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MYSTERIOUS: Gary moore - What They Never Told You

“Got my dream amp!” Gary Moore's go-to Marshall head has been bought by another ’80s rock hero

It was Moore’s go-to amp for the best part of a decade, and it was a fair bargain, compared to some recent auction headlines

Guitar World

“I just wasn’t ready to spend $250,000 on a guitar at that stage in my life and my career”: Butch Walker turned down the opportunity to buy the Greeny Les Paul before Kirk Hammett bought it

The singer-songwriter has since come to regret the decision, even if his bank balance thanks him for it

Guitar World

"One guy brought a homemade metal blade to a fight. It lasted about 25 seconds. Phil completely laid the fella out. Phil was tough. You didn't mess." From teenage fan to first-name pals - The Phil Lynott I knew

Classic Rock writer Mick Wall remembers the Phil Lynott that most never knew

Louder

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“Scott Gorham and Phil Lynott were taken aback that I wouldn’t party with them. I stayed in my room at the hotel. I got to the studio on time. I was trying to make a point”: Brian Robertson knows what Thin Lizzy lost when he left

Half of the classic-era twin guitar attack discusses how the iconic sound was built, his relationships with his bandmates after he left, his forensic approach to modding Kirk Hammett Les Pauls to look like Peter Green’s Greeny, and why he couldn’t play the real thing

Guitar World

“Though Gary was capable of great delicacy and accuracy on the instrument, this solo was inspired by his more fiery moments”: How to let it rip like the late, great Gary Moore

Time to show the Marshall amp no mercy and engage the Tube Screamer – this solo lesson works mid '70s Thin Lizzy into Parisienne Walkways and Still Got The Blues and doesn't hold back

Guitar World

“I’ve gone after three Soldanos. Eric Clapton’s, Mark Knopfler’s... and finally Gary’s came up”: Joe Bonamassa test drives Gary Moore’s iconic Soldano amp – which has been unplayed for 20 years

Bonamassa bought the historic amp head at auction last year

Guitar World

“Our genre was blowing up with Bon Jovi and Motley Crue. So Prince paid for our first demo. Then he saw us live, which he did not like...” Warrant’s Joey Allen saw his own solos re-tracked in front of him – what he did next saved his career

It’s wrongly said he didn’t play on his band’s first two albums. Aware of his “clumsy” approach to solos, he took lessons from the guitarist brought in to speed up the process – and it all came right on their third release

Guitar World

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"All of a sudden, she started biting my tongue and wouldn't let go. There was blood everywhere. Then she went for my forehead": How Thin Lizzy made the albums that saved them, only to be plunged into chaos

Thin Lizzy went from being stone broke to recording the two albums that came to define their career, but bad luck always seemed to be lurking in the shadows

Louder

“Albert King once advised Gary Moore to ‘play every other note’”: Why keeping it simple can improve your blues solos

Peter Green, George Harrison, Gary Moore, David Gilmour... These are just some of the players inspiring this lesson in stylistic restraint, all in the pursuit of the blues

Guitar World

“I was amazed it even worked… the scratchplate looked like somebody had used a hacksaw”: Unorthodox, powered by EMGs, Gary Moore's 1982 Charvel San Dimas was the battle-ready hot-rod he needed in the ’80s

Hasty mods made to this Charvel made it a choice workhorse for Gary in the early ’80s – and it fetched over $40,000 when auctioned at Bonham's

Guitar World

“They stole our name, which means Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora were listening to our records. But the main reason people know us is Gary Moore, and that doesn’t bother me at all”: The tale of the original Irish Skid Row

Bassist Brush Shiels looks back on his lifelong friendship with Moore, why he won’t sue the American hair metal band, and how Peter Green was responsible for their first album sounding so bad

Guitar World

“I wasn’t credited with any songwriting. That was a pity. But I didn’t make a fuss. I figured Peter was still pretty fragile”: Snowy White on his uncredited role on Peter Green’s comeback LP and how David Gilmour introduced him to the Whammy pedal

The ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist toured the world with Roger Waters, played with Gary Moore, but now he’s retired from the stage, he admits he was never entirely comfortable with pop status

Guitar World

“We know for a fact that not all ’Bursts were great-sounding, but the surviving examples we played lived up to the legend”: I spent an evening with 7 original Gibson Les Paul ’Bursts from 1958 to 1960 – here's what I learned

There were two ’58s, an ex-Mick Taylor ’59; the exquisite ‘Minnesota’ ’59 ’Burst, and ‘Grainger’, too –but did a 1960 ’Burst made to ’59 spec steal the show?

Guitar World

Clean, almost all original, lightweight, with PAFs to die for – Gary Moore’s 1962 Gibson Les Paul/SG is a true grail

Sold at auction via Bonham's for around $27,385, was this Les Paul/SG one of the great bargains for vintage collectors and Gary Moore superfans?

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“Gary was great on a 335 – he really, really pulled the expression out of that guitar”: Greeny and his Strats were his superstar electrics, but these ‘60s Gibson semi-hollows were Gary Moore’s workhorses – and they’ve still got the blues mojo

Serial number A33857, this stunning '60 ES-355TD was top-of-the-line in its day, and with his ’63 ES-335TD, offered Moore stunning tones. We took a closer look as they headed to an auction where they fetched around $94,000 and $65,000, respectively

MusicRadar

DOD reimagines a Gary Moore overdrive favourite as the Badder Monkey – think the DigiTech Green Monkey, only badder, and with a wooden 360º barrel dial

DOD creates the king of the pedalboard swingers, combining the original Bad Monkey circuit with two new drive circuits, and some truly bananas ways of blending them all

Guitar World

“The guitar I learned to play on isn’t worth much, but I’ve played it at thousands of concerts and hundreds of recording sessions”: He’s performed on over 500 albums. Now Marcus Deml is making breathtaking guitar instrumentals under his own name

He spent 12-hour days learning at GIT in the shred era. But for his Strat-led solo showcase, Deml relied mainly on his ears and a religious approach to tone

Guitar World

“You can get some very mournful sounds out of it as well as in‑your-face. It’s a real old battle-axe”: Gary Moore’s 1963 Telecaster is modded and thrashed to death – and it’s got a tone pot that behaves like a wah

Before it was auctioned for just under $69,000, we take a closer look at one of the lesser-spotted electrics in Moore’s collection, with Bonham’s Steve Clarke sharing its story

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Guitar World

“The origins of its nickname remain obscure, but, thankfully, the rest of its particulars were easier to pin down”: You know Greeny, now it’s time to meet Stripe – Gary Moore’s other go-to ’59 Les Paul, and a guitar of incalculable vibe

With some of the most phenomenal buckle rash you will ever see, Stripe is a holy grail to end all holy grails. As it is being sold privately via Bonham's, we get evaluator Steve Clarke to spill Stripe's secrets

Guitar World

“I’ve never been a fan of slogging it out at auction. There are exceptions, though...” Joe Bonamassa says Gary Moore’s playing changed his life – now he’s just bought a piece of his guitar hero’s gear at auction

Bonamassa had banned himself from expensive big amp purchases in June, but this proved too tempting to pass up

Guitar World

“I’d heard these rumours that ‘it’s even been a sunburst’… I’ve read that one, too. But I could find no evidence of this”: Up close and personal with Gary Moore’s mythical 1960 Fender Stratocaster – the $330,000 Strat that lit up his Red House performance

Having just been auctioned for megabucks, we take a closer look at Moore's red Strat, sifting through the myths behind a guitar forever linked to his blazing 2004 performance of a Hendrix standard

Guitar World

“I’ve picked up others… they were like a piece of plywood. But not this one”: Gary Moore’s iconic red Stratocaster sells at auction for more than $330,000

This was the Strat that Moore played during his legendary 2004 performance of Red House – when people dared say it was better than Hendrix

Louder

The first two albums recorded by what became their definitive line-up: Now a seven-CD countdown to Thin Lizzy's lift-off

74-75: Night Life / Fighting finds Phil Lynott, Brian Downey, Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson pointing Thin Lizzy in the right direction

Guitar World

“We wanted to allow every fan to say, ‘I helped put this statue here’”: The first images of a Gary Moore tribute statue have been released – but the campaign needs support to finish the project

The project, which has been in the works for the past few years, is nearing completion

Guitar World

“Initially, Gary was very frosty. I said, ‘On this track, you used the “Greeny” Les Paul, didn’t you?’ And his eyes lit up”: Inside the final Gary Moore gear auction – from the amps behind his sound to the red Strat that unleashed his blues power

With the last of Moore’s guitars going under the hammer, we join Claire Tole-Moir of Bonhams and Neville Marten, former Guitarist editor and friend to Gary, to examine his extraordinary collection

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