Blues Legends - Robben Ford 2
Bar 1 – This lick is based around a C minor 6 chord (C, Eb, G, A) – the use of the 6th (in this case A) over
a minor chord is a common feature in Robben’s style.
Bar 2 – To execute the hybrid picking lick use the plectrum in conjunction with the middle finger on the
picking hand. One of the real challenges here is getting the attack even between pick and finger.
Bar 4 – Arpeggios are another common feature in Robben’s solos – an arpeggio is the notes of a chord
played individually. In this case we are outlining a C6 chord – a C Major chord (C, E, G) with the addition of
the Major 6th (A).
Bar 6 – Robben will frequently use the minor 6 pentatonic scale in place of the standard minor pentatonic. This lick is based on the C minor 6 pentatonic scale (C, Eb, F, G, A).
Bar 7, 8 – Using the C Minor pentatonic scale, this lick is an example of the long, flowing lines that
Robben creates.
Bar 9 – Another arpeggio, this time an F7 arpeggio which simply outlines the notes of the chord it is being
played over.
Bar 11 – A challenging phrase here and an example of how Robben will shift up a gear when soloing. This
lick is based on the F Lydian Dominant scale (the fourth mode of the C Melodic minor scale). The tension
in this phrase is derived from the ‘B’ on fret 7 of string one – this note is the #4th interval (also known as a
b5th or #11th) of F which is a “handle with care note” – useful for briefly creating dissonance as in this example. The scale shape of the F Lydian dominant mode is outlined below but many players prefer to think of
it as being derived from the C Melodic minor scale rather than thinking of it as a scale shape in isolation.
F Lydian Dominant
Bar 17 – Robben uses doublestops (two notes played simultaneously) extensively in his solos. Dealing
with two notes rather than one requires a very focused technique so try moving this phrase down slowly
to begin with.
Bar 19 – Robben always “plays the changes” i.e. rather than just using one scale such as the minor pentatonic all the way through a progression he will change scale to fit each chord. We saw this in bar 11 with
the use of the F Lydian Dominant mode and now we shift our attention to the V chord, G7. Unlike a traditional blues, the modern players will ‘alter’ the V7 chord – simply put this means they add notes to the
chord or change notes within it to create dissonance. This results in a tense sound before resolving to the I
chord, in this case C7.
In order to exploit this dissonance Robben draws from a wide palette of tense sounding scales. In this example our line is based on the G half/whole diminished scale, one of his favourite scales to use when creating tension. The scale shape in this position is outlined below.
G Half/Whole Diminished
Bar 20 – Another way of creating tension is to overlay chords over the underlying progression. These
chords can be arpeggiated (one note played after the other) to create the necessary dissonance. In this
phrase a G Major arpeggio is played over the underlying G7 (a perfect fit with the chord, what’s known as
“inside” playing). This is followed by a C# minor triad which contains the notes C# (the b5th of G), E (the
6th of G) and G# (the b9th of G – this tense approach is known as “outside” playing.