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gary dunne

This Laois man taught Ed Sheeran how to use the loop pedal that caused the Glastonbury controversy

Gary Dunne knows Ed Sheeran since his early teens.

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TWELVE YEARS AGO, Ed Sheeran saw a guy called Gary Dunne open for the band Nizlopi (remember the JCB Song?). Gary performed using a loop pedal, which basically blew young Ed Sheeran’s mind.

Gary, who was raised in Portlaoise, had been performing house concerts at the time. So after Ed had been so impressed with his performance opening for Nizlopi in London, Ed Sheeran’s dad got in touch with Gary to play a gig for Ed’s birthday.

Glastonbury Festival 2017 - Day 3 Yui Mok Yui Mok

While at Ed’s house, the pair became friends and Gary showed him exactly how to use the loop pedal (which of course, was instrumental in his career).

 

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Ed fondly remembers this and recently shared the story with BBC:

The reason I use a loop pedal now is cos I saw a guy called Gary Dunne use a loop pedal. I was 14 and I was just blown away. I was like, ‘this in incredible, I need to get one of those pedals’, so I did. I made friends with Gary, he taught me how to use it, and that was the gig that started me off on the whole loop pedal journey.

Gary Dunne is still involved in music (and has been since he was six-years-old). He has performed everywhere from Shepherd’s Bush in London, to songwriter nights in Greenwich Village, to a crowd of 100,000 people in O2 In The Park. Gary’s still happily using his live-looping technique to use improvised backings for his songs.

Physical+EP+shot Gary's most recent release GaryDunne.com GaryDunne.com

Gary spoke to DailyEdge.ie about how dedicated Ed Sheeran has been from the start.

Ed’s drive, talent and hunger for music and learning was evident from day one. It was clear that nothing was going to stop him from getting where he wanted to go.

The pair are still in touch. Here’s a picture of Ed and Gary after Ed’s secret 2014 performance at Ruby Sessions in Dublin.

unnamed (1) Gary Dunne / Twitter Gary Dunne / Twitter / Twitter

Gary’s currently in the middle of writing a new album but he’s got a gig in London on the 30th of July and will also be performing at Electric Picnic if you want to check out the man who greatly influenced Ed Sheeran.

News of this was prompted by widespread confusion at how Ed was performing his music live.

This morning he had to take to Twitter to explain that he loops his music after people suggested he was using a backing track rather than playing live.

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It seems Ed Sheeran isn’t the only person to have his mind blown by looping pedals.

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