May 05 2010
Treating the Strat as an Acoustic
In the April 1998 issue of Guitar Player magazine, Rory Gallagher is featured in their Hot Tips section. The quotes they use are from a July 1974 interview for Guitar Player magazine that was used in their March 1978 cover story. In the interview, Rory talks about how in some ways he takes an acoustical approach to playing his Strat. The short excerpt from the interview that is used for the Hot Tips feature is transcribed below. You can also download a scan of the original Guitar Player Hot Tips page by clicking on the picture to the left.
In his July ’74 GP Interview and March ’78 cover story, Rory Gallagher shared his views on dynamics, tone, and setting playing levels:
I try to get a volume where my Strat still responds like an acoustic instrument. You know, if you hit the string you’ll get a hard note, and if you pick quite gently, you can get a soft tone. Does that sound crazy? I don’t like to see a guy let his volume control do all the work. I like to go woomph and really dig into the note. I’m into getting as much as possible out of the guitar with my hands — almost a classical approach. For an intro or solo, I have my guitar at maybe 9 1/2 to give myself a little room. For rhythm, I’ll have it at about 7 1/2 or 8. I like single-coil pick-ups because the volume goes down nice and gradually. Even at 6, the guitar is still doing something.
For amps, I’ve always liked a Vox AC30 or a Fender 4×10 setup. I find old amps have an atmospheric sound. I’ve never been a fan of 100-watt stacks. Instead of a wall of sound, where you lose your tone because it’s spread out among eight speakers, I’d rather see a small amp turned to 8 or 9 and really hopping off the chair. I like to overdrive the amp, as opposed to using a fuzz box. And I still prefer to get a wah-wah effect by manually working the guitar’s tone control. It’s more fun. The Strat is ideal because you can get the crying sound with the volume and tone controls.
