Over the course of his 40-year recording and performing career, Robben Ford’s rhythm guitar work has excited the ears of his audience fired up his musical collaborations with dozens of top artists and simply amazed his fellow guitar players really giving budding guitar players many free rhythm guitar lessons . “Playing rhythm guitar is the greatest joy in my musical life,” says Robben,“I love the subject of rhythm guitar, I love talking about it and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to finally present my rhythm guitar lessons approaches in this Rhythm Revolution video course.”
Here’s a great opportunity to hear direct from the master. In this series of lessons, Robben shares his overviews, techniques and approaches, as well as musical rhythm guitar studies for context. Grab your guitar and get inspired!
Watch and learn as Robben demonstrates his rhythm guitar lessons in detail. You will learn a lot from these videos I can assure you of that
I’m Your Man:
North Carolina: Overview
We are going to focus on a B flat blues here with a funky little beat. The aspect that I want to relate to here is the use of sixths which is the tonic note of a chord and adding the sixth above it. You will have two notes – it’s called a double stop, but instead of just thirds these are sixths. I will show you how to move them around the guitar.
Grab your guitar and step inside the factory with Corey; for some Texas blues playing where you’ll find yourself in good company — inspiration from Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lightin’ Hopkins, Doyle Bramhall II, Jimmie Vaughan, Albert Collins, Freddie King, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Billy Gibbons, Chris Duarte, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and many other giants of Texas guitar style are found within. Corey…
Texas guitar playing is a style of blues music. It usually has more jazz– or swing-influences than other blues styles.
Texas blues began to appear in the early 1900s among African Americans who worked in oilfields, ranches and lumber camps. In the 1920s, Blind Lemon Jefferson innovated the style by using jazz-like improvisation and single string accompaniment on a guitar; Jefferson’s influence defined the field and inspired later performers. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, many bluesmen moved to cities including Galveston, Houston and Dallas. It was from these urban centers that a new wave of popular performers appeared, including slide guitarist and gospel singer Blind Willie Johnson. Future bluesmen, such as, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Lil’ Son Jackson, and T-Bone Walker were influenced by these developments.[1]
T-Bone Walker relocated to Los Angeles to record his most influential work in the 1940s.[1] His swing-influenced backing and lead guitar sound became an influential part of the electric blues.[1] It was T-Bone Walker, B.B. King once said, who “really started me to want to play the blues. I can still hear T-Bone in my mind today, from that first record I heard, ‘Stormy Monday.’ He was the first electric guitar player I heard on record. He made me so that I knew I just had to go out and get an electric guitar.” He also influenced Goree Carter, whose “Rock Awhile” (1949) featured an over-drivenelectric guitar style and has been cited as a strong contender for the “first rock and roll record” title.[2]
The state’s R&B recording industry was based in Houston with labels such as Duke/Peacock, which in the 1950s provided a base for artists who would later pursue the electric Texas blues sound, including Johnny Copeland and Albert Collins.[1]Freddie King, a major influence on electric blues, was born in Texas, but moved to Chicago as a teenager.[1] His instrumental number “Hide Away” (1961), was emulated by British blues artists including Eric Clapton.[3]
In the late 1960s and early 1970s the Texas electric blues scene began to flourish, influenced by country music and blues rock, particularly in the clubs of Austin. The diverse style often featured instruments such as keyboards and horns with emphasis on guitar soloing.[1] The most prominent artists to emerge in this era were the brothers Johnny and Edgar Winter, who combined traditional and southern styles.[1] In the 1970s, Jimmie Vaughan formed The Fabulous Thunderbirds and in the 1980s his brother Stevie Ray Vaughan broke through to mainstream success with his virtuoso guitar playing, as did ZZ Top with their brand of Southern rock.[4]
