Gary Hoey
Ho Ho Hoey!

Gary Hoey has enjoyed a well-respected guitar career and is a verified guitar hero. Gary has a collection of 21 albums and five top 20 Billboard hits being listed in the top 100 greatest guitar players of all time. A lot of us remember his 1993 break through remake of “Hocus Pocus” on Warner Bros Records, which landed him a top 5 position on the Billboards charts. The Boston raised guitarist followed up with the soundtrack to the surf saga, Endless Summer II. He went on to release his popular Ho! Ho! Hoey Christmas series. Now in 2025 he recorded a new installment entitled, Ho Ho Hoey Christmas Time Is Here. Gary has played with the best of them: Brian May (Queen), Ted Nugent, Foreigner, Joe Satriani, The Doobie Brothers, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, Peter Frampton, Rick Derringer and Deep Purple.
Gary always is my top choice when I am putting together the Heavy Friends series as, Guitars for Wounded Warriors, Orlando In Heaven, Band of Brothers, etc. We also collaborated on the classic Jeff Beck remake “El Becko,” featured on the Jeff Beck Tribute with the same title years ago. His phrasing of the melody and solo trade offs with me was a marriage made in shred-heaven!

BTQ: What is your typical set up during recording, guitar, amp, pedals, etc?

Gary: I play Fender Strats. My two main guitars for recording are my Blue Strat with the lefty neck. It has two humbuckers. Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and a 59’ in the neck and an ebony fretboard and a quilted maple top. I had a lefty neck put in because I thought it looked cool like Hendrix, but I found out the bass strings are longer on a lefty, so you get this fat tone. I string with GHS, 10 through 50. It’s a 10 set with bigger bass strings. I tune to E flat. Also, my FLAG Strat I use for many solos and bluesy tracks. Master builder, Jon Cruz Fender Custom Shop, built it. It has a mini-Seymour JB humbucker in the bridge and Texas specials. It’s a 1960 Relic.

My main amp is the EVH 5150III. It’s an amazing 3-channel amp. Many people don’t know how amazing it is. I also used the Peavey Triple XXX, Diezel and a Marshall. For some of the heavier tones I lay down 8 rhythm tracks. One sound would be bassier, and one more mid range and when you combine it, it’s huge. You have to play super tight and mix the levels carefully just sneaking in a tone.

BTQ: Take us through your recording process and gear.

Gary: I use a few pedals. My signature pedal Skull Crusher by HomeBrew Electronics has a gain boost with a fat compression and not a lot of crunch. I also use the Power Screamer by HBE, the Rocktron Metal Planet and the Austin Distortion. Dunlop Crybaby, Rocktron Cyborg delay in the loop of the amp.

I microphone my amps, usually improvising all the solos and do a few comps. I would play several takes and then comp the best parts to make a good solo. Pretty standard these days.

I usually record the guitars with one Shure SM57. The best guitar mic hands down. I place it slightly off center and position close to the grill cloth. I don’t use far ambient mics. I think it’s better to add reverb if you want later. I always mix the rhythm guitars bone dry and in your face. And never record with any delay or reverb. Once you add it you’re stuck with it. I run it through a chain of Groove Tubes Mic Pre and EQ. Very little compression.

BTQ: What first attracted you to being a guitar instrumentalist?

Gary: The first attraction I had to instrumental guitar was through Jeff Beck and Al Di Meola. So, I would study Blow By Blow by Jeff and Elegant Gypsy by Al Di Meola. Then Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson showed that you could make it commercially viable. When I signed to Warner Bros Records in 1992, we released Heavy Bones (out-of-print, eBay only) and when the band got crushed by Nirvana, I went instrumental. I worked with Richie Zito on Heavy Bones. Richie had produced Cheap Trick, The Cult and many other great albums. What he taught me was to have many amps and guitars, because changing an amp for different tempos and keys can make all the difference.

BTQ: Do you have a favorite can’t-live-without guitar processor/effects that you used on your scores?

Gary: Rocktron Prophesy II Pre-Amp and the Fender Cyber-Twin SE. Great amps.

BTQ: Anything you’d like to add, any guitar recording tips or advice?

Gary: My advice is to try different things. Happy accidents I call them. You can fall into the best things by goofing around. I worked for 3 months with Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, Cars, Journey, etc) and he showed me to try anything, push the envelope. And bend down listen to what’s coming out of the speaker. Many guitar players get their tone and don’t bend to hear what’s coming out. Moving the mic one inch can make it great. Also, I use the playlist feature on ProTools, do a bunch of takes and later go through and comp the best. When I produce singers, I let them sing all the way through to get a performance. I don’t stop them every time they mess up. Keep the flow. Most importantly, have fun and do what you love. Good Luck!

Conclusion:

Through the years I have worked in the studio with Gary on many projects. I recently saw him perform with his band at Heidi’s Jazz club in Cocoa Beach promoting his new album Ho Ho Hoey: Christmas Time Is Here. The album was mixed by legendary engineer Max Norman (Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Lita Ford). It features electrifying renditions of timeless favorites like, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and the Jackson 5 remake “Up on the Rooftop,” along with the Vince Guaraldi title track “Christmas Time Is Here.” Who can forget “A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)”? The album also features the Grammy-nominated Latin violinist, Jesús Florido. What struck me about the live performance at Heidi’s was the band’s sound, tight and crisp. A lost art these days with live music. But also, Gary’s son Ian Hoey was a fabulous guitarist! Both Gary and Ian would do wonderfully tasteful guitar harmony motifs through the songs. Gary even let junior take center stage and shred heated solos.

It was such a pleasure to see Gary after all these years reminding me that he is such a genuine person. In fact, we just worked together in the studio on a new track called “Out of the Ashes” along with Kansas violinist Joe Deninzon. It will be part of the album, Tyranny of Tone, featuring Joe Satriani, Gus G (Ozzy) and many other guitar icons. The album will be released in 2026 to benefit the California Fire Foundation, dedicated to the victims of the 2025 devasting fires in L.A.