Song Rig

South Side Stomp

Eric Gales · The Eric Gales Band · 1991

Tone Overview

What Makes This Sound Unique

Eric Gales' debut at age 16 — a raw, powerful blues-rock track that announced a guitarist with the facility of SRV and the wildness of Hendrix. Gales plays left-handed but with right-handed stringing (like Hendrix), which inverts the string tension on bends and produces a uniquely physical, behind-the-beat feel.

Signal Chain

1Gibson SG (left-handed playing, right-handed stringing)
2Marshall JCM800 or similar
3Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9

Amp Settings

Gain / Volume7

Bass6

Mid7

Treble7

Presence7

The TS9 into the Marshall provides the warm, mid-forward overdrive characteristic of the SRV-influenced Texas blues-rock school. Gales applies this tone with more aggression than SRV, reflecting his Memphis upbringing.

Technique

How to Play It

Left-handed right-strung bending — bending strings toward the floor (as a left-handed player with right-handed stringing) produces a different physical sensation and tone than conventional bending. Gales exploits the reversed physics for a uniquely physical, gravel-and-honey string sound.

Budget Alternative

Achievable With

Any guitar → Tube Screamer → Marshall JCM800 → Gales' reversed stringing is difficult to replicate, but his aggressive, wide-bending approach on a conventional guitar can approximate the energy. The key is the physical commitment to every bend.

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