Few players have taken the blues vocabulary and incorporated it into progressive and psychedelic rock with such eloquence. David Gilmour’s tone, note choice and sense of rhythm elevated Pink Floyd – and solos in general – to a different level when he joined the band in 1967. As the era of the epic dawned, David established himself as a soloist few could match, with a strong sense of melody and a knack for creating memorable parts – even in some of the more ‘out there’ freeform jams that were so characteristic of the early Floyd.
From this time up to and including in 1973, there were strong echoes (pun intended) of Jimi Hendrix in David’s Fuzz Face’d ambient solos. onwards, he refined his tones a little more. There was still lots of edge when required, but he developed a more controlled sound, often featuring the latest gadgets as they became available: for example, the MXR Phase 90 features on and .
Though David is famous for his complicated multi-amp rigs and effects racks, he maintains that it’s possible to get the essence of his sound with relatively simple and easily available gear. This may seem hard to believe, but it is certainly true to say that David’s playing would be recognisable whatever he plugged into. The example solo/licks here are inspired by his solos on tracks such as , and .
I’m using the bridge pickup with medium/high gain (not too much, though). David is known for playing at high stage/studio volumes and gets most of his sustain fro.
