Wow what a shocking piece of news to wake up to, now I’m not going to go pretending that Gary Moore was a big influence on my playing but when I started playing guitar back in 1988 CD Players were quite a new thing and my parents had just bought our first CD Player. The first CD I ever owned was given to me by an ex-girlfriend ‘Hysteria’ by Def Leppard (great CD to start with) but the first CD that I bought with my pocket money at the tender age of 12 was Gary Moore ‘Walking By Myself‘ CD Single, a great uptempo blues boogie (watch the video above) that featured guitar playing with far more ferocity than any blues music I had ever heard before. I had heard BB King and Albert Lee etc, but they had sweet singing guitar tones not downright dirty screaming Marshall’s! This was the sound that inspired me, I loved rock music but this fusion of styles really excited me. Gary inspired many guitarists including the great Joe Bonamassa who posted this message today on Facebook, “I was just told that my friend and guitar hero Gary Moore has died. I would not be playing music if it wasn’t for the playing and support of Gary.”

As a b-side to ‘Walking By Myself’ was a live version of the classic track ‘Still Got The Blues (for you)‘ and while at the time I favoured ‘Walking…’ I was still amazed by the phrasing and touch that Gary had, even at 12 years old this track taught me about musicianship over showmanship which as a late 80′s shred fan was no easy task.

I discovered Gary thanks to Guitarist magazine just as he was beginning his blues solo career but before that he was a rock guitarist but to me Gary has and always will be one of the finest Blues guitar players to pick up a guitar.

RIP Gary Moore – 4 April 1952 '“ 6 February 2011

Parisienne Walkway:

Marshall have just posted this great interview with Gary from 2008.