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.
In the April 2008 issue of Guitar Player magazine, Rory was featured in their “10 Things You Gotta Do to Play Like” column. They forgot one: you can’t really play like the G-man he was one of a kind. You can only hope to approach his mastery of the strat! Written by Jesse Gress, the article does an excellent job of dissecting the mechanics of what Rory did, however the tone and feeling he laid into his licks is something not so easily put to pen and ink. One thing I found particularly interesting was something included in his number 10 “thing” — Add Some Amazing Phrasings. In that section, Gress makes a passing reference to the note not taken. The author tells the student to, “Be sure to observe the numerous rests during and between the licks — these spaces play a huge role in Gallagher’s phrasing.” I couldn’t agree more. Too many “speed” guitarists try to cram as many notes as possible in a lick. Sometimes it’s the lack of a note, or the silence between the notes, that can make all the difference. You can read the article online at 
