How did I miss this yesterday... Gary Moore - it's been four years (and one day)

Bucket

On the 6th of February 2011, we lost Gary Moore. One of my favourite guitar players and one of the biggest and most constant influences on my playing. He was one of the first guitarists I ever heard that made me really want to play guitar.

RIP Gary, we love you.

ThePrettyDamned

Such great tone in that video. The playing is amazing, too. 

Makes me want to get my strat out, crank up some gain and volume and give it some beans. 

His trem control is really nice, too. I'd love to have a touch like that. 

Skipped

Bucket.....He was really good........(And also how many of you have have seen GM...... live.....doing the whole show...... with a late sixties Sg Special? Huh? Huh?)

But.......How did he manage to break Greeny's neck....Twice?  


Also (anybody).....how do you do that @ thing?  I keep mentioning people and they will never know. 
:-S

John_P

Great playing and amazing tone on that clip.   I just got sidetracked into watching several tunes.   I so wish he was still around and had done some more celtic influenced tracks.

ICBM

Skipped said:

But.......How did he manage to break Greeny's neck....Twice?

One of them was in a car accident when it was in the boot and he was hit from behind. Not sure about the other one.

I have to say that with all the sharks and vultures associated with this guitar after he sold it, it's a shame he didn't live to see it go to another real player. (Whatever you think of Kirk Hammett.) I'd guess he would have rather seen it used, he never treated it as anything other than a tool really.

axisus

I loved his playing. First got into him via Colloseum II back in the 70s. Lots of good stuff through his career, but when he started to concentrate on the blues that was amazing. Him and SRV are my two favourite blues players, but Gary is the one I'd like to emulate. Sadly missed. I wish he could have got another 10 to 20 years with us.

drwiddly

Probably my favourite player of all time. First heard him with Skid Row then Grinding Stone, Colosseum II, G-Force, etc. one of the roadies for the band I was with in the 70's crewed for Skid Row and was in the dressing room the night Peter Green gave Gary the LP.

He left us too young - R.I.P. Gary.

Nunogilberto

Brilliant player. A competent shredder but so musical at the same time. Paul Gilbert and Nuno B are probably my favourite players, but like @axisus, GM is the player I'd most love to play like...

Bucket

Nunogilberto said:

Brilliant player. A competent shredder but so musical at the same time. Paul Gilbert and Nuno B are probably my favourite players, but like @axisus, GM is the player I'd most love to play like...

His best stuff was definitely the 80s rock material, Wild Frontier is a killer album.

He was never really a "proper" blues player IMO... although "Blues For Greeny" does have some nice soloing on it.

axisus

Wild frontier is a solid album, but I'd have preferred a proper drummer rather than drum sequencing. His blues wasn't traditional, but I just loved the fire and passion of it.

richardhomer

Bucket;513135" said:

He was never really a "proper" blues player IMO... although "Blues For Greeny" does have some nice soloing on it.

Completely agree with this; his attack and timing (he played a lot of stuff bang on the beat) screamed 'Rock' to me - even when he was playing over a blues progression.

There is a YT vid of him playing a really long version of 'Need Your Love So Bad' and his blues playing on that is just masterful - he phrases beautifully and shows admirable restraint.

One thing is for sure - he was a monster guitar player.

I remember hearing him interviewed on the radio (IIRC) in the late '70s about his departure from Lizzy - he pretty much said that they were so out of it that tuning and timing weren't even a consideration when they played. He hated the lack of professionalism.

Which makes the nature of his dying all the more surprising. Certainly he was looking very bloated towards the end of his life - I'm guessing he was many years into a serious drinking career by then.. It's a real shame that he didn't get some help - may be he could have been saved?

Anyway - he's a great loss....

RocknRollDave

Any excuse to post this again (it's been on my Facebook page at least three times):

vasselmeyer

I never really aprpeciated his phenomenal touch until I saw him live close up. I'd been to see him and his band on his "Cold Day in Hell" tour but was too far away to see him properly. I finally got to see him close up when he did the "Scars" album with Cass Lewis and Darrin Moody and they were a great unit. Gary was stage left and I was in the Manchester Apollo in a front row balcony seat and I was less than 10 metres away.

Because he played a mixture of his blues stuff and the more Hendrixy stauff from "Scars" it was a masterclass in phrasing, attack, controlled feedback and pure musicianship. His guitars (often his 60/61 Fiesta Red Strat) sung, cried and screamed. I came out of that gig knowing then even if I played for my whole life I would never have the touch that he had, but I felt privileged to have seen him play. The only other person I've seen clsoe up who was that that good was Jeff Healey on his first tour in the UK after "See the Light" came out. But Jeff Healey played so differently it didn't have the same effect on me as I knew I'd never play on my lap. But the Gary Moore gig was one of the top musical moments of my life.

axisus

I was fortunate enough to catch him live with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker (BBM). Not the best material of their respective careers, but wonderful to see three legends. 

scrumhalf

Saw him at the Marquee in ?81/82?, a warmup gig for Reading. His band were Ian Paice, Neil Murray, Charlie Huhn (vocals) and Don Airey. "Good" doesn't come close.

Skipped

vasselmeyer said:

I never really aprpeciated his phenomenal touch until I saw him live close up. I'd been to see him and his band on his "Cold Day in Hell" tour but was too far away to see him properly. I finally got to see him close up when he did the "Scars" album with Cass Lewis and Darrin Moody and they were a great unit. Gary was stage left and I was in the Manchester Apollo in a front row balcony seat and I was less than 10 metres away.

Because he played a mixture of his blues stuff and the more Hendrixy stauff from "Scars" it was a masterclass in phrasing, attack, controlled feedback and pure musicianship. His guitars (often his 60/61 Fiesta Red Strat) sung, cried and screamed. I came out of that gig knowing then even if I played for my whole life I would never have the touch that he had, but I felt privileged to have seen him play. The only other person I've seen clsoe up who was that that good was Jeff Healey on his first tour in the UK after "See the Light" came out. But Jeff Healey played so differently it didn't have the same effect on me as I knew I'd never play on my lap. But the Gary Moore gig was one of the top musical moments of my life.

I agree. Something special about his touch. I also saw him close up at a very small gig. In terms of "playing differently", Gary playing the wrong way round (being left handed) is not in the same league as what Jeff Healey was doing. But it must be a factor when considering Gary Moore's technique.