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 MICHAEL BOLGER was the lucky winner of a ticket to the recent ROBBEN FORD masterclass at QUT Kelvin Grove (with GEARED also in attendance). Below is his account of the evening.
The QUT lecture theatre is half-full – about 150 blokes (mostly baby-boomers) waiting to see and hear blues and jazz guitar legend Robben Ford. Some are carrying guitars, perhaps unaware of the masterclass format or hoping to jam with their hero.
With his much larger-than-life image projected on the wall behind, Robben proves to be a friendly, interesting and interested focal point who invites everyone to ask questions at any time throughout the two-and-a-half hours of music and conversation. The questions are a bit slow coming at first – as befits a lecture theatre.
The evening begins with a few of Robben’s recollections of famous musicians he had played with, including several entertaining anecdotes regarding Miles Davis, whose “pep talk” included “play that James Brown shit ... dee dee dee dee dee!”. That experience apparently gave Robben – and possibly some of the audience – a different perspective on thinking about and playing guitar.
Our hero is constantly picking up and putting down an Epiphone semi-acoustic, using it to demonstrate a musical concept, to embellish a story or to play a scale or two. There are a couple of short instruction pieces, initially with Robben playing solo – something he says still freaks him out to this day.The audience slowly gets braver and starts asking questions, which bring Robben’s recommendations to learn guitar chords, consider different ways of thinking about the guitar and songwriting, as presented in books like Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo and Tunesmith by the legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb.
But it’s jamming with other musicians where Robben – and most of the audience – seems to have the most fun. Local jazz guitar hero Jim Kelly is the first to come on and the two guitarists take turns trading blues licks. Throughout the night we are treated to a selection of Ford originals and some interpretations of other artists’ songs.
More questions and short conversations about songwriting, favourite albums, bootleg copies of live shows, inspiration, perspiration and the most important things to learn to become a better guitar player follow. Two things emphasised are “learn the chords” and “play with nerve and courage”.
The evening ends with Robben once again joined by Jim Kelly, event presenter Craig ‘Guitar Brother’ Claxton and a rock-solid rhythm section, jamming on a couple more blues numbers before the requisite autograph signing session.
Presented by Guitar Brothers, ROBBEN FORD delivered a masterclass at QUT’s Kelvin Grove campus on Wednesday Sep 29.
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