R

ory Callagher began playing

guitar back in County Donegal in
his native Ireland at age nine and
when he was 15 he joined the Fonlana
showband and then later on another
showband called Impact. His first major
international success howevH was in
1966 with the band Taste, who recorded
two albums ' Taste' - 1969 and 'On The
Boards' - 1970. The band reached their
peak at the now legendary 1970 Isle of
Wight festiva l - where they shared the
bill with Jim; Hendrix and Free.
Taste split up in 1971 and (rom that
point right up until his tragic deat h in
June 1995 at the age of 46 Rory followed
his own very successful solo career
during which he recorded around 14
albums wi th combined sales in excess of
30 million copiesl In terms of style Rory
coveHd more or less cvery bl ues
approach imaginable ~ acoustic blues,
Chicago blues, ragtime, folk blues ,
bott lenec.k blues , Texas blues, boogie
woogie, Miss issipp i Delta bl ues,
Louisiana swamp blues , Appalachian
blues, modern blues and blues rockl As
well as all of these styles there were also
Performance Notes
G: Rory Gallagher
elements of both Irish traditional music
and jan in his approach, particularly
regarding his rhythmic phrasing which
was often very inventive and instantly
recognisable as being his own ...
In t his month's examples we will
unfortunately only scratch the surface
by looking at his blues/rock approaches
~ you would however, be well advisd to
chec k out his albums to hear what a
trul y versat ile, inspiring and creative
player he really was.
Have fun!...
Ex 1 Blister On The Moon - .ntro section
This chordbased intro is made up of three different sections. The
first of these in b a ~ O.a contains a simple E DIE passage ~ as yoo
play this make sure you observe the muti ng indications that appear
on the last two 16th notes of bars 2, 4, 6 & 8 these are vital to the
'feel' of the part. The second section found in bars 9-12 features an E
- G C - 0 progression that is played in a manner which is actually
very remi ni scent of the sort of rhythm style Kurt Cobain used in
Nirvana some 20 odd years later! Once again. watch out for the

~

-
-
muted chords during this seclion.
The third section in bars 13-20 rounds the part off with three
different two bar phrases comprising a couple of II. note chord ' hits'
followed by wah wah fills that last for a bar and a half each. After
playing through Ihese as written try comi ng up with some similar
ideas of YOUT own that also last for the same duration ~ having a sel
spau 10 practise fills can often be a very beneficial way of working
on your phrasing.
Gt.l DIE
Glr2 Double. Girl - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - --
~ ~ ( V ) ~ V elc

G: Rory Gallagher
,
,
"
,

"
GIf 1
Gtr2
-
"
""
fJ-"" .1:':
-
. ,
0
co 6U co
""
E5 N.C. (Iill)
ESJ j"




""
'0
,
-

leI ring
00 eo
N. C.(lill)
ESJ )l 1
-
,-.
""

Ex 2 What's Going On - .ntro/verse
Whats Going On is one of the best known and most popular
Taste tracks. The intro and verse as shown here has an almost
latin (eel to it - notice how the accents fall on I , 2 &. 4 in bar I
and I, 3 &. 4 in bar 2. To make t hings even more tricky each
accent marks the start of a short hammer-onlpull-off phrase - is
.,

--"''- --"'--
this ornamentati on perhaps a little of RaTy's Irish influence
creeping in? Anyway, you may need to practise this slowly along
with either a drum machine or a metronome in order to get it
'tight', Also, anot her thing to look out for is the 3/4 bar that
occurs at bar 7 which can easily catch you unawaresl
o --
,.U .... ' Gttl ..... y - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - --
2nd .. ),d 0 ... , .. 2
"'HPO "'HPO "'HPO
Gt,1 &2toend

-
- - - - - - - - - - - -- - --I
"'H PO co co
-
,
+
,
,
"
,
.. ' N.C.

VEIISE
"

HPO HPO
" , .

o

(1111)
Ex 3 Same O.d Story Verse
Rory's music was fu ll of great grooves and this R&B flavoured
idea is certainly no except ion. Notice as you li sten to either
the original or the OTCD version how space is left at the end
of each two bar phrase to allow the bass to come through -
this is a good arranging device and certainly helps to create a
li ttle extra listener interes t. As you play this one you should
aim for a fairly relaxed feel - irs easy to accidentally rush it -
bewarel
: ory .a ag lcr
J =- 147 I_I


.,
w
ror ? ?

? ?

?

-
"'''
-
"
00 co 00
"
00 00 00
,
-0-

0
,


ror


? ? ' ? '
? ?
,
"
CO CO 00
"
00 00 00

0
,

, ,

,
"
)
J
>
'3lI
>

" " .

?
?
", ",

."
00 00




,-



""
,;
,;

+--4

00
"
CO CO
"
110
,
,
,
,

' " IFI .... ..
,
- '
.
Ex 4 MornIng Sun - MaIn repeat rl" figure
In common wi th Ex 2, this is another riff that to my ears has a along with it, keeping it in time throughout - it's actually
certain 'Irish' flavour to it - perhaps it's all those 16th note quite hard not to accidentally rush as you play the hammerons
triplets? Notice how (aiter the pickup bar) the main repeati ng and pull offs - so take carel
riff starts up which is repeated 12 times in a rowl Try playing
J = fOO 10.001




w
I" ,

l' '",

-
-
"-
eo 00
" eo
-. -
L-
, ,
N. C. N. C. .. N. C.

G: Hory Gallagher
N.C. .. N.C. 10 . ....
Ex IS Messln' WIth The KId (1.lve Ver.'on}
Intro/verse
Thi s uptempo blues/rock styl e<! track was always a big favourite at
live shows and is certai nl y one of Rory's but known tunes.
b'
H

-
" ,
Technically, there is nothing too hard here: iust aim to keep it
' tight' and play it with plenty of aggression, attack and attitudel
~ ! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ! ! ! i ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
,
"
""
,
"
,
~
....
-
"-
, ,
,
W ~
,


-
,

,

""

00
-
"
,
~
",, "
I!' - .IC

T .""
,
,
..
Ex 6 Cradle Rock (Uve Ver.'on} - Intro/maln rIff
Taken from the opening track on Rory's classic ' Irish Tour 74'
live album, t h is is another example which contains quite t ricky
phrasing 50 it may be a good idta to lake your time and work
t hrough it slowly, bar by bar if neceuary. Notice how this riff is
similar in approach to Prttr Crn n's dusic Oh Well riff and
also al how, apart from the \.S bend - 181. i n bar 61, it U ~ notu
solely taken from the E mi nor pentatonic :seale:

c: Rory Gallagher
, ""
N.C.
'"
(II') ----------4
,
N.C.
'"
, ""
N.C.
'"
,

N.C .
'"
, ""
N.C.
'"
G
'"
G

..

N.C.
'"
o
, ""
N.C.
"I
, ""
N.C .
'"
OUUl""
(11M)
u,,- ClCD
[5-

G: Hory Gallagher
Ex 7 Contlnenta. Op - .ntro/ma.n r."
This fxample kicks off with an intro which is played in very
much a 'cut off' style - make sun that you observe the (CO)
symbols during this pari. The nut which runs from
bars 9-16 features a few bars which contain 'six against fOUT'
,
".
.on
,

."
phrasing: as you play these you should try to them as wen
as possi ble. (.Isten closely, then play "lung will, eilher tiL.
original recording or the OTCD version if you encounter any
probl ems with this aspect.
, ,
co co
..
Ex B The Loop - Ma'n theme
The Loop is apparently the name given to the raised railway
whkh runs round the centre of Chicago - henu the train
noi5eS at the start of the original version! This piece you may
also recognise as being the theme from the TV program A Little
Bit Of Fry And Laurie. It is based on J straight up. lempo 12 bar
boogit woogiefChicago bl ues in t ht kty of C which is p\.ayed in a
Jany ' swmg' mannrr, As you can see from the mU!!c ,I t
basically uses the 5amr melodic pa.ua.gelfingering throughout
which is simply tl'lUlsposed up iUld down the neck a.s tht chords
change, On the OTCD I also played it an to rill it
out a bit - you shouldn't any problrms in coming up with
your own finge ring for this part,
G: Rory Gallagher
J. =209

.
,

,

I'

I
;;;-


IE;
C
',*
'"
,
-.-
,
"
Ex 9 Public Enemy No1 - Intro/verse
Bars J-8 of this Texas style blues inlro rely fa irly heavily on
funky double-stop (two- noll' ) bends. As you play theu you
dlould use the side 01 your RIH third finge r to barre the G and
B strings - auisled by fi ngers one and two. If played correctly.
the upper note of each double-stop (on the B string) should go
.,


up by a semitone ami the lower note (G string) should go up by
a tone. The final fOUT hars of this example again ust double
slops only this lime they art played 'stnight' and are used to
outli ne a si mp le descendi ng chord progrusion of A7 ,
CIA, O/F.,
-
- 8U co BU LD PO ass ass BU co

eR ' ..
N.C.
1"
G: Rory Gallagher
'" "
"
I' ..
..
..
"
00 "'
."
Ex 10 The MIssIssIppI SheIks - .nfro and 1st
verselbrldge/chorus
This example is one 01 my The original version
features Gerry McAvoy on bass and Ted McKenna on drums (who
incidentally has played with my band a few times in the past!), ) let l
that this is a great eIalJlple 01 inventivt chordal embellishment -
notice how RoT)' adds many fill, and &u.pens;ons throughout
which always keep things interesting. Another common thing that
occurs here is the way in which he doubles his vocal1ine in ban
10- 11 and 14-15 (he also did this in the intro of last month's

."
Unplugged piece Out On The WesJOInI Plom) .
Inddmtall)" on the original vtrsion the 'scraptS' that occur at
the start of the piece sound to me like they may have been achiewd
by using the mic stand as a boltlenecld On the OTCD I used a
pick Kr.l.pI' which I think worh you might notice
how similar the groove and structure of this example is to the Pearl
Jam track Alive - I wonder if it was perhaps an innuence?
....
,
"
F
POPO POPO
(111)---1 ; 0 (11M)
S co MU -ICO
,
,
MU ----I co
.-
MU 1 00
"
"'>
(11K)
~ - -
'"'
"
G.
o
Next month we will take a look at H for The Sensational Alex
Harvey Band. Sf I,' you then.
SoURIS:
This month's eumples where taken from the following albums:
G: Rory Gallagher
._,
om
" ,,,
" ,,,
Is 1-4: 'Ta.5te' - Polydor Special Z384 076.
,
(IIII) ----I C/G
fJ: 5: 'Calling Card' - The G-Men Bootleg Seriu ESBCD 187
E1: 6: ' Irish Tour 74' - Fiend CD 120
En 7-9: 'A Bl ue Day For The Blues' - IRS 72438 35783 20
Ex 10: ' Photo Finish' - Chrysalis CHR 1170 OT