NWB - Community Blog

Haha I hear ya about Gary, my top 3 Gary albums, run for cover,still got the blue(movies)and black rose, superb! Oh and blues alive as well

outstanding!! "widdling" at it's very, very best, methinks. sharp, tight and spot on. plus-a "guitar face" second only to loz of r d's fame too!! what's he playing g/man??
p.s. re: a previous blog concerning taking someone's place in a band? can i be that drummer?? if not-can i have his kit? that is one SERIOUS piece of equipment. ;-/

@grooverman-ah! thanks, bro-thought so-how on earth does he keep that volume level stable, though- it doesn't waver one iota,does it? keeps him well over the rest of the band (including sax and one SERIOUS piece of drumkit) no probs at all!! ;-D

@grooverman-whatever it is,dude (probably a combination of of all three-top spec monitors, top engineers (i've seen and heard what ejectthetape can do!!) and top quality instruments)it works superbly well-and i still want to sit behind that kit!! awesome!! lol!! ;-D

Monster player. I preferred him when he was more rock oriented though. Some of the chops he had back then were incredible. His blues stuff is cool too, but blues doesn't hit me "there" if you catch my drift....

His blues bores me to tears, I prefered him in his Colleseum II days myself. Jazz rock-tastic

A great rock guitarist but not a blues man. He is playing some fine guitar on that video but it ain't the blues.

Hey I wouldn't dream of knocking him but this is the blues -

Bonamassa > Gary Moore!

Great rock player but he's become the most generic 'blues' guitarist I've ever heard...

loved that night of fender guitar thing that was on sky arts a while back ... gary does 9 minutes of hendrix little wing (i think) abnsolutely wailing away - awesome, and then poor old hank marvin comes one with a turd eating grin on his face looking worried as hell that he has to follow that with his ... ermm shtick!

I doubt Marvin was worried about following Gary Moore at the Fender show a couple of yrs or so ago, Gary will never acheive what Hank has over the last 50 yrs. Two totally different guitarists, Hank can't play like Moore and vice versa, not really comparable. I know which one I'd rather sit and watch.................

I think you would find that Gary Moore could quite easily play like Hank M if he wanted to. The whole thing about Moore is that he is an accomplished player who has plied (and mastered) his trade from Jazz to rock and everything inbetween. The solo in Red house on the Fender show is simply tremendous, he keeps it interesting without much repetition and absolutely no mistakes and takes the place apart. Amazing!

....of course, Hank Marvin has been a session player for a loooong time. Not everyone wants to play at jet engine volume and it's entirely possible Marvin could hang with Moore if he wanted to....

Yep I reckon your right, all Hank would needs to do is krank it up a bit pull a few daft faces and hey presto Gary Moore licks would come flooding out! Sounds simple enough, I might try it myself.....!

Not sure what really constitutes a "good" Blues player but one thing that Moore has in abundance is loads of feeling and the ability to bend a note, both of which all "good" Blues players have.

I suppose there are too many grey areas around most playing styles to clearly define them. I've never got the whole SRV thing myself. I don't hear any fire in his playing like I do in Jeff Healeys.

seen gary moore many times,fantastic in small venues ie academy but larger venues not as good,apollo not bad but men no way,also when he is top of the bill he shines but when below he just seems to go through the motions ,with no passion,like us all in our mundane day jobs,cracking and original guitarist though

grooverman-"red house"? scorchio indeed-hairs on the back of the neck time.
it seems to me there is no conflict between what constitutes a great "blues" player and what i would see as "second/third generation" musos doing what has always been done with music-adding to/improvising and expanding a particular style of music, whilst not losing sight of the original. for example:
@tcs-i would say this is "pure blues", no?

Jeff Healey, just in the way/style that he plays makes you sit up and take note, has a great sound too. Not really in to blues myself, small doses is ok, probably because I can't or have never learnt to play blues. A lot of people call Hank Marvin for one reason or another, not bad for a guy who is/was in a group that has had 11 No.1's. The guitarists I admire are, Hank, Mark Knopfler, Lindsay Buckingham, Albert Lee, Jerry Donahue. But true masters of the guitar are players such as Andrés Segovia, Paco de Lucía and Django Reinhardt to name but a few. Poor old Gary doesn't even deserve to sit at the same table as those guys..........:)

I agree with that, you can't really compare.

@Viking - In my opinion Peter Green and SRV are by far the best white blues guitarists ever. Would I describe the Cream track as the blues? No. I like it, and it IS a product of the blues but I hear much more rock than blues.

@Grooverman - Yes SRV was the man. At times he pushed the boundries of blues towards rock but there is distinct and unmistakable blues in his playing. His version of "Little Wing" is the dogs bollox!

As for the top blues men wanting to collaborate with Moore, this has happened for years and why not ressurect your career by linking with stars of the present day. This is not a dig at the greats but album sales for blues artists are nothing compared to chart bands. It has always gone on - Stones/Muddy Waters, U2/BB King ect this doesn't make The Edge or Keith Richards great blues guitarists. More like a musical marriage of convenience where both parties benefit.

I'm still not critisising Gary Moore or anyone else though. Wouldn't do that, he's better than me!

@The Cottonhouse Shakers - Fair comment! For me, Keith Richards is one of the luckiest guitarists in the business, my opinion only, I don't rate him, think he is very average, good old Chuck Berry had weighed him up all them yrs ago.........;)

@tcs-yeah-green has to be one of the most undervalued blues players ever? that track-"out of reach" - gives me goosebumps every time i hear it.his work with jon mayall was outstanding.;-D
i hear what you say re "cream"-however--it is, i feel, just a natural extension to what was a movement towards a more aggressive type of blues format,with, as you say, an amalgamation of rock,coupled with bruce and baker's jazz influenced playing? cetainly works for me. ;-D

@Viking - "a natural extension" - yeah I'm with you on that one.

@The Casuals - have a look at this -

@tcs-hell yeah!!!-the look on keith richards face is priceless!!
btw-had chuck berry, little richard, howlin' wolf,bb king, etc, etc blasting through my bedroom walls most of my childhood -big sister-presents from her biker boyfriend (now my brother in law!! lol!!)!! :-D (p.s. iffen i remember correctly-she had "oh carol" in her collection -not the neil sedaka one!!!)
@grooverman-loving this blog, bro!! ;-D

@TCHS - Seen the full film on this, Keith is a mere amateur in the company of Chuck! :)