David Gilmour is a vocalist and guitarist who was born in Cambridge, England in 1946. He rose to recognition as a member of Pink Floyd. Because of the albums “Dark Side Of The Moon” (1973) and “The Wall” (1979), he aided the band in becoming one of the best-selling acts in music history.
Throughout the years, Gilmour has shared his thoughts on several well-known guitarists, including Eric Clapton. The musician’s comments about Clapton’s guitar playing, technique, and the bands he performed with were chosen by Rock and Roll Garage.
David Gilmour’s opinion on Eric Clapton as a guitarist
David Gilmour is well-known for the emotion he brings to every note he plays on the guitar, and many Blues musicians, such as Eric Clapton, served as inspiration for him. In an interview with Guitar Tricks Insider magazine in 2017, the guitarist for Pink Floyd listed his top five albums of all time. Among them was the 1966 album John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers recorded with Eric Clapton, following the latter’s departure from The Yardbirds and inclusion in the group.
David Gilmour gave the Blues band high marks in a 2015 interview with Relix, saying, “All of those guys were incredible.” I took my time trying to get perfect at their licks. Any young athlete should strive to sit down and accomplish that, in my opinion. You’ll eventually become fairly proficient at playing their material. However, you will ultimately develop your own style from that. It pushes its way through the copying, according to David Gilmour.
It’s interesting to note that several of the tunes on the album were performed by vocalist and bassist Jack Bruce, who would later join Clapton in Cream. John McVie, the bassist who would later co-found Fleetwood Mac, was also featured in it.
Over the years, the ensemble included several guitarists besides its leader, John Mayall, who went on to perform in other significant bands. In addition to Eric Clapton, the group included Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones and Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac.
The guitarist for Pink Floyd said to Guitar World magazine in 1988 that when he was younger, he would sit down and learn a lot of the legendary Blues solos by Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. He said that he had looked over vintage Howlin’ Wolf recordings.
According to David Gilmour, every guitarist should start copying a style when they are young. Clapton was one of the players he copied:
David Gilmour has frequently stated that young people should not worry about developing a style when they are first beginning to play the guitar. Since they ought to start by imitating something that already exists. He mentioned Clapton as one of the guitarists he looked up to in an interview with UNCUT in 2017.
“When you start out, you copy. Trying to be too original when you’re too young is possibly not the best thing. But I learned copying Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix. All sorts of people.”
In 1985, he made the same statement to Guitar Classics magazine. He also mentioned in the chat that younger musicians like Eddie Van Halen and Mark Knopfler had an effect on him.
“Of course, there were many. I was trying to learn 12-string acoustic guitar like Leadbelly. At the same time I was trying to learn lead guitar like Hank Marvin and later Clapton.”
David Gilmour said, “All of those different things had their moments and filtered through my learning process. These days I don’t listen to other people with the objective of trying to steal their licks. Although I’ve got no objections to stealing them if that seems like a good idea. I’m sure that I’m still influenced by Mark Knopfler and Eddie Van Halen as well.”