I think the main thing that gets overlooked with these ‘better than’ comments (I know often it’s just hyperbole) is that being a pioneer, making a guitar sound so new and different is worth 10x anyone coming along and ‘improving’ it in some way. That’s the genius, making the guitar do things no-ones ever heard before

I bought tickets to his most recent tour without having very high expectations. Before I went, my guitar teacher said "As good as you think it's gonna be, it'll be 4 times as good." Well, it was about 10 times as good as I thought it was gonna be. He blew my expectations of what improvisation could be. He is a magnificent showman with tons of creative licks, expression, and tone out the ass. He started crying in the midst of "My Own Best Friend". Everything he gave, the audience gave him back just as good. He had them eating out of the palm of his hand. Easily one of the best performances I've ever seen, bar none. I don't think his compositions are as good as Hendrix's, but his performances are just as expressive and impressive, in my opinion. If you have the chance go see him, please go! You won't regret it!

Its crazy how over the space of 50 years someone like this has gone from world famous to hardly known.

There is no need to compare Eric to Jimi. The spirit that Hendrix expressed, of which Eric is a part of the lineage, has nothing to do with "better". Jimi was a visionary artist that gave the world all he had in the span of 4 years. Even Jimi said one time: "technically I am not even a guitar player, I express color and emotions" Jimi wasn't a line runner like Gales, he didn't sit around working out how to fit syncopated 16th note runs over different time feels, he was too busy trying to match color tones to emotions, like trying to find tones that sounded like they were coming from under the ocean or outer space. He was primarily a song writer. Eric Gales is probably the most gifted virtuoso that comes from Jimi, and I absolutely love his playing.

Eric Gales and Shawn Lane were friends. Apparently they've even cut tracks, if not an album, together that still has yet to see the light of day.

Man! Amazing work thank you so much for the resource!!!!!!

Thanks Levi for always introducing me to great guitar players I have never heard of and are outside my normal listening, your channel has certainly helped me improve my guitar playing. You rock.

Those cheeky titles! Glad you covered Eric, and I agree with your sentiments, he’s a fantastic communicator, good choice of clip it covers a fair bit of his approaches and I’m glad it had some of his wonderful chord voicings in there too!

He’s been a top player for decades but this is so, so expressive, innovative, and inspiring! Much thanks for transcribing 👌👏🏼.

I saw him live in 2018. What a treat. Hes so amazing and hits that nerve with his playing

Man, I love you're videos. Just discovered you and have a lot of catching up to do. Gales is a guy I heard about but never got round to him yet as getting so many new ones to get on to. Thanks for bringing me to him

Thanks again Levi! Eric is an amazing guitarist and an amazing human being... he deserves so much more attention and love!

Eric is amazing mind boggling. To me he has his own sound, he doesn't sound like Hendrix or SRV. To my ear he has more similar moves to Jeff Healey without trying to sound like him. He's just his badass self.

never heard of him before but that was fabulously good !!! love being turned onto new music / artists ! so glad I stumbled upon this ...THANK YOU !

Love Gale’s playing. He’s a one of a kind soloist, but he doesn’t have any recordings that I’ve ever cared to re-listen to, snd I’ve listened to every album he’s done. Love his live playing, since I was a young player, watching him jam with Santana in the 90’s, and thought he was amazing. But he’s not Hendrix, as Hendrix first played at 15, then learned a lot in the military, a short stint as a backup on the Chitlin’ Circuit, before he was taken to England, after playing for less than 5 years as a “working musician.” Eric has played since he was a 4 year old child, and is brilliant, but he’s just not the songwriter Hendrix was, and if Hendrix had even another three years, who knows what he’d have been playing. Hendrix’s songwriting and influence is what can’t be denied. I understand when someone doesn’t dig Hendrix’s music, or think he was sloppy, but part of how guys like Gales play, comes directly from Hendrix’s influence. Same for Eric Johnson, SRV, Mayer. Mayer didn’t release a Hendrix cover EP with his pop album, back when he was really breaking big, for no reason. He wanted to show he was a guitarist, before a pop songwriter. Think about SRV. He had been playing Hendrix songs, for longer than Hendrix even played guitar at all, before his first major label release. Hendrix wrote Voodoo Chile(slight return), sometime in 1968, snd recorded it that year, released in October. He got to play it for a little more than two years, after that, before he died. Most of these guys, have played Voodoo Child since they were kids. Hendrix left a blueprint, style and new way of approaching electric guitar, both in the studio and live. I’m really glad Eric survived his demons, and is still destroying audiences, at 48 years old. Hope he plays to 100.

Thanks for the transcription.

I've been following Eric since The Eric Gales Band with his brother Eugene on bass. If ever there was a musician who has paid his dues and never received his rightful recognition in my opinion, this is the man. His playing and feel are definately "next level" and I hope he gets all the kudos he has so rightfully earned and deserves but, I tend to agree with a few other comments I have read on here that his compositions are not in the same class as Jimi. Jimi was a musical visionary and composer as well as a next level guitar player eg - Little Wing, Wait until Tomorrow, Up from the Skies etc and the incredible sound painting that is live and in your face of Machine Gun at the Fillmore and all this whilst blazing his own virtuoso trail as there where none like him for him to follow. There's a reason why when asked so many great players ( Beck, SRV, Gilmour, Townshend, Page etc etc) name him and thats because he was the whole package! Thanks Levi for the upload and agree with the Hendrix name being noticed and if that pulls in more peeps to discover the amazing Eric Gales and his music and get him the respect he deserves, then as Eric so rightfully says in his song ........ I Want my Crown! 🎸

100% agree with the title haha he's miles ahead of everyone. soul and speed never been higher in one player

No question my favorite guitarist alive. He just makes me say “WOW” over and over whenever he begins to play. He’s also a great come back story with an inspirational message to all that want to hear it.

This is my favourite solo of all time! A master class in all the good stuff. Big up Levi

This was a fucking treat man. Thank you! Absolutely love Eric’s playing. Pure emotion.

So glad you did some EG!! One of the best, you rule! Would love to see his version of little wing

I have to say he is on a plateau all by himself, all others will look up to him

Awesome. Saw him in Brooklyn a few years ago. Amazing talent and he was as gracious and humble a human being as I have ever met. Love this!!!!!

I discovered some years ago and it's really amazing the things he does with the whole guitar and strings upside down!!!

Head pulling is a prerequisite for this style.....it's great to see the spirit lives on..... and great to see him playing the 'right' way....

Eric is one of my favorite musicians he's no hendrix by no means but he definitely holds his own.

Behind you bro. That very strat. My dream guitar. I wish I had one. Nice vid.

Him and mono neon are aliens for having their strings in the opposite sequence. Such great players.

I appreciate your love of a great 👍 guitarist 🎸like Eric Gales who I listened to probably when you were just a kid no disrespect, but some people just don't get Jimi who was the complete PACKAGE, its not about just playing or singing or performing its all of the above. The most important thing is the CREATIVITY and to have done ✔️ all that the age of 27 yrs old. Imagine the continuity if he had live age 77 or more. Unfathomable. God bless 🙌 🙏.

One thing you can't notate is emotion and Eric has it by the gallon.

I was born and raised in Memphis,TN..saw Eric Gales when he was a teenager and he was phenomenal, he just blew away everybody in the Memphis music scene if you ever get a chance to see him live he will blow your mind..🎸🤘🏻🎶😎

I saw him in a bar in Memphis when he had to be 19-20 and he was this good back then. His timing is the magic, he’s got that slightly behind the beat thing and the percussive pick attack. If he can keep away from the substances (he relapses quite frequently) and stay alive for another decade I can’t imagine the stuff he will be pulling off.

Better is a weird thing to say in the world of guitar greats. Gales is awesome, and he started from a foundational springboard that Hendrix helped build.. and he's had almost twice as long an existence as Jimi got. But would he be "better" than Jimi if Jimi had never existed?

Been an EG fan for a while now. The fact that he plays left handed AND upside down makes what he's capable of even more mind blowing. Eric is the Man!

Awesome

Gales is one of my Top 10 guitarists ever. His playing, his chord progressions are absolutely ingenious! And no, he is not the second Jimi Hendrix, he is Eric Gales and completely unique.

Unbelievable good .Thank you 🎶🎼🎸🎶🎵🎼🙏🏻

Incredible!

Thanks for this transcription. Gales is amazing.

No one will improvise at the level of Hendrix when he was on top of his game… you hear this and you hear Machine Gun at Filmore or Hear My Train A Comin’ at Berkeley. Tell me - what performance will stay with you? As much as I love Eric I don’t think that I’ll hear a composition like Little Wing from him or another guitar player. This is an opened invitation/challenge for all musicians - please, compose a song just as beautiful and intense as Machine Gun… write a song like Yesterday by The Beatles… write a song like Bohemian Rhapsody… let’s hear some great composing again !!! Btw, I’ll repeat the message - I love Eric’s playing and singing but he is not Hendrix !

levi there's a video from eric playing for elise and becoming blusier. he throws a chord that i can't replicate. if you know what video is i strongly recomend the transcription. thanks for the magic as always. cheers.

Thank you Levi

That was good 👍

The thing that boggles my mind the most about watching Eric, is that plays a right handed guitar, tuned right handed, but played left handed. It's like watching someone play upside-down in a mirror. Freaks me out. God bless him!

On my way to see EG this very evening. It was the thumbnail that got me to look, not yet another Hendrix title.

Saw Eric at 3rd and Lindsley in Nashville a little over a week ago. Peter Frampton was in the house. Met Peter after the show, Eric brought the house down.....

Holy Smokes! Legend has it that his guitar neck is still smoldering to this day!

Incredible.

That was smokin’!

Hendrix had the ability and the forethought to mix it up on the guitar. He could play fast, slow, loud, soft, heavy, light, distorted, clean etc. Hendrix was creating feelings that were genuine and beautiful. Every note he played was unique and fit the music perfectly. He was the ultimate Jazz guitarist who could play any genre. So many guitarists today are hung up on playing fast, at the expense of feeling and emotion. They become robots, very tiresome to listen to. Hendrix could play a standard left handed guitar and then flip the guitar over and play it upside down and backwards. Stevie Ray Vaughan is the only one who really was able to capture and play Hendrix. The level of commitment of doing that is incredibly high. Hendrix was also a beautiful person, a gentleman, a thinker, who was under constant attack by the MIC and his MI-6 manager. He was killed because he opposed the war in Vietnam, and was considered to be a threat to the deep state.

Just saw him tonight in Indiana. JUST KILLS IT!!!

His "That's What I Am" album is amazing and is one of my favorite albums ever. Amazing songwriting and solos on that record!

Amazing player and just a super guy. Had the chance to meet him after a gig and he was humble and found time to pose for pix and chat with anyone who wanted to meet him.

Levi Clay ... Thank you for this. Eric's been out there jammin' for a long time now and this performance, mixed with the crowd's reaction, was like being in church. A good church, 'ya know. 🎵

Damn good

Excellent video about the only person who ever made me consider a Strat (I'm an LP guy). New Subscriber.

Wow. How did you get that into a tab? Software or manually? There is a piece I’m DYING to get tabs on and would buy the software in an instant

Holy moly dude! First you turn me on to Shawn Lane, and now Eric Gales? My god, what great talents, and hats off to you for piquing my interest, and expanding my library.

Absolutely Nastiness!!! Love it. He is one of the gems of guitar player, hands down.

Hendrix was a pioneer. You can't compare a pioneer to those who came after.

I was blessed to meet Mr. Gales last summer in the Bay Area, CA at 2nd Annual Blues festival in Vallejo. Did the meet and greet afterwards with a pic and an autographed cd. He's an incredible musician.

How in gods name do you transcribe all that sonic info dude! Amazing. And yeah hes a very exciting and interesting player. Killin

🤠 amazing!!!!

Where is the clip for this show? Thanks

Also like to add every time Eric Gales performs he Bears his soul and puts everybody of his being into his playing. This man moves my soul when he plays

Eric is the shizz ! Glad to see he's been clean and sober for a few years now

how the hell it is possible to transcribe this!!! wow!

"Musical" is the perfect term. He really makes his guitar sing in such a unique way that's all his own. He's a great mix of that "sloppiness" that Jimi had with even more incredible technique. And I'm of the opinion that music SHOULD be sloppy. Very few people actually enjoy listening to the new breed of tiktok/IG virtuoso guitarists. Yes, their technique is amazing, but it all tends to feel so uninspired. Erik is different. God bless him.

Eric is a supernatural force of nature.

He is a good blues guitarist. But I wouldn't compare him to Hendrix. Jimi was out this this world with what he did. He was a pioneer in Rock history. Peace

He's 1000x better live than on recordings. Such a nice guy too, have met him a few times in Nashville. Incredible playing upside down/strings reversed.

I like this guy a lot he's killing it right here! I hear much more Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan then hey Hendrix similarity

Eric Gales is the Man!....one of the "best but not so famous" guitarst that always goes out under our radar, because guitarists only focus on the famous shred greats- Vai, Satch, Yng, PG, etc Oh yes, just a little trivia to further "stir the pot" of this whole "versus" thing.😈(which is cool by the way, because we guitarists love competition and guitar is also a sports were only the FASTEST and the MOST Technical YET STILL MELODIC survives and rules! bwahahaha.🤭😅) There's a floating video in the early KZfaq days maybe around 13 or 15 years ago entitled "Shawn Lane getting his ass handed to him!"😲(already taken down or renamed?) - the video quality is very poor 240p and dark were one of my fave Shawn is jamming, trading licks with some unrecognizable blues shredder and that other guitarist is really on fire🔥... to the point that not even SL's hyper speed tricks could overwhelm the other guitarists insanely tasty playing by mixing shred and jaw dropping blues licks. Later that I found out that the other guitarist is named Eric Gales!👏, that's were I knew him and became a fan. If you can jam with Shawn Lane and not only held your ground but also outplay him in his own game, then your really something special. That's Eric - very underated giant killer. Cheers!😉

What is the song?

He's innovative and original... that said , I'm hearing B.B.King influences ~ Great Rhythm & Blues 👏 🤙👍✌

Once again I thank you Levi for another compelling video but I must take exception on comparisons of one player to another and especially this one. I've seen Eric twice and I was thrilled by him but, perhaps it's my age showing, I saw Mr. Jimi three times and each performance utterly shattered all my ideas of what a guitarist can do and no one has moved me like that since. Perhaps I'm trapped in a moment but what a beautiful moment it is. I will now go count the rings on my tail!

Got to see him 4 years ago up close in Florida.. he is all that.. all contemporary guitarists also agree! And it is a unique sound he puts out..🤔

Eric Gales is absolutely phenomenal.

Dude plays with his strings upsidedown!

And very creative composer tbh, I listened all his albums, quality stuff.

We love the same guitariste i love your Channel Can de get more Derek stuff :D

This is what I wrote after seeing your title: "Eric Gales is one of my favorite players alive today... but BETTER than HENDRIX !? ... Come on man. You clearly don't know the depth of Jimi's playing on so many levels ... " Now I heard your intro, so okay, I still like you 😀!

Where was this at anybody know

I've tried playing chords, etc on a left handed guitar before and it was nearly impossible to play

His approach to blues is seemingly simple yet so clever. The phrase he references is that 5h7 and then the root. The typical lick most players would do is bend the fourth, minor third then root. Here he's doing third, hammering to the fourth then the root. That was the first thing I noticed in this solo, it makes him stand out that hes not using the typical lick besides in select places after his fast lines. Got to check more of this guy out

Respect.

PURE FYAH!!!!!

Has the Steve Trovato tab been uploaded to your Patreon? I can't seem to find it.

holy crap

Seeing him for the third time later this month. Such a monster player!!!

Seen and following him for a while.. Hes a true entertainer.. hes in that newer class of players.. like Bonamassa, Matt Schofield, Josh Smith.. Amazing!

Can't believe I haven't been subbed to this channel?!? I am now.

Saw him live recently.. was crazy watching him if you’ve never seen him live … yes , technically he’s better than Hendrix .. or most ! .. but he didn’t write Wind Cries Mary , Purple Haze , If 6 was 9 , Are You Experienced… and I’m not knocking Eric Gail’s by any means.. he’s written some great stuff … GO see him live !

Okay that's one hell of a claim to make... let's see

And he's fun to watch.👀👍

WoW! Remember that name!

Levi you are such a lovely fella. Thanks for everything.

His guitar is strung upside down. Amazing!

I’m curious: How long did this take to transcribe? 😇