Robben Ford Tone ?

[JohnK24]

I once read, I believe in Vintage Guitar, where they did a big analysis of Ford's style and tone. I know they heavily stressed his does a lot of picking with this fingers and the manner in which he frets the notes is unique. I think, and I'm going from memory they noted that Robben picks the string a nano second (my words..) prior to fretting.

How ever he achieves that tone is unbelievable, he's a master and his fluid runs and slower passages make me smile all the time. I enjoy is "Handful of Blues" and "Blue Moon" the most, I believe they both feature a great deal of tele tunes.

J

[sidneystreet]

Robben Ford gets quality tone no matter what he plays through, guitar or amp. Period.

So did Jimi Hendrix, Chet Atkins, Wes Montgomery, etc. To imply that their tone production was somehow mostly a function of a particular amp is misguided, to say the least.

That being said, it certainly makes sense to audition guitars and amps that produce an appropriate palette of tones as a jumping off point toward approaching a guitarist's sound.

[Tim Bowen]

In 1984, I had the pleasure of playing a "blues in C" with Mr. Ford. We were both playing through solid state Peavey amps. He sounded exactly like Robben Ford, and I sounded exactly like some greenhorn 24 year old kid that had never been to the big city before... surprise.

I'm the last guy to eschew the effect of 'rig' (you won't sound like The Edge without being rig-specific), but in Mr. Ford's case, I'd agree that it's mostly about what's in the heart and brain, as translated to the fingers, and much less about the "gear".

My favorite period of Robben's playing was on the early Yellowjackets records. "Imperial Strut", off that band's first offering, in particular, totally screwed up my head. He's a great cat to transcribe and study, and his touch nuances are second to none.

[collinsman]

When I started this thread my intentions were not to sound exactly like RF ( impossible) just in the range. I've heard different clips of players on this forum that have sounded close in tone to Robben, and found them all to be using some sort of OD pedal.

I really like using different tones in songs, and me being inquisitive in nature, enjoy the chase ( search) of producing these tones, call me a hobbyist if you will. I like to use the neck pup as well as the bridge, clean and dirty tones, hey, that's what makes the guitar fun. Thanks to all for the suggestions, and just give me some time and I'll be bugging you about another tone, hey, Keith Richards come to mind.

[droptop]

I had a Banzai Fireball II, which Robben was using prior to the Hermida. I nailed the articulate singing Dumble tone with that little pedal, but man was it loud!!!

[droptop]

I had a Banzai Fireball II, which Robben was using prior to the Hermida. I nailed the articulate singing Dumble tone with that little pedal, but man was it loud!!!

[Old Doc Skinner]

Hey, droptop - it looks like you're using a little slapback delay, too! ;)

[getbent]

Originally Posted by Tim Bowen

I'm the last guy to eschew the effect of 'rig' (you won't sound like The Edge without being rig-specific), but in Mr. Ford's case, I'd agree that it's mostly about what's in the heart and brain, as translated to the fingers, and much less about the "gear".

Tim, great post, one of my favorites! one thing that this line made me wonder is---> a guitar player trying to get the sound of Robben Ford or the Edge won't get it without some rig specific items..... but, if we reverse it would it be safe to say that Robben or the Edge would sound like themselves without the rig specific items?

I think I remember Kevin Dukes say in an interview that when he was reproducing the sounds off of Don Henley's solo albums that he tried to get the exact same settings etc as the recordings but that if Mike Campbell were playing the parts (like he did on the album) he would not need to have the same settings...

[Masterbuilt]

I have a very nice soundboard recording from last year of Robben playing with the Bluesbreakers...he used his old Goldtop LP into the Super Reverb with nothing but a dash of Fender reverb for effect....the outcome.....it still sounded like that Robben Ford tone.In fact you could fool most folks into thinking it was still his Tele he was using!

[bek]

http://www.online-discussion.com/RobbenFord/

Very informative site. Lots of info, including that he uses an extremely light touch. Saw him a couple years ago; he switched off between a Tele and an LP. Interesting tonal differences -- not much, really, except that the Tele was sharper and the LP was fatter. Bit of a surprise, and shows how much touch has to do with it.

[rand z]

i have a number of robben ford albums, as ive liked him since i first heard him with joni mitchell and the la express many years ago.

but, by far, my favorite is his "authorized bootleg" album, that was released fairly recently. its all acoustic and...

if you wanna hear tone and technique!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

imho you can get a better far better grasp of his fingers on the strings; really hear the wonderful little nuances that he uses from chords to fills to leads.

you know, i really think that robben has taken blues guitar to another level. of course, he adds a lot of wonderful jazz voicings to many of the traditional blues chords, but (imho) that is how he is moving blues guitar, and music, up another notch.

its one of the better albums ive heard in recent times along with the "little willies" and sonny landreths "grant st." all are just great, great albums!!!

who says music is dead?!?!?


rand z tropicalsoul.net

[Tim Bowen]

Originally Posted by getbent

Tim, great post, one of my favorites! one thing that this line made me wonder is---> a guitar player trying to get the sound of Robben Ford or the Edge won't get it without some rig specific items..... but, if we reverse it would it be safe to say that Robben or the Edge would sound like themselves without the rig specific items?

I think I remember Kevin Dukes say in an interview that when he was reproducing the sounds off of Don Henley's solo albums that he tried to get the exact same settings etc as the recordings but that if Mike Campbell were playing the parts (like he did on the album) he would not need to have the same settings...

Well... my money would be on Robben! The Edge is a texturalist at heart. He's used a variety of Lovetone noisemakers over the years, and I can't imagine him getting his point across (at least for those songs) without use of rhythmic delays. Both are very different and very valid approaches, and a bit apples-to-oranges. I remember reading this thing about Steve Lukather hanging out with Jeff Beck at a hotel room, after one of Jeff's shows in Japan. Jeff was plugged straight into a tiny Fender (Champ, Princeton, can't remember), and Lukather's comment was to the effect of, "wow, he sounded exactly like Jeff Beck!" And there it is.

Mike Campbell, Davey Johnstone, Peter Stroud, Johnny Marr, George Harrison... as a "song guy", those are the guys that I most often reference for recording. I've read all about their preferred approaches, and whenever I've been influenced by those vibes and have wanted to cop them, my chosen gear has often been less than similar. Not to cop out, but I think it has as much to do with mindset as anything else.

Collinsman mentioned "use of an OD pedal". In a generic sense, I'd agree, particularly for those that use a cleanish amp. But I think the choice of OD is entirely player-specific and rig-specific. I've read of the Zendrive and the Menatone Howie being able to grok the *Dumble* tone. I've not played either of those pedals, nor have I played a Dumble, so I'm afraid that I remain clueless. I previously owned a BJFE Baby Blue overdrive, which also was purported to "get Robben Ford tones". When I played that pedal, I liked it best to ape early Billy Gibbons/ZZ Top sounds, albeit with strats and teles. So go figure. I also owned a Banzai Fireball, which was probably the earliest answer to the "optimized Tube Screamer" theme, after the Fulltone Fulldrive II. When I gigged that pedal, it sounded a bit early Led Zeppelin, to me. Again, go figure.

I know a guy that can totally nail RF's "thing", when he chooses. He plays P90 Les Pauls and Gretsch guitars with Filtertrons through a 70's Super and a stock reissue TS-9 green box. Why is that? Well, mostly because he's studied the guy's lines and touch nuances, and has taken it his own way. As for gear, I'll say this. With that sort of touch dynamics, if you're employing a dirt stomper, you'll not get it with a highly compressed ped as combined with a low-medium wattage amp. That's about as gear-specific as I know enough to comment about.