David Gilmour may have written two iconic guitar solos for Comfortably Numb, but when it comes to playing it live, he says he’s “never learned” one of them.
His comments relate to the track's second showing. It's near-faultless on the record. But, like a true artist, Gilmour isn’t one for repeating things robotically. Instead, his approach is far more intuitive – he plays what he feels on the night.
“I'm not thinking about the audience and what they want, to be honest,” he admits to Rick Beato (via Guitar Player). “I just like it starting the way it starts, and the rest of it is so ingrained in me that the various parts of it are going to find their way into what I'm doing.
“But I've never learned it. Yeah, I've never learned that guitar solo.”
This is a stylistic decision that Gilmour has decided to take. It might not go down well with all Pink Floyd fans, but as far as the guitarist is concerned, there will be a large faction of fans who would prefer a more natural display of his soloing skills.
“I mean, there are a lot of guys who can play that. But I don't play it,” he laughs. “It's different every time. Why would I want to do it the same? Would it be more popular with the people listening if I did it exactly like the record? Or do they prefer that I just wander off into whatever feels like the right thing at the time? I don't know.
“I suspect they like they prefer it to be real, and to be happening, you know?”
Indeed, Gilmour, who confessed that he prefers a “vocal” style of lead playing due to the fact that he can’t shred, has always been feel over firepower. But that’s not to say what he plays each night is completely removed from the version that starred on 1979’s epic concept record, The Wall.
“There are cues within it, which I use to tell the band, 'We're going to end,' or, ‘We're going to do this,’” he explains. “And so, they crop up as being the same every time, pretty much.”
Granted, it’s Comfortably Numb’s first solo that gets most of the plaudits, which gives Gilmour more room to maneuver second time around.
Back in October, Gilmour handled the track’s lead lines while simultaneously battling his Jimi Hendrix guitar strap, which broke mid-solo.
Elsewhere, Gilmour has addressed what it was like the first time he saw Jimi Hendrix play, and what happened when one of his Animals' solos got erased forever.
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