Following a Grammy nom for his latest record, the blues great returns for his second Rundown.
Eric Gales is back again. Since last chatting with John Bohlinger in 2017, the blues maestro’s rig has transitioned to include more signature Raw Dawg gear pieces—including pedals, amps, and, of course, his signature Magneto guitars. Just last year, the lefty slinger released the Grammy-nominated, Crown, which features collabs with his pal Joe Bonamassa. Gales was touring in support of that record when he rolled through Nashville.
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Eric Gales' Guitars
For over a decade, Magneto Guitars has collaborated with Gales on his signature guitars, and he tours with a pair of them. This Magneto Sonnet RawDawg III features a basswood body, roasted maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, a righthanded Gotoh tremolo (flipped, naturally) and tuners. It’s loaded with a set of Magneto Metro-Poles EG1 pickups, and a gold-mirror pickguard keeps things flashy.
Gales’ Sonnet RawDawg II—one of his longtime standbys for both stage and studio—is outfitted with an alder body, maple neck and fingerboard, and Lollar S-style pickups. Gales strings both signature guitars with Dunlop .010–.046 strings.
Once again, Gales relies upon his signature gear for his amp needs. When he and DV Mark designed his Raw Dawg EG 250-watt head, they decided upon a one-channel design with a tube preamp and solid-state power amp to achieve a super-clean tone, which is delivered to a pair of DV Mark DV Gold 212V 2x12 Vertical cabinets.
Eric Gales' Pedalboard
After leaving his guitar, Gales’ signal hits a Shure GLXD6+ Digital Wireless and goes straight into a pair of expression-controlled pedals—a Dunlop Bob Bradshaw-designed CAE wah with a gold-plated enclosure and a DigiTech Whammy. Then, he heats things up with a host of drive units: an E.W.S. Eric Gales Signature Brute Drive, and MXR Eric Gales Signature Raw Dawg (which includes the image of Gales’ late pitbull), a Mojo Hand FX Colossus Fuzz, and an MXR Hendrix Octavio Fuzz. Those hit a lone always-on delay— a Tech 21 Boost DLA—and a groove-filled Boss Loop Station RC-5.
From channeling life experiences through his playing to his gospel influences and learning from right-handed players, Gales digs deep.
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Eric Gales: “It’s My Walk” | Wong Notes Podcast
Eric Gales Rig Rundown
Eric Gales, busy promoting his new album, Middle of The Road, took a break to hang with PG’s John Bohlinger at City Winery in Nashville. Gales, a master of melody, nuance, and flash, showed us his simple setup he uses both live and in the studio.
Intermediate
Intermediate
- Break down what makes Eric’s approach so unique.
- Learn Hendrix’s “Little Wing” from a whole new perspective.
- Pick up some new muscle memory on unusual chord shapes.
Eric Gales’ method of playing a right-handed guitar left-handed and upside down gives him a sound that’s distinctively his. If you watch videos of him playing, you’ll notice he plays with his thumb wrapped around the top of the neck, like Jimi Hendrix or John Mayer. However, since his guitar strings are flipped upside down, his thumb is fretting what would be the first string to most people. This not only puts your brain in a whirl when trying to steal licks, but it also opens the door for some truly unique chord voicings. Gales, who fuses blues, rock, and classical together, constantly manages to play some truly otherworldly licks and passages.
Gales’ speed and cleanliness are his bread and butter, but what sticks out to me in his playing are those chord voicings and substitutions he uses masterfully in his approach. He is one of the best at spicing up standard shapes. In this lesson we’re going to dig into Gales’ interpretation of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing,” using a pair of different live clips to showcase how he tends to mix up his chordal choices from performance to performance.
“I remember on this last tour me and Myles [Kennedy] were on the bus looking up stuff and we ran into some Eric Gales clips and we were just like, ‘This guy could be the best player on Earth.’” - Mark Tremonti
In Ex. 1, we’re checking out Gales’ performance from the 2019 Keeping the Blues Alive Cruise. When he kicks off the “Little Wing’’ intro, every note is the same as what Jimi Hendrix originally played. It’s worth noting that Gales also typically tunes down a half-step. It’s a straight-up cover, that is, until Eric does his “thing” when going from the IIm to VIm chords in the progression.
Eric Gales - Little Wing - Sail Away Show - KTBA Cruise 2019
At 0:26 in the video Eric uses a diminished triad to work his way up the fretboard, resolving on a Bm7 triad for just an eighth-note before moving to the Em7. His use of the open third string in the Em7 chord provides a nice jangle.
Ex. 1
At approximately 0:35 in the song, Gales uses (with a tasteful hammer-on embellishment) a Bbm9(11) and Bbm11 to descend to the IIm chord. He then gives an Am9(11) chord the same embellishment and voicing jump with an Am11. To end this phrase, Gales resolves an F6(9) to an Em11(b13), as shown in Ex. 2.
Ex. 2
The last nugget we’ll look at from this specific performance is pretty simple: a single F6(9) chord around the 0:51 mark. Shown in Ex. 3, Gales works this chord into his arrangement to build tension and grab your ear before beginning the verse of the song. As with the other examples, the notes being played are not difficult. It’s the application, however, that gets the listener’s attention. If you’re at all familiar with “Little Wing,” you’ll see that this chord comes out of nowhere in his arrangement.
Ex. 3
The next two examples are from a seminar that Gales did at the University of North Carolina–Greensboro Center for Creative Writing in the Arts. It’s clear that Gales is going a little out on this interpretation, and he is also tuned to E standard.
Eric Gales "Little Wing"
In Ex. 4 we’re looking at the same part of the intro as Ex. 1 (around the 0:22 mark), but Eric has a much different approach. He arpeggiates an Ebmaj7(#11) and uses a hammer-on to turn it into an Ebmaj7(#5). He then uses a pull-off to return to an Ebmaj7(#11). To complete the phrase, Eric uses a hammer-on to switch between an E7sus and an E9sus three times.
Ex. 4
The last example (Ex. 5) is a real finger twister. At 0:29 he plays an insanely tasteful Bm9 voicing and descends to a Bbm9 before continuing to an Am9. If you listen close, Gales is sprinkling in an open first string. Because he is playing a right-handed guitar upside down, he can add that extra open string to the chord voicings. If you play a guitar that is not flipped upside down, you logistically won’t be able to add that open string.
Ex. 5
Eric Gales is a completely underrated guitarist in my book. Nobody else sounds like him, and it’s refreshing to hear someone truly being different in the guitar community. You could spend countless amounts of hours picking out the licks and passages he plays. Unless you’re learning cover tunes note-for-note for a gig, try stretching your creativity in the way that Eric does. Now that you’ve seen how an old standard such as “Little Wing” can be dressed up with this chord voicing and substitution approach, run with the idea and see what you can create.