In Deep: Breaking Down the Signature Elements

of Gary Moore's Immediately Identifiable Guitar

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Posted 04/04/2014 at 10:34am | by Andy Aledort
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Andy Aledort breaks down the technique of Gary Moore, who died three years ago today.
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In this edition of In Deep, well examine some of the signature elemen
guitarist Gary Moores stunning, immediately identifiable guitar style.
Born in 1952, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Moore picked up the guitar at the age of eight, inspired by
the music of Elvis Presley, the Shadows and the B
But his strongest influences were John Mayalls Bluesbreakers guitarists Eric Clapton and Peter
Green, as well as legendary electric blues progenitors Albert King, B.B King and Albert Collins.
Another important influence was Jimi
Red House in his live shows.
Though Moore was often seen playing a beautiful Fiesta Red 1961 Strat, his signature sound is
more closely associated with the beloved 1959 Les Paul Standard that h
(see sidebar on page 36). He purchased that guitar from Peter Green in 1970 and, fittingly, used it to
record his 1995 tribute to his mentor, Blues for Greeny.
Often, Moore would begin a song using the warm tone of his Les Pauls ne
would perform melodic, vocal-like lines, then switch over to the bridge pickup for his solos to achieve
a more aggressive and biting sound.
Moore often employed a fair amount of gain
basketweave Marshall cabinets and Marshall Guvnor and Ibanez Tube Screamer pedals
In Deep: Breaking Down the Signature Elements
of Gary Moore's Immediately Identifiable Guitar
Andy Aledort
6

Andy Aledort breaks down the technique of Gary Moore, who died three years ago today.
Bent Out of Shape: Remembering Gary Moore
e Discusses His Latest Album, Gear and Phil Lynott in 1987 Guitar World Interview
Discusses Deep Purple, Gary Moore, Bill Nash Basses and Writing with Black Country
Bent Out of Shape Review: Checking Out Bare Knuckle's PG Blues Pickups
Inspired Riff by Doug Aldrich of Whitesnake
In this edition of In Deep, well examine some of the signature elements of the brilliant blues
guitarist Gary Moores stunning, immediately identifiable guitar style.
Born in 1952, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Moore picked up the guitar at the age of eight, inspired by
the music of Elvis Presley, the Shadows and the Beatles.
But his strongest influences were John Mayalls Bluesbreakers guitarists Eric Clapton and Peter
Green, as well as legendary electric blues progenitors Albert King, B.B King and Albert Collins.
Another important influence was Jimi Hendrix; Moore would regularly include Hendrixs slow blues
Though Moore was often seen playing a beautiful Fiesta Red 1961 Strat, his signature sound is
more closely associated with the beloved 1959 Les Paul Standard that he played for many years
(see sidebar on page 36). He purchased that guitar from Peter Green in 1970 and, fittingly, used it to
record his 1995 tribute to his mentor, Blues for Greeny.
Often, Moore would begin a song using the warm tone of his Les Pauls neck pickup, with which he
like lines, then switch over to the bridge pickup for his solos to achieve
a more aggressive and biting sound.
Moore often employed a fair amount of gaincourtesy of Marshall heads (often JTM45s), 4x12
basketweave Marshall cabinets and Marshall Guvnor and Ibanez Tube Screamer pedals
In Deep: Breaking Down the Signature Elements
of Gary Moore's Immediately Identifiable Guitar

e Discusses His Latest Album, Gear and Phil Lynott in 1987 Guitar World Interview
Discusses Deep Purple, Gary Moore, Bill Nash Basses and Writing with Black Country
ts of the brilliant blues-rock
Born in 1952, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Moore picked up the guitar at the age of eight, inspired by
But his strongest influences were John Mayalls Bluesbreakers guitarists Eric Clapton and Peter
Green, as well as legendary electric blues progenitors Albert King, B.B King and Albert Collins.
Hendrix; Moore would regularly include Hendrixs slow blues
Though Moore was often seen playing a beautiful Fiesta Red 1961 Strat, his signature sound is
e played for many years
(see sidebar on page 36). He purchased that guitar from Peter Green in 1970 and, fittingly, used it to
ck pickup, with which he
like lines, then switch over to the bridge pickup for his solos to achieve
courtesy of Marshall heads (often JTM45s), 4x12
basketweave Marshall cabinets and Marshall Guvnor and Ibanez Tube Screamer pedalsand was
known for conjuring tremendous sustain, such as the celebrated endless note featured in his live
performances of his classic song Parisienne Walkways.
A great way to approach incorporating Gary Moorestyle licks into your playing is to start with the
most essential scale for blues/rock soloing, the minor pentatonic. FIGURE 1 shows the A minor
pentatonic scale in fifth position.

The fingering I use for this scale is index-pinkie on the low E string, switching to index-ring finger for
the rest of the scale. One of the unusual things about Moores style is that he preferred to use his
middle finger in conjunction with his index for a great many of his licks, similar to the fretting
approach of Gypsy jazz great Django Reinhardt. When playing this type of scale in this position,
Moore would often use his index and ring fingers on the top two strings and the low E string but
would switch to index-middle for all the other strings.


Occasionally, Moore would stick with the index-middle approach across virtually all of the strings,
along the lines of FIGURE 2. In this lick, I start by barring the index finger across the top two strings
at the fifth fret and use the middle finger to execute the quick half-step bends on the B string, as well
as the fast hammer-ons and pull-offs across the B and G strings.


FIGURE 3 details a traditional fingering for descending the minor pentatonic scale in this position
within groups of 16th-note triplets.
A staple of Moores soloing style was to unleash fast flourishes of notes, executed with free-form
crammed phrasing that rushed over the top of the groove. He would balance these fiery blasts with
simpler, more vocal-like phrases that would effectively pull his improvisations back into the groove.
For many of these runs, Moore would rely on quick hammer-on/pull-off figures between pairs of
notes on a given string, as demonstrated in FIGUREs 4a and 4b.



In FIGURE 5a, I apply this concept to every string as I descend A minor pentatonic in a symmetrical
fashion. FIGURE 5b offers a similar, albeit simpler, idea, and FIGURE 5c presents a similar
approach applied to an ascending lick.



Further permutations on this concept are shown in FIGURES 6ac. Once youve got a handle on
these, try moving to other areas of the fretboard and apply the concepts to other keys, as
demonstrated in FIGURES 7a and 7b.

FIGURE 8 offers an example of soloing in Garys style over a medium straight-eighths funk groove
along the lines of his cover of Albert Kings Oh, Pretty Woman.



The title track of Moores hit album Still Got the Blues (a complete transcription of which appears in
this issue, May 2011) featured a cycle of fourths chord progression more common to jazz than
blues or rock.
FIGURE 9 is a melodic solo played over this type of progression in the key of Am. Notice that each
phrase makes direct reference to the accompanying chord by targeting its third. Also, bar 6 features
a fast pull-off lick to the open high E string, a technique Moore utilized in a great many of his solos.
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