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Influences | Stratocaster lust | Creating Tones | Effects | Slidecraft | Solos | Guitars | Amps | Strings | Getting Started | Keeping it Real
As if fated to live the blues he studied do deeply, Rory Gallagher was beautiful, talented and doomed. He was just 47 years old when he died after a liver transplant surgery in 1995. But in a career that spanned from 1969 until his death, Gallagher compiled one hell of a legacy. The Irish guitarist was a prolific music maker, recording 17 albums under his own name and two studio albums with his early blues-rock trio, Taste. He also appeared on two seminal blues recordings: Muddy Waters' "The London Sessions" in 1972 and Albert King's "Live" in 1977.
Whenever he stepped outside of the studio, Gallagher delivered some of the most thrilling and ferocious live performances in blues-rock history. It didn't hurt that he looked like a rock star, with his long, flowing locks, groovy side-burns and Greek god visage. But even serious musicians who hated pretty boys couldn't help but be entranced as Gallagher unleashed raw and beautifully phrased note flurries from a battered-to-all-hell Fender Stratocaster. In addition, his extreme devotion to blues music drove him to seek a broad intimacy with electric stylists and acoustic fingerpickers, slide players, alternate tunings, down-home country blues, folky blues, and raucous big-city blues. Gallagher devoured everything and, as a result, his own blues style was miles deep and he could easily shift from traditional music to pop-inflected, rock orientated tunes. Despite his rough-and-ready technical prowess, he totally got the concept of seeking that one transcendent note that fills the heart with bliss or pain or absolute wonder. The man was truly gifted and his interpretation of the blues should not be missed
"I started out on the proverbial Lonnie Donegan skiffle-music trail and that's when I heard Lonnie Donegan doing Leadbelly songs such as 'Rock Island Line' and bring 'Bring me a Li'l water Silvy'. But that was the same time, I was also interested in rock and roll through Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino. I was listening to both of these strains, because at lots of points, they'd cross. Once you get beyond the Chuck Berry/Eddie Cochran thing, you begin to figure out that you've got Bill Broonzy at one end of the scale - and that goes right back to the old tradition of Charley Palton - and then John Lee Hooker evolving his electric style from his acoustic roots. This is why all young rock and blues players should dig deeper - back beyond the obvious big blues stars like B.B. King and Buddy Guy. You have to listen to a lot of records! My favourite artists include some main sources like Robert Johnson, Lemon Jefferson, Willie McTell and Leadbelly. Blind Boy Fuller is another favourite of mine, as were Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf - especially his sides with the great underrated Hubert Sumlin - Elmore James, Earl Hooker, Robert Nighthawk, Buddy Guy and Blind Blake.
But even though the blues embraces the folk-music tradition of passing on,
picking up, and stealing, I never started out to become a strict recreator of
the blues or even a modern young bluesman. I wanted to be me. I'm a huge blues
fan but I've always strived to forge ahead and I hope that when I'm 40 or 50,
I'll have a very distinct sound. Its a thin line between studying blues records
by the old masters, and developing your own style. I think both should be done
at the same time, because if you forget the old masters, you miss out on a whole
heritage. But you should never get clogged up with the old stuff to the point
where you won't move forward. I write a lot of my own stuff, so for me, its
always a cross between ego and the heritage thing!"
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"Buddy Holly had a strat, and, as a child, you go after the appearance
of the guitar, I don't care what anyone says - you look at the shape of the
thing and that's it. But, having said that, I love the metallic clarity you can
get from a Strat. I like a good, bright, clangy tone. And a Strat can really hit
the back wall (in an auditorium or club)! Even with a small amp in a huge band
with brass, the Strat may not be loud enough, but it always peeks through. I
also love the syncopated rhythmic things you can do with a Strat - again, that's
the clarity. I'm obviously so much a Fender musician. I don't feel that much at
home with Gibsons."
"I've never been a fan of 100-watt stacks. Instead of a wall of sound,
where you looes your song because it is spread out among eight speakers, I'd
rather see a small combo amp turned up to 8 or 9 and really hopping off the
chair. Basically, I just try to get a volume whereby the guitar is still almost
of an acoustic nature. I mean, I like to have electronics, sure, but I'm just
into the guitar. I'm in to getting as much out of the instrument as possible.
I'm almost, if you will, into the classical approach like Segovia
had of getting everything you can get out of the guitar by the use of all your
fingers and all the means you can get. There are a million things in there to
get out, whether you use electronic devices or not. That's the beauty of the
instrument."
"There are a million and one pedals around and they've been sort od
overused. I like to over-drive the amp - as opposed to using a fuzz box - and I
still prefer to get a wah-wah effect by working the guitar's tone control
manually. The Strat is ideal for that because you can get the crying sound with
it's voulme and tone controls. I think that's more fun. I've just seen so many
guys playing boring guitar breaks with this or that effect. They start with a
nice, interesting solo and then they get bored and go over to some wah pedal and
say, 'Oh, to hell with it,' and - bam - 'waaaaaah-waaaaaah.' Its too much of a
getaway. I like naked guitar"
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"I use a pick and my fingers when I play slide and I vary the slides.
Sometimes, I use a (glass) Coricidin bottle on my ring finger or my pinky or
I'll use a brass slide if I'm playing a National. If I'm playing an electric in
standard tuning, then I will use a steel bottle neck. The sound of glass is
smooth and sweet and brass and copper are very harsh - which is great if you
want to get that Son House sort of attack but it's almost too harsh. Steel is a
good compromise and socket wrenches are ideal. I use a 5/8 or a 7/8 wrench
because John Hammond and Lowell George used them. They're fantastic but you need
very heavy strings."
"I try to split the diffence between being fairly clever and technical
and still being primitive. I used to always go for live leads - mistakes and all
- just for feel. Now, if a certain song needs a very melodic solo, I'm prepared
to work on it over and over. But I try not to get in the habit of overdubbing
and punching in because it's very tempting to go after the 'perfect' solo. As a
rule, I try to keep a grip on technology so it doesn't take the human factor out
of the performance."
"If you want to play electric blues, the best thing to do is get into a band as soon as possible - no matter how bad it is. Get playing with a drummer. That's essential for electric blues. And don't be too proud. You have to direct your playing somewhere. That is, unless you want to sit in a room like a painter who won't show his paintings to anyone. You also have to love the instrument, the idea of the instrument and the whole aura of the thing. That will dictate how much you practice. I don't think you have to sit down for eight hours a day or anything but, if your really interested you will probably do that anyway."
"Even though you develop as a player over the years and become influenced by different things, you have to keep to the heart of what you started - that initial vision of music. I grew up in Ireland where folk and traditional music is very close at hand but I wasn't really turned on until I heard American music via Lonnie Donegan, who was doing Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly songs. Then I heard the early rockers - Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry and so on - and I just followed and continue to follow, this mixture of folk, blues and rock from America."
