; for a virtuoso guitar player, his voice is just in par with everything else.
The headstock of the Tele is the most beautiful thing.
Agree!
I wouldn't call it beautiful but I love the simple shape of it.
I think it’s the sound..
@@ss_whole same
For me the perfect headstock is a 1961 Fender Stratocaster. 😍
When an instrument sounds that good, it can’t be ugly..
Robben is an easy-going, humble guy who happens to be a great musician.
He’s a great musician, who happens to be an easy-going and humble guy. This man has paid his dues and has spent 10,000 hours practicing his instrument. He’s a master. You don’t just ‘happen’ to be a great musician. Dangerous misconception.
He is a class act indeed as well as being a great musician.
Heard him live in 95 in Buenos Aires as a warming for Robert Cray and let me tell you.. after him nobody wanted to hear Robert.
@@dgdg6143 Have you ever heard Robben's playing on the first Yellowjackets album? The solo he did on "Rush Hour" is one of the best I've ever heard.
@@tomgiles1484 I remembver driving and hearing a yellowjacket lead gfuitar and HAD TO KNOW who that was? Followed Robben ever since!
The best clean tones ever - right there.
This is one of the best guitarist & guitar interview I have ever seen.
Thanks!! We had a blast.
Thanks Robben. Fantastic
That Les Paul sound in the intro just knocked me over... I've had so many down the years and just sold my last one a few weeks back and have been playing my Strat all the time... until now... damn... that sweet Les Paul...
Robben is the player i’ve always wanted to be.
Us too!
Me too and I didn't even know it for a long time.
Me too!
ha, me to and just for shits and giggles throw in Larry Carlton, Lee Rit, Matt Schofield and Mike Stern
yeah and his words about how he learned those harmonic and jazz chords are insane I wish I could get near 1% to it.
The moral of this long story is “never buy strings in a music store”, buy them on line. My last set of strings cost me 900 bucks. I will say though that I still have my nice sounding tele, whereas the strings are long gone.
I went to a pawn shop for a ring and got an $80 Mexican '94 Tele which had been left out in the rain. New Fender noiseless pickups, rewiring, a Babicz full contact bridge and some custom blue rose artwork on the headstock made it my sleeper. I love it so much it's gone through a couple of refrets...no regrets.
Seems like..these days.....everytime Ford opens his Pie Hole...he's Promoting something...I like his music..but I'm sick of all the Promo advertising......... and he's a Grumpy guy now....if you've seen live shows in the last couple years...they are not the same... On stage , play 8 songs, leave just as grumpy as the moment he steps on stage......
Where did you buy strings for 900 bucks..I need to avoid that place LOL
@@joeguerra7869 lol I think he meant he went in for strings and left with a tele
@@john-zw9rw Get a safe space
Both of my Uncle's played Telecasters for over 30 years. Nothing is better for blues.
Robben thanks for your beautiful playing blessed be ol'boy
Even Robben Ford has troubles playing stuff sometimes??! Mind blowing
I don’t care who is being interviewed. There is nothing ugly about a tele. It is one of the most perfect and beautiful guitars out there.
Yeah, I'd say there are really ugly guitars with 10 pickups and stuff (like the 1960s cheap Italian & East Europe models) , even the Mosrite or Explorer was a strange shape, but the Telecaster is a well balanced shape & quite comfortable.
1000% agree! Got three of them
I hate the small head. The fatter Versions are awesome. I own the white Tele Ultra and i am so in love with it.
How great is it to support a program which provides #guitarsforkids! Genius!
I always thought the Telecaster was ugly too, and then I played one, and loved it.
The Telecaster's simplicity, is its beauty,. Amazing the wide range of tones to be had form what seems at 1st glance, a "simple" guitar. I LOVE Robben Ford's' clean tone with just a touch of reverb.That Epiphone is gorgeous too.
Same applies to all guitars with volume and tone knobs
He uses a little delay as well. Epiphone is an old one, P90s are nice and clean with more body than a single coil but they have noise at volume and feedback if you step close to a valve amp - so not so great live.
I could listen to Robben talk about music and guitars all day.
Me too. Such a kind soul and a wealth of information
Oh hell yes me to 🤙❤
On the other hand, in terms of influence, he forgets the founders of the blues, the black American legends who really founded the blues of today, the King, Muddy, Buddy, etc etc
Got to see Robben at Tampa Bay Blues Fest in like 06’. He brought the house down with a little tweed amp. He’d go back and tweak some knobs for each song.
Hey Robben - David Keith here. Nice seeing you! Great sounds still coming out of your hands! I'm in Texas. Long strange trip. Those first two Butterfield albums were favorites of mine too!
Micky Baker! Jerry Garcia turned me on to those books when I took several lessons from him at a Palo Alto music store at age 13 in 1963 before he became famous with the Grateful Dead. Still have them!
Micky Baker: That's a great story, The only famous Musician I ever met was in passing, I was working a small Best Western in Moscow, Idaho at the time (Mid Eighties) A short shirtless gentleman with a long beard ask me "Hey man where's the ice machine" I replied "right down here sir on the corner of the hall way" He replied thanks" . As soon as I turn away, I said to myself realizing "Shit that was Dusty from ZZ TOPP".
Dana Morgan's
My jazz teacher had the Mickey Baker book. I borrowed it from him and photocopied every page. My teacher told me it was college level material.
best decision I ever made for my guitar playing was listening to a gentleman playing a beautiful chord progression in a guitar centre when I asked him where he learned it he said I needed get this book, I immediately went home & found the book & learned everything I could about Mickey Baker
@@UncleTerry At least he thanked you. That must be the Texan manners shining through. New Yorkers and others don't even say goodbye when they hang up the phone let alone thank you for your help. It's like they've got an entitlement to it. Fuck that.
I wouldn't mind sitting down with Dusty Hill and picking his brains about the early ZZ Top days. Man they're a great band.
Obviously a very nice guy
Mickey Baker book .
A good place to start
Mr.Ford sounds fantastic! Thank You 🙏🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Mr. Ford a wealth of knowledge, Lots of Gold nuggets here! THANK YOU Mr. Ford 🙂👍
For me, one of the stand out moments is the live solo Robben plays with the Yellowjackets at Montreux.
Robben, I’ve been following you since I first saw you with George Harrison’s Dark Horse Tour at Madison Square Garden. You have never failed to inspire me. Your playing, your singing, your choice of songs, your choice of notes … Thank You!
I went to his high school in 1972 a couple years behind him....and he was already a star,
Thanks for all the folks who made this happen, love Robben Ford, and his almost apologetic fascination with guitar & music. Such a humble guy, a rare quality these days but so worth aiming for.
Count me as a new Robben Ford fan. Especially enjoyed hearing him discuss how he taught himself.
Robben Ford is My all time Favorite Musician, his style, his Timing, and His phrasing is Impeccable. That is Why Miles Davis Talked So Highly of him. A true Legend...Thanks for the post..
The tele is the most beautiful guitar to look at...absolutely no frills, built for purpose, and it delivers every time....
Robben Ford - such a humble and gentle soul. Love his attitude and playing. The Tele is such a legendary guitar, pure with no where to hide. If you can play it will give you everything you'll ever need be it Ash / Maple or Alder / Rosewood or Mahogany / Rosewood it still sounds every inch a Tele.
This is my favorite tele. That tone, that color. It’s perfect.
The older I get the more I want to sounds and play like Mr. Ford
nice to hear somebody playing with feel and heart...rather than speedscaling...nice one
Crazy how warm his tone is with the tele. Awesome player
@Ben Hackett yep just like the late great Roy Buchanan and his Telecaster..all done with volume swells and nob twisting no pedal dancing.
@Ben Hackett even as a Strat guy it blows my mind when someone says Tele's are ear piercingly bright. I'm like, dial it back a little and you'll have one of the most beautiful sounds on earth🎸
I've just found this. Great to hear. I saw Robben playing with Miles Davis at the Lincoln Center in June 1986 and will always remember the concert ... the the best concert I've ever been to to this day.
Been a fan of Robben ever since.
And, I also prefer the tele over the strat.
And also, great to hear Robben is self taught out of books which is encouraging for all of us amateurs.
A total genius! Nice guy too :)
A single video/interview and I can still learn billions of guitar skills... What a player, what a musician
I saw Mr. Ford, when we were both young men, play in George Harrison's band. I was lucky enough to see them twice, in one day , in 1974.
Both an afternoon and evening performance. Don't believe what you hear. It was one of the most amazing concert experiences I've ever had.
And I've seen just about everybody.
what a cool audience. Judge asked the people to really trailer listen to ravish anchor and his fans and to show him the respect that he deserves. I think a lot of people reluctantly honored that request. But their reluctance very rapidly turned to great enjoyment. Because Ravi and his band were flat "out of this world."
RIP R&G
Hey Robben I remember that 65 Super Reverb! I served as roadie and helped get it out to your car after our Master Class in Ojai years ago. Always appreciate your grooves man!
One of my guitar heroes. A gentleman through and through.
I've seen him twice, both times in Petaluma, California.
He is the coolest guy in my personal pantheon of guitar gods. I play for 45 years and share this pure, childlike, love for music.
I took the opportunity to attend 2 of his 4 day dojo workshops.On the last day the students ,2 at a time get up to play a song with Robben and his band.
I never played with any one or with a band ,or in front of people, before that first night . Luckily for me the other guitarist wasn’t so prepared for his solo so it made me sound better .i guess ,.But after my solo Robben gave me a positive nod which blew me away .I got applause from my fellow classmates.
At 60 years of age it was an experience I’ll never forget and I can’t express how grateful I was to be able to play with a great musician and great human being .
Regardless of which guitar he's playing, the sound he gets is really similar... I think his character really comes through. Thanks for another great video!
True. He can make a clean les paul sound live and snappy and a tele sound fat.
What a cool guy...He tears into Lovin Cup, is even a bit camera shy, and nail it beautifully. This is the guy that played on Miles Of Aisles as part of The LA Express. Enough said.
Good musicians, no matter they're standing, still have their idols. Pretty cool.
Wow. I got chills when Robben played that '63 Tele.
Robben, I'll always idolize you man. I grew up worshiping Eddie Van Halen (and still do), but you are my primary guitar hero. You've taught me so much at your clinics. THANK YOU ROBBEN!
NEVER IN YOUR ADULT LIFE............IDOLIZE A DUMB ASS MUSICIAN........ coming from a older musician.....
@@john-zw9rw exactly, you can really be inspired by some players, but you should aim to make your playing your own
One of my favorite guitarists and I got to see him in my home town (7,000 people). I was about 15 feet from the stage.
My God. The sweetest sounds he got out of that Tele. Unbelievable.
Robben being Robben. Amazing how he sounds great with an amp and a very tasteful reverb. Delightful to see...
Nice to see someone pay homage to the great Mike Bloomfield's playing and also Epiphone's glorious past.
The man is a humble legend. Thanks.
Really good. The more i hear him, the more i realize how musical he is.
gosh those "old timey" chords he showed sounded so good
I love the "yeah" and "right" in the background :))
Robben is an immense guitarist always in melodic research and dazzling resonances .....
He constantly explores, never satisfies himself and is in permanent creation exploring the neck of the instrument as if he discovered it the first time ....
I am in awe of such a musical genius, an authentic and profound artist, all in humility.
I wish my grandmother was this cool.
It has to feel great when someone just gives you a guitar because you play so beautifully.
Astonishing guitarist. Such knowledge and skill and sensitivity..
God bless that Mickey Baker chord book, it has helped so many players, me included, good on ya Mickey wherever you may be.
Michael Gorman “complete course in jazz guitar”?
I love this man!!! Thank you for your gift Robben
Saw Robben tear it up many times at the Cellar @ DeAnza College. The most impressive performance however was as a session player with Jimmy Witherspoon @ Keystone Corner,SF. Blew my mind playing that Super 400 but what most impressed me was his sax and piano chops!
His playing gives me the chills
2:48 it’s nice to know that even the greats are sometimes stumped by something they’ve played 1000 times
Bloomfield and Micky Baker's "Jazz and Hot Guitar" two of the strongest roots on the Tree which is apparently part of why I've long loved Robben's playing even back on the first Charles Ford LP. Love this video..
I'm an amateur blues player and my best friend was Ron Thompson of Ron Thompson and the resistors. I remember seeing the Robben Ford Blues Band and always loved you Brothers harmonica playing the whole family is really talented. Many blessings and thanks for a great video
I saw Ron Thompson at the Yale in Vancouver, I guess it was '88 or '89. The same night Ron was playing at the Yale and Jeff Healey was playing at the Orphium just down the street. When Jeff finished his show he came to the Yale. They sound up closing the doors and Ron and Jeff Jammed about a half hour after closing time. Fantastic night!!!
Robben is so cool, jet smooth and musical! This video has inspired me to try to find a good book of jazz chords to combine with my quest to be a good blues player. Those two styles seem to work very well together.
Robert Whitfield The Mickey Baker is excellent... lots of ‘jazz’ chords and progressions... helps you understand how to put them together
Mickey Baker Jazz Books are phenomenal
..there are many which include chord substitutions, books 1-4, I believe, soloing and comping. It was an epiphany to hear that Roben approached his playing like the blues even after learning Jazz substitution chords and scales beyond typical pentatonic. I do the same...great affirmation!!
I just love Robban Ford! Also for giving credd to Bloomfield....
I got my first telecaster after seeing a guy playing one at a teen dance .....loved the sound he was getting.... I was probably 16 or 17.....1968....worked at a gas station pumping gas and fixing flats.....all summer saved enough to get my first telecaster......paid $150.00 for it..... couldn't afford a case so I wrapped it in a towel and took it home until I could get a case.....it was a 1963 model year..... something I sold a few years later to get a Les Paul.....that old telecaster was worth a small fortune I learned many years later.....looked like yours in finish but had a maple neck.....
Never forgot this one: Greek Theater around 74. Joni Mitchell backed by Tom Scott and the L A Express doing the entire Court and Spark set. Joni's greatest in my book. Knew that Carlton and Budimir played guitar on the album. So I am shocked when this 'kid' is the guitarist that night. Let me tell ya ... Robben was jaw dropping great! Never forgot the name nor how he handled that axe. Been a favorite all this time. Plus he is such a fine human as well.
Yes , with John Guerin on drums & Max Bennett on bass , what a tight unit . Miles of Aisles, Check it out kids .
I’ll forever appreciate supporting Robben on a couple shows. Seeing him work his mastery on those nights was classroom in itself. Try hitting the stage knowing Robben Ford is following you 💪 .
That would however definitely be preferable to hitting the stage following Robben Ford 😁
Saint Music
If he's following you, play his set....( read that somewhere.)
Chance'd be a fine thing. Good for you - I'm sure you gave him hell!
Yup, I checked all of those boxes too. Mickey Baker, emulate Bloomfield, Clapton and Hendrix. Never got as good as Robben though.
He,s right. That's why Dylan called on him because he said Mike was the best he had heard at that time.. I love Robben,s sound for many years an d got to see him close to 20 years ago when Gregg Allman used him on lead. I said to myself What" as i didn't know if he could play that particular genre. Shoulda known better as he nailed it!
When I Leave Here was the first song I ever heard him an d i was hooked. Right about the telecaster to. He'll, Roy Buchanan played it an d you know the rest of the story..Interview is just too cool!
Love those tele sounds at the start! Robben is the reason I bought my 63' CS Tele. Can't quite afford an original!
He's so easy going a balance of energy in a band. Great chemistry with the Chief (Miles Davis)...
Awesome! 😎
That 1960 tele sounds incredible. I've always been chasing the blackguard sound but that guitar is a killer.
Pickguard makes no diff. You can take any 10 guitars of the same time era year make and no 2 will sound the same i guarantee you no 2 people have the same print etc said enough no model either 2 in a row .its just a fact in the old days you walked in there would be 5 precbs strats youd playvthem all buy the superior sounding one same now some suck some magick. Very rare magick not model guitar.pre cbs 200 450bucks a lot of hype quality control 20% on.a lota expensive stuff well call it aging after 20 yrs molecular structure change magnets weaken bugs worked out by playing them out fix fix fix until nothing left bugs gone nice played in instrument .buy a new one play it in if its good (to your liking) when purchased itll get better .end hope you guys get it . Girl s included with guys .have a great day .
@@davidkenneth3983 I'm not talking the actual pickguard! I'm talking about the ERA of early Fender Broadcaster/Telecaster/Nocaster known as early Blackguard guitars! And Yes, individual guitars of each era vary for sure with some being killer and some dogs, but, you definitely can group guitars in general categories based on time period.
I worked in guitar stores for a long long time, including stores dealing in vintage guitars, I am not wothout direct experience. I have played dozens of CBS and pre-CBS strats and teles. The sound of an early blackguard pickup say in a Broadcaster or Nocaster sound is as a generalisation, very different to that made say in 55 or the early 60's, Similarly an Rosewood board, Alder bodied guitar sounds different to an Ash/Maple combination. Both great sounds but different. Both before and after ageing of timbers and de-gaussing of magnets.
Lovin' Cup is an awesome song. Paul Butterfield Blues Band was one of the first groups I saw at the Fillmore. And, yes, Mike Bloomfield (RIP) was our guitar hero. Their version of Work Song (Adderley) & East West blew me away... In March of 1968 at Winterland the Electric Flag (Mike Bloomfield) opened for Cream's Wheels of Fire tour and I was there for Clapton vs Bloomfield (as I saw it at the time).
Mickey Baker Plays the Wildest Guitar is a fantastic album.
One of my absolute favorite guitar players!
Felt the same about Teles, for 20+ years, then I got a thinline and it totally changed my mind even toward the solid bodies.
Yeah I agree. Always thought I didnt need one since my Strat forfilled al my needs. That was untill I tried one from a friend of mine.
I too always felt that the Tele was oddly ugly. I always thought the headstock was out of proportion and it made the guitar look like a mistake..... I have always had a Strat and always thought they were the prettiest guitars ever. Now I think the tele is beautiful in it's simplicity..
Hello
When you say to thinline you mean humbuckers?
@@dimitrisaivaliotis5616, wasn't the sound for me, it was the overall aesthetics of the 62-72 Thinline that encouraged me to try a tele. Wouldn't have minded if was an SS config, just happened to be the model I like was HH stock.
@@ReeWebster
I suppose the aesthetic appeal can't stay a long without.. the sound!!
I also had the Mickey Baker book #1 and studied it for several years with a great teacher. (Somebody I'm sure you know him.) He loved Eddie Lang & Fats Waller. I tried to integrate it into our song list Didnot work. I do still use it when I sit in with jazz guys. They love it, especially horn players. My original songs are based heavily on the Mickey Baker exercises. What I was shooting for was that Jeff Beck "Blow by Blow' feel. Love Robben have several of his CD's. He's one of the few that my Emy Lou Harris/Lucinda Williams/Chrissie Hynde/Bonnie Raitt loving wife will listen to. Thank you this was good.
I love this video, watched it 10 times. This one vid will teach you everything folks.
Great player & cool soul. Nice seeing veteran musicians who literally would play for nothing but love of sound & keep it together (& truth, many greats played for little reward, w no bitterness).