Acoustic Guitar Songs And Blues With Rory Gallagher Using Different Open Tunings

William Rory Gallagher

Blues music is really defined by playing the genre/style on guitar and the acoustic guitar is well used throughout the movement. If we go right back to the turn of the century it was a very popular instrument among the black communities as they endevoured to bring it to life and I like to think and believe that it all started on this legendary instrument Many popular acoustic guitar songs have been created and showcased using the guitar.

Rory Galagher was a great musical performer of acoustic blues guitar and below is an article and video about the great Irish musician. It’s also great for instruction on playing and learning.

Rory Galagher was born 2nd March 1948 and was an Irish blues-rock multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader. Born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, and raised in Cork, Gallagher recorded solo albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s, after forming the band Taste during the late 1960s.

He was a talented guitarist known for his charismatic performances on the acoustic guitar and dedication to his craft. Gallagher’s albums have sold in excess of 30 million copies worldwide .

His father Daniel was employed by the Irish Electricity Supply Board, who were constructing a hydro-electric power plant on the Erne River above the town. The family moved first to Derry City, where his younger brother Dónal was born in 1949, and then Monica and the two boys moved to Cork, where the brothers were raised. Rory attended North Monastery School.

Acoustic Guitar For Beginners

Daniel Gallagher had played the accordion and sang with the Tir Chonaill Ceile Band whilst in Donegal; their mother Monica was a singer and acted with the Abbey Players in Ballyshannon. The Theatre in Ballyshannon where Monica once acted is now called the Rory Gallagher Theatre.

Rory Gallagher was initially attracted to skiffle after hearing Lonnie Donegan on the radio. Donegan, a great performer of acoustic guitar songs himself, frequently covered blues and folk performers from the United States on the. He relied entirely on radio programs and television. Occasionally, the BBC would play some blues numbers, and he slowly found some song books for acoustic guitar for beginners type books which were kinda hard to find in those days as not many of these types were published and thats where he found the names of the actual composers of blues pieces.

While still in school, playing acoustic guitar type songs by Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran, he discovered his greatest influence in Muddy Waters. He began experimenting with folk, blues, and rock music. Unable to find or afford record albums, Gallagher stayed up late to hear Radio Luxembourg and AFN where the radio brought him his only exposure to the actual songwriters and musicians whose music moved him most.

Influences he discovered, and cited as he progressed, included Woody Guthrie, Big Bill Broonzy, and Lead Belly. Initially, Gallagher struck out after just an acoustic guitar sound.  Singing and later using a brace for his harmonica, Gallagher taught himself to play slide guitar. Further, throughout the next few years of his musical development he also liked to play a lot of acoustic blues guitar. Gallagher began learning to play alto saxophone, bass, mandolin, banjo, and the coral sitar with varying degrees of proficiency. By his mid-teens, he began experimenting heavily with different blues styles.

Having completed a musical apprenticeship in the Irish showbands, and influenced by the increasing popularity of beat groups during the early 1960s and his acoustic guitar for beginners manuals Gallagher formed Taste, a blues rock and R&B power trio, in 1966. Initially, the band was composed of Gallagher and two Cork musicians, Norman Damery and Eric Kitteringham, however, by 1968, they were replaced with two musicians from Belfast, featuring Gallagher on guitar and vocals, drummer John Wilson, and bassist Richard McCracken. Performing extensively in the United Kingdom, the group played regularly at the Marquee Club, supporting both Cream at their Royal Albert Hall farewell concert, and the blues supergroup Blind Faith on a tour of North America. Managed by Eddie Kennedy, the trio released the albums Taste and On The Boards, and two live recordings, Live Taste and Live at the Isle of Wight. The latter appeared long after the band’s break-up, which occurred shortly after their appearance at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. Now he could see the fruits of learning acoustic guitar for beginners manuals were a golden nugget for his playing and understanding of the game of music and live performance.

After the break-up of Taste, Gallagher toured under his own name, showcasing his acoustic guitar songs and hiring former Deep Joy bass player Gerry McAvoy to play on Gallagher’s self-titled debut album, Rory Gallagher.

It was the beginning of a twenty-year musical relationship between Gallagher and McAvoy; the other band member was drummer Wilgar Campbell. The 1970s were Gallagher’s most prolific period. He produced ten albums in that decade, including two live albums, Live in Europe and Irish Tour ’74. November 1971 saw the release of the album Deuce. 

In the same year he was voted Melody Maker’s International Top Musician of the Year, ahead of Eric Clapton. He inspired many acoustic guitar beginners.  However, despite a number of his albums from this period reaching the UK Albums Chart, Gallagher did not attain major star status.

Rory Gallagher became a very much loved musician all over the world and a lot of hearts were broken when he passed away at the tender age of 47 and is a very missed part of Irelands culture but he remains an inspiration to many guitarists, song writers and admirer’s to this day. Many of his songs are quite simple so perfect for acoustic guitar for beginners type tunes and easy to play chords.

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Heres A Video Of Rory Gallagher On His Acoustic Axe

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