“I realised that I’m actually not very good at playing the guitar”: Noel Gallagher on why he opted to write his own songs early on rather than learn other people’s
“From quite early on, I started to do my own thing really. I wouldn’t call it songwriting.”
Image: Gus Stewart / Getty
Noel Gallagher has shared that he learned the guitar by making up his own songs because he felt he wasn’t “very good at playing other people’s songs”.
The Oasis Brit-pop rocker has chatted to Gibson for as part of a series of interviews for its Icons series, where he reminisced on his early guitar journey.
Over the last year the Gibson brand has put out two signature Noel Gallagher models, these being his Epiphone Riviera and the much more pricey Gibson Noel Gallagher 1960 ES-355.
In the video, which is now on YouTube, Gallagher reflects, “I realised that I’m actually not very good at playing the guitar – so one of my first thoughts was, ‘I’m not very good at playing other people’s songs.’
“From quite early on, I started to do my own thing really. I wouldn’t call it songwriting. I started to do my own thing. All of it sounded like House of the Rising Sun, with the [chords] in a different order.”
He continues: “I was thinking about this today, I was thinking, it was quite an early thought. It’s like, ‘I’m not interested in other people’s songs, because I’m not that good at it. I haven’t got the patience. I’ll do my own. That’ll be easier’. So that was quite an early decision to set off on my own path, really.”
Watch the full, hour-long Icons episode with Gallagher below:
Elsewhere in the interview, Gallagher comically admitted that prior to his first gig with Oasis, he’d never played guitar standing up. This of course led to a very stressful stage debut: “We were doing one song of mine, which was Columbia, but it was instrumental,” he says.
“We’ve got a gig on Tuesday, and it suddenly dawns on me that I’ve never played guitar standing up. Not only that, I don’t own a fucking strap. This is Sunday night. And I’m skint. Never played guitar standing up,” he confesses.
“That seems [like a] preposterous fucking notion now. But I can only tell you that the Monday was probably the most stressful fucking day of my entire life.”
Noel Gallagher will embark on a UK tour this December following the release of the Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds album Council Skies, which landed last June. Find out more on his website.
Rachel began writing for Guitar.com in 2021 while finishing up her degree. A proud DIY guitarist, she has been playing for over 10 years and has written for the likes of Kerrang!, The Forty-Five, and MusicTech. An enjoyer of all things heavy, you’ll find her at a festival or downtuning her guitars when away from her desk.