THE CROSSROADS Robben Ford

This month down at The Crossroads John Wheatcroft shows how Robben Ford and others, add Altered tension and release to their solos, so that you too can sound sophisticated, modern and hip.

John Wheatcroft shows how players like the great Robben Ford bring sophisticated jazz sensibilities to straight-up blues based songs.

Robben Ford is one of the most significant of all electric guitarists. He has maintained a successful solo career as a blues singer, guitarist and composer, with a stream of blues flavoured releases. Robben has also had an illustrious career as session player to the stars, with credits that include Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Little Feat, Michael McDonald and many more. In recent years he’s also pursued collaborative projects along with fellow legendary guitarists Larry Carlton, Mike Landau and John Scofield.

An expert at mixing orthodox blues phrasing with sophisticated swing and be-bop lines, evidence of his earlier jazz roots, he’s just as at home juxtaposing Pentatonic ideas with symmetrical Diminished scale and Melodic Minor modal action. Robben is able to integrate these concepts in an expressive and artistic way. Each melody is the perfect balance of consonance and dissonance, to create both drama and beauty.

Here we’ll be exploring how Robben, and legendary jazz, blues and fusion guitarists, use the seventh mode of the ‘jazz’ Melodic Minor, the Superlocrian or Altered scale, to provide that tension and release. Here comes some theory. But, to paraphrase the great Bill Hicks, don’t worry; there will be some licks coming!

It’s possible to view the ‘jazz’ Melodic Minor as a Major scale with a lowered 3rd (R-2- 4-5-6-7). This has a knock-on effect on all the subsequent modes of the Major scale, so that this modified note impacts upon each note in turn. So, the second mode is like a Dorian with a lowered 2nd (R- 4-5-6- and, by the same logic, going back one step from Ionian, would be like Locrian with a lowered 4th (R- If this sounds like a foreign language you should recap the Major scale modes as a matter of urgency.

Back to Locrian with a flattened 4th, every note is flattened, so from a C root it would be:

Db-Eb-Fb-Gb-Ab-Bb.

C- If we follow conventional chord construction of root, 3rd 5th, etc, we end

Eb-Gb) up with a C Diminished triad (C- and a C

Eb-Gb-Bb). Half-Diminished 7th chord (C- All well and good, until we listen to the sound that

Fb

C- creates: all the theory in the world cannot stop the fact that our flattened 4th sounds undeniably familiar. Play those notes now; sounds like a Major 3rd, right?

Sound trumps theory on every level, so what we now have is a scale with both Major and Minor 3rds, sonically if not theoretically.

Our ‘sonic’ Major 3rd pushes the Minor out of position, so the opening steps of this scale now sounds more like this: Root- 2-3. If we open the door to enharmonic respelling then we can do the same with the next notes; the can stay but our could be seen as #5, leaving the as we’d find it. The Superlocrian now looks more like this: Root- 2- 5-

Db- Gb- Bbb).

(C- D#-E- G#-

One of the strongest moves in music is the V7-I resolution, both Major and Minor, a ‘perfect cadence’. By definition, a Dominant 7th chord needs to have a Major 3rd and a

but we can enhance the tension and release by raising or lowering the 5th and 9th. This works because these new notes attach themselves to particular target tones in the intended resolution chord; these connections can be found in melody lines, chord voicings and solos. So a Dominant 7th with either raised or lowered 5th, and raised or lowered 9th, comes under the heading of ‘Altered’, and if we string these notes together we get: Root- 2-3- 5- Recognise this from earlier? Yes, this is the same Superlocrian scale we got from Melodic Minor, also known conveniently as the Altered scale.

The following examples position this scale in two contexts: first, against a V7alt-Im7 (A7alt-Dm7) and then used throughout a pair of Minor 12-bar choruses in both jazz and blues-fusion contexts. As always, enjoy.

“You should play in a thematic way. You’re not just playing licks. Think like a composer” ROBBEN FORD

Robben Ford: here playing his gorgeous vintage Fender Telecaster

TRACK RECORD Robben’s quality control is remarkably high, so anything that bears his name is worth a listen. His instrumental release, Tiger Walk (1997) and his live album, Soul On Ten (2009) are both wonderful. His new instrumental album, Pure is due in the next few months. You also can’t go wrong with Larry Carlton. Try Larry’s Last Nite (1986), or Robben and Larry’s Live In Tokyo (2013).