“I love driving people crazy. They come and say, ‘How did you do that? I’ve been working for months trying to get that.’ And I say, ‘It’s just a pedal!’” A guide to untapped guitar playing of David Gilmour’s solo albums

David Gilmour plays guitar onstage at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2015.

When David Gilmour touches a Strat, the result is pure cinema. His distinct touch, both in and out of Pink Floyd, has spawned a shorthand for the soulfully psychedelic – from the four-note phaser motif that echoes into infinity on Shine on You Crazy Diamond to the arena-rumbling blues bends of Comfortably Numb.

But he’s never been a “guitar god” in the virtuoso sense – he’s an expert in atmosphere and dynamics, disinterested in showboat-y shredding and sophisticated scales for the sake of them. (“Well, I can’t really play fast, per se,” he told Guitar World in 1988. “Not like so many players today. I don’t have a very disciplined approach to practicing or anything… Generally, I’m not too ambitious about that sort of thing.”)