Happy 2026, y'all. Let's start off this year with a banging episode featuring Eric.

Gales. That's right, he's plugging in, and it's brought to you today by

guitarplayer.com. That's Grand Central Station for all things guitar. Guitar Player.com. Play better. Sound better.

What is up? I am still Jude Gold. And it's 11 and a half years now that we've been doing this show.

This is episode 192 and what a great way to start off 2026. Let me tell you, I still cannot turn down

a great guitar adventure. And when I had the chance to fill that copter up and fly across the country,

so to speak, from L.A. to Greensboro, North Carolina to Earth Tone Studios. They're a great place.

Run by Benji Johnson. Can't recommend it enough.

To interview and hang and go deep with Eric Gales. Well, I could not turn it down. I mean,

having some airline status does not hurt. But still, I had to do it because I've been around

Eric before, played the Rock Legends

Cruise with him.

That is to say, I watched him rock the other stages over the course of that trip, and, you know,

he's just a volcano of great guitar playing, running off the stage, running into the crowd,

but just blazing in such a deep groove and just such fire and lava in his playing. In fact, I got to jam with him

and three other guitar players, including Gary Hoey at Gary's All-Star Jam on the boat. But we

didn't really connect afterwards. It was just a crazy jam up there. So we connect today and we go deep.

And there's one moment in fact where Eric, you know, he's been open about what he is often

described as his redemption or his resurrection or his second chance and his second career

after he went through some dark days and he talks about him today and he tells a very intense

guitar story and it gets pretty emotional for a second.

It's the end of the interview, you know, last 10 minutes for sure, just before our final jam. And I can't thank Eric enough for being the

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