Rory Gallagher

• Pick hard with a heavy attack — Gallagher's aggression comes from the right hand
• Middle or bridge pickup on the Strat for the raw, cutting lead tones
• Amp slightly breaking up, not high-gain — the dirt is on the edge of clean
• Treble booster before the amp sharpens pick attack and drives harmonic content
• Simple pentatonic and blues-scale vocabulary played with conviction — not complex runs
• Vibrato is expressive and physical — Gallagher would physically shake the neck
• Country and Celtic music influences emerge in some chord choices — maj6, add9 shapes
• Dobro and acoustic playing were integral to his sets — not just electric blues
• Study "Laundromat" and "A Million Miles Away" for the range of raw to reflective

Rory Gallagher's 1961 Stratocaster was so worn from relentless touring that its sunburst finish had almost completely worn away. That battered Strat through a Marshall and Vox delivered an honest, unpolished blues-rock tone that never chased fashion — raw, direct and deeply personal.