ROB ROB
BIE Erts
on
ON SONGWRITING
“I found that what you do on
your instrument actually is as
big a part of writing the song
as writing the lyrics. It’s the
character of the song.”
were doing was going to fit in at all. All we knew
was that it was true to our hearts and we had
to depend on those instincts.”
Those instincts led to some pretty unlikely
consequences including a long and prosperous
career for The Band, and one equally unlikely
admirer. “I remember after I made Music from
Big Pink, Eric Clapton, who I’d just met, told
me, ‘This album has made me disband Cream
because I don’t believe in what we’re doing
anymore.’ Years later I ran into him in Los
Angeles and he reminded me of that statement.
He said, ‘That album really screwed me up
because I was doing all this stuff and I didn’t
feel comfortable doing it anymore. I had to
leave the band because that record made me
feel that what we were doing was no
longer valid.’”
Even though Clapton once claimed he wanted
to join The Band at that point, effectively
replacing Robertson, Robbie held no grudges.
In fact, Robertson played behind Clapton
and Bob Dylan on Dylan’s “Sign Language”
from Clapton’s 1976 album No Reason to Cry.
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GUITAR TRICKS INSIDER
DIGITAL EDITION
During the song Robertson made an important
discovery. “I used the tremolo bar to such an
extreme that it sounded almost like a tabla
at times. While I’d be trilling, I’d be doing
these shots on the bass strings with the string
stretcher and when I was doing that, Eric and
Jesse Ed Davis, who was also there while I was
playing the solo, were both saying to me, ‘Man,
I don’t know what this is but I’ve never heard
anything like this before.’”
In 2011 Clapton returned the favor by
playing on seven tracks on Robertson’s 2011
album How to Become Clairvoyant, co-writing
three songs and dueting with Robbie on “Fear
of Falling.” “To me it wasn’t all about wailing,”
Robertson describes his new approach. “It
was about leaving it out and then coming in in
the nick of time, and filling in this little soulful
moment and then letting the song carry it.
Letting the rhythm and the groove be the thing,
too – giving room, becoming generous with
your music. I really enjoyed the subtlety of
the instrument in solos that were hardly doing
anything. I’d play one note with ten different
MAY / JUNE