It's a magical thing, the guitar. It allows you to be the whole band in one, to play rhythm and melody, sing over the top. And as an instrument for solos, you can bend notes, draw emotional content out of tiny movements, vibratos and tonal things which even a piano can't do.
David Gilmour
I think a guitar solo is how my emotion is most freely released, because verbal articulation isn't my strongest communication strength. My wife thinks that I should do interviews by listening to the questions and playing the answer on guitar.
'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' and 'Wish You Were Here' are standout tracks. 'Comfortably Numb' is another one. 'High Hopes' from 'The Division Bell' is one of my favorite all-time Pink Floyd tracks. 'The Great Gig in the Sky,' 'Echoes,' there's lot of them.
It's a very tempting thing to try and relive your glory days when you get a little older and you worry that people have forgotten all about you.
I've never had any religion. I'd prefer it if I did, really. Even as a boy I just couldn't make myself believe.
I don't like to get too specific about lyrics. It places limitations on them, and spoils the listeners' interpretation.
I am a lover of all sorts of different music. I love blues and every piece of music that I have listened to has become an influence.
Yes, there's a lot of the blues in my playing.
Everything in moderation - that's what I live by.
I mean, I have moments of huge frustration because of my inability to express myself linguistically as clearly as I would like to.
I don't want to be a full-time member of Pink Floyd all my life.
I think I could walk into any music shop anywhere and with a guitar off the rack, a couple of basic pedals and an amp I could sound just like me. There's no devices, customized or otherwise, that give me my sound.
I was never particularly gregarious. I was quite shy, closed in. It's a classic isn't it, your psychiatrist will tell you, that's how I release it, through music.
If people would like to come to my concerts I'd love them to come. And if they like the music that I make, I love that too. But I do not make music for other people. I make it to please myself.
I just play intuitively and work the same way in the studio. I don't have any magical effects or anything that helps me to get my particular sound.
No-one can replace Richard Wright - he was my musical partner and my friend.
I love singing. I have spent as much of my life trying to improve my singing as I have practising guitar.
I actually learned the guitar with the help of a Pete Seeger instructional record when I was 13 or 14.
The expectation on me as a solo artist is very different to the audience's expectation of a Pink Floyd show.
Usually, in the studio, on this sort of thing... you just go out and have a play over it, and see what comes, and it's usually - mostly - the first take that's the best one, and you find yourself repeating yourself thereafter.
I don't have a very disciplined approach to practicing or anything, but I do tend to have a guitar around most of the time, which I strum on most of the day.
I don't even think whether I play the blues or not, I just play whatever feels right at the moment. I also will use any gadget or device that I find that helps me achieve the sort of sound on the guitar that I want to get.
Well, I am David Gilmour, the voice and guitar of Pink Floyd. I have been since I was 21.
When you realize that you have a little germ of an idea that has - I suppose I can only say, has to me - a little taste of magic to it. You have this idea that there are millions, literally, of people listening to it at the same time as you and that little strange telepathy of a feeling that you're sharing something live with all those people.
I can't help other people's frustrations. I don't owe people anything. If people would like to come to my concerts, I'd love them to come. And if they like the music that I make, I love that, too. But I do not make music for other people. I make it to please myself.
