THE STRAT
The tone and technique of Rory Gallagher by tribute guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick which a lot of people tend to overlook.
Guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick is arguably best known for his work in British melodic rock band FM, whose new album OldHabitsDieHardis released in May. Jim also plays in Band Of Friends, performing the music of Rory Gallagher with members of the late Northern Irish trailblazer’s own band. When he connects with TG, he’s just returned from this year’s International Rory Gallagher Tribute convention, where he played through the actual amps heard on Rory’s famous recordings, nailing all the tones and techniques to keep that legacy alive…
Though he did occasionally use other models, it was usually aStrat in Rory’s hands. Why do you think that is?
It’s an interesting story. I’m not sure if he purposefully chose it to start o with. I believe there was a Strat in a shop window when he lived in Cork. He had his rst guitar already, something like a Futurama, and apparently somebody had ordered a Strat in the wrong colour. It was most likely the rst Strat in Ireland! It got taken back to the shop and Rory recognised it from players like Buddy Holly and Hank Marvin. An American instrument in Ireland back in the early ’60s would have been rare.
He was fairly loyal to Fender over the years. There are only ahandful of photos of him with aLes Paul, for example.
He had a big guitar collection. There was a white Telecaster he used to play slide on. He never really replaced that one. There were a lot of one-o guitars, especially things he might use on a certain track, but few lasted the distance. Alot of those instruments were given to him, but you can tell he was the kind of person who had two or three guitars that did the job and didn’t feel like he needed anything else.
Can you talk us through the rig you use to get the Rory tone?
He was really associated with a Vox AC30 and a treble booster. That was his sound for the mid-’70s, but he did move away from that to Marshall later on, I’ve got the Rory signature treble booster and Iwas using it with one of his actual AC30s not long ago at the Rory convention. There’s a guy Iknow in Ireland who has Rory’s Marshalls, and when I play over there, he brings Rory’s JMP 2x12 combo. Obviously I don’t get to use that gear all the time, so I tend to stick with a Vox or a JMP-style Marshall.
Like most players back then, he didn’t use too many pedals…
It was few and far between. There was the treble boost, plus a anger that got used on a couple of songs like Shadow
Play. An octave pedal on a couple of later tracks. There was a Boss overdrive at one point, but he kept it simple.
So what are your main instruments for the tribute shows?
There are two that I’m using at the moment. Ther
