Ritchie Blackmore

Ritchie Blackmore w/Fender Strat

Ritchie Blackmore Logo

Ritchie Blackmore, former lead guitar player for Deep Purple, and Rainbow is one of the first of the Guitar Hero's. His blazing speed and incorporation of classical influences in the late 60's and 70's was a major influence for many guitar players including Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Morse, and a whole generation of 80's guitar players. Known for both his technical skills and his temperment, he is one of the unique sounds from this era.

Ritchie initially started out playing a black Framus Spanish acoustic guitar, which he modified with homemade pickups. Years later he purchases a Hofner Club 50 and later replaced it with a cherry red Gibson ES335. He played the Gibson from the beginning of his Joe Meek era until the In Rock sessions. Around 1970 he became fascinated with the Fender Stratocaster for its sound and degree of difficulty. Not to mention the vibrato that Jim Hendrix used to get out of Strats. Reportedly Eric Clapton gave Ritchie his first Strat. One with a warped neck!

Since his introduction to Fender Stratocaster electric guitars, they have become his hallmark instrument. White is the color of choice, but he has played natural colored Strats on occasions. The necks are made of maple with the rosewood fingerboard scalloped between the frets for vibrato. He replaces the stock Fender machine head for Schaller heads. The middle pickup is bolted down even with the pick guard. The action on the vibrato unit is adjusted by incorporating four springs to allow the bar to be pulled up and pushed down.

Ritchie Signiture Strat
Ritchie Blackmore Signature Strat
Fender now endorses him and two new signature Fender Stratocaster models are available honoring his loyalty to the instrument. One model is a replica of the white Strat that he currently plays. The other was designed by Ritchie. It features two pickups (middle one missing), straight through Rosewood neck, frets scalloped for the top three strings, and has a faint line green color.

It is uncertain when Ritchie started using Picato strings on his guitar, but they were a staple of his Fender for many years. The gauges for the Picato strings were .010, .011, .014, .026, .036, and .042. Ritchie uses custom made squared edged tortoiseshell picks.

His monster riffs and blazing guitar solos are amplified through 200-watt Marshall Major Amps modified for 250-300 watts. In the early years of Deep Purple he used two 200-watt Marshall amps and four 4 X 12 Marshall black speaker cabinets with a Hornby-Kues treble booster. During the later part of Rainbow he used four Marshall 200-watt amps and 4 X 12 black speaker cabinets. On the Bent Out Of Shape tour he changed to white speaker cabinets. However for his latest album and tour, Ritchie has switched to the German-made Engl Amps, which are based on the 120-watt Savage model. In the early years of his career he was amplified by Watkins' Dominator, Fenton-Weill and Vox AC30.

The guitar sound, that many guitarist attempt to emulate, is not benefited by the charity of many gadgets. Ritchie plays straight through his Marshalls with only a AIWA tape machine intervening to provide echo and act as a pre-amp for some fuzz. For the first three Deep Purple albums his playing heavily incorporates a wah-wah pedal. During 1974 and on a few songs on Burn he experimented with a guitar synthesizer. In '77 he began using bass pedals made by Taurus. He also uses a bottle neck for slide on occasions.

Ritchie Blackmore style is based on his classical training, but pulls from elements of jazz, classical, blues, baroque and hard rock. He claims the classical training showed him how to properly utilize all four fingers. His vibrato-bar technique was inspired by Jimi Hendrix and the guitarist in the James Colton Blues Band. The violin or cello sounds heard in some of his solos are caused by controlling volume knobs while picking the note.

From his classical roots he has developed his exotic "snake charmer" scale, which is a variation of the "Hungarian Minor" scales. His solos also feature the use of a pentatonic minor runs with some dabbling of Dorian modes, scalar descents on a single string (derived from Middle Eastern Bozouki players), and ascending/descending arpeggios for a Bach feel. He frequently uses open string pedal tones to create eerie tones and open string for lightning fast finger changes during solos. Many of the songs in the Deep Purple are written in the key of F# and Dm.

His early musical influences were Big Jim Sullivan, Duane Eddy, Buddy Holly and Hank Marvin. Big Jim was one of the most touted session guitarist in England during the sixties. While growing up Ritchie lived down the block from Big Jim and later received guitar instruction from him. At the urging of Ritchie's Father, he listened to Les Paul and Chet Atkins during his late teens. Ritchie's favorite composer is J. S. Bach and he enjoys medieval, Renaissance and chamber music. In recent years Indian music has crept into listening room. One of his favorite rock bands is Jethro Tull.

Back
Previous

Back to Players Page

Next