I'll See Myself Out - Heartbreak For Dummies, The High Noon Cats

Why I Suck... Series 4, Episode 12 - Dave Gilmour!

 As regular readers of this blog (both of them) may recall, back inNovember I posed the question, Have AC/DC Ever Made A Bad Song? And if memory serves, we concluded that, no, they hadn't.. so I'm here to pose a follow up question – Has Dave Gilmour Ever Played A Bad Note? Certainly, I found that while recording “Heartbreak ForDummies”, the best warmup I could do before recording a solo was to spend 10 minutes or so transcribing some of his epic Pink Floyd solos..

Now, before we continue, a spoiler – no, I won't be covering the “Comfortably Numb” first solo. It is undeniably sublime, and an absolute favourite of mine, but I'm planning to give it it's own lesson on a new experimental series for the YouTube Channel.. so another reason (as if one was needed) to go and subscribe!

First, as is customary, a lttle personal history – although given the tangled web of intrigue that surrounds Pink Floyd the band could easily fill a book, I'm not going to be touching on that either. We'll go up to him joining the Floyd and then on with the licks, I invite the reader to do their own research if interested!

Our story begins in Cambridge on March 6 1946 in the immediate aftermath of World War Two and all the attendant privations prevalent across Britatin at that time. Like many British guitar heroes of that time, he quickly became entranced by the glamour of American rock & roll and in 1954 bought his first record, “Rock Around The Clock” by Bill Haley and The Comets. Further inspired by Elvis and the Everly Brothers, he acquired a Pete Seeger book & record kit, borrowed a guitar from a neighbour and never looked back!

Starting secondary school aged 11, Gilmour would meet Syd Barrett and Roger Waters – Pink Floyd's other luminaries – and as their academic careers progressed, Barrett and Gilmour regularly practiced guitar together. Aged 18, in 1962, Gilmour joined his first regularly working band Jokers Wild who built a sizeable local following around Cambridge. They recorded an EP which Gilmour described as “a vanity project. I booked Regend Sound in Denmark Street. We all headed off to London in our van, did five songs, all having absolutely no idea what we were doing. The songs were all covers from our live set Dont Ask Me Why, Thats How Strong My Love, Beautiful Delilah, Why Do Fools Fall In Love, You Don’t Know What I Know. We had 50 five-track albums (RSLP 007) and 50 two-track singles (RSR 0031) made. We had a bit of a following around Cambridge and sold them to friends. Ive still got the original stereo mastertape somewhere in my stores. “ (ref - https://www.pinkfloydz.com/interviews/david-gilmour-record-collector-interview-may-2003/ )

After Jokers Wild went the way of many early bands, Gilmour headed to Europe, describing his time there - “I initially went to Marbella, Spain, for three months in the summer of 66. Then I came back and went to a club in St. Etienne in France. I moved to Paris and did three months residence in a club called the Bilberquay and then spent a period just gigging all over France. “. During this period, Gilmour hooked back up with two former members of Jokers Wild, performing under the name Flowers, but the group had a hard time – club owners frequently refused to pay them and they had their equipment stolen. Despite this, Gilmour was still able to contribute vocals to two tracks recorded for the film “Two Weeks In September” starring Brigitte Bardot – but this didn't help with the band's impoverished status, to the point where they had to push their tour bus off the ferry when they returned to the UK, having completely run out of fuel!

Pink Floyd, meanwhile, featuring Gilmour's previous schoolmates Roger Waters & Syd Barrett along with drummer Nick Mason, were becoming progressively more successful, releasing their debut album “The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn” in 1967 – however, success was taking a toll on Barrett's mental health (a sadly too common occurrence), and as Barrett became increasingly erratic, Gilmour was brought in to replace him. Gilmour recalls the moment as “we were on the way to the gig and someone said, shall we go pick up said? And someone else just said “oh, let's not” “.

And with that, let's start playing some guitar! Before we look at Gilmour's tastiest licks, it's worth noting his signature technique – his absolutely exquisite string bending. He counts his influences as “Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, John Fahey, Roy Buchanan, and Hank Marvin of the Shadows” as well as “all the blues guys” which I'm told includes Albert King (thanks George Groove for that nugget!)

And with potted history thus complete, let's turn our attention to his playing – and we'll begin by looking at Gilmour's signature technique, his absolutely exquisite string bending control. In this first exercise (which we can consider a primer for the licks to follow), I'm demonstrating a variety of bends – first playing the target note and then bending up to pitch, similar to what I demonstrated in the recent FAQ video. For those of you with a floating tremolo, don't be afraid to pull back on the bar to get a bit of additional lift, Gilmour has been known to do this himself so it's not cheating!

OK, so fingers warmed up and hopefully no broken strings – on to the licks!
We'll start with an absolute classic – the opening lick from “Another Brick In The Wall” using the D minor pentatonic. Note the use of doublestops – another Gilmour signature move to help fill up sonic space – and the super wide bend on the 13^th fret B.

The second lick is drawn from the end solo on – of course - “Comfortably Numb”, but this one comes from the “Live In Pompeii” version – although it is present in “Another Brick In The Wall” but in D minor pentatonic as opposed to B minor which we're in here. You can draw a line back to the Magic Three Notes here – even Dave Gilmour bases his style on them!

Staying with “Comfortably Numb” in it's “Live In Pompeii” iteration, here's a high register lick based around position 4 of B minor pentatonic before morphing into a diatonic run down the B natural minor scale and featuring a rare instance of Gilmour using three note per string scale fingerings. Note the sneaky bit of chromaticism on the position shift – Bb over any of the chords in this progression (Bm / A / G Em / Bm) ought to be an absolute HOWLER but Dave makes it work through what I can only assume is sheer force of will!

The final example is taken from the climax to the “Money” guitar solo, again featuring the B minor pentatonic scale but here Gilmour is in position 1 right up at the dusty end of the fretboard, starting at the 19^th fret. There's nothing particularly technical here but really try and make a statement with each note, and ensure that your bends are in tune and the vibrato is smooth and even.

PS - don't forget to keep an eye on the YouTube channel for the demo video...

That concludes this peek at the style of one of the world's greatest guitarists, but I'm left with a question – there is nothing here that a guitarist of intermediate technical ability can't play and indeed Gilmour rarely plays anything quick, rarely goes outside the minor pentatonic... what is it that makes him so great? I can only surmise that it's the care and quality he puts into every note, the perfect grasp of when to play and when not, how to let each phrase breathe... I think that without a doubt, ANY aspiring lead player needs to sit and study Gilmour's solos to grasp just how you can make an immensely powerful impact from a relatively straightforward technical base. Certainly, I've absolutely loved this time studying his playing and have learned a huge amount about that most elusive and intangible of qualities – feel.

Of course, all this goes out the window next month as we tackle Steel Panther's Shred God Extraordinaire, Satchel! See you then, and Happy New Year to you all!