Enjoy laughing at young Drew

[DrewJD82]

Yup. I want that Pompeii concert playing when they fire up my bones and flesh in the crematorium.

Taste, touch, and tone in spades. It's a masterclass not only in Gilmour's playing, but also in band/group
dynamics and interplay.

There was a lot wrong about the decade and an half or so of guitar pyrotechnics. It turned music into an
athletic performance as much as a musical experience. No wonder it appealed to mostly young males.
It's cool the envelope was pushed in that way, but it also kind of became its own worst enemy until it
fell off a cliff from its own hubris.

I'll always be convinced that musicianship is an entirely different skill set that was often lost in the shuffle of
outdoing what came before.

That’s a fair statement, I believe. There’s really never been any middle ground for technical playing, it’s really been an either/or thing as long as I’ve been playing guitar. The guys who are focused on the really technical stuff tend to stay focused on it and the guys who want to do the boomer bends thing are fine in that lane and the discussion around it has pretty much always been a “This or that, there’s no in between”. It was like things were building up towards technical proficiency in the mid-late 70’s with the prog rock bands, but once the 80‘s got a hold of it they just took it too far and turned many people off from it.

Personally, I’m happy staying in the ‘Jerry Cantrell watched Petrucci’s Rock Discipline once“ lane.

 

[JT]

Yup. I want that Pompeii concert playing when they fire up my bones and flesh in the crematorium.

Taste, touch, and tone in spades. It's a masterclass not only in Gilmour's playing, but also in band/group
dynamics and interplay.

There was a lot wrong about the decade and an half or so of guitar pyrotechnics. It turned music into an
athletic performance as much as a musical experience. No wonder it appealed to mostly young males.
It's cool the envelope was pushed in that way, but it also kind of became its own worst enemy until it
fell off a cliff from its own hubris.

I'll always be convinced that musicianship is an entirely different skill set that was often lost in the shuffle of
outdoing what came before.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the era and the level the stakes were raised to. I just hated not being at that level myself

 

[DrewJD82]

Haha! Did you also own a stage fan or 3??

Hahahah no, but only because I was out of my Vai phase when he started using one. I GUARANTEE I’d have had one if I were still a Vai nerd when he started using it. Without a doubt!

 

[la szum]

That’s a fair statement, I believe. There’s really never been any middle ground for technical playing, it’s really been an either/or thing as long as I’ve been playing guitar. The guys who are focused on the really technical stuff tend to stay focused on it and the guys who want to do the boomer bends thing are fine in that lane and the discussion around it has pretty much always been a “This or that, there’s no in between”. It was like things were building up towards technical proficiency in the mid-late 70’s with the prog rock bands, but once the 80‘s got a hold of it they just took it too far and turned many people off from it.

Personally, I’m happy staying in the ‘Jerry Cantrell watched Petrucci’s Rock Discipline once“ lane.

It's funny to me, because there is a tremendous amount of "technique" in what Gilmour does.
His ear and pitch and sense of intonation is amazing, and someone more in the weedly-weedly
camp may not have that same sense of refined touch. Fuck! Bending is not easy, man, and guys
chucking out stereotypes about it overlook that fact.

I've heard enough off pitch bending and vibrato in person to last me a lifetime.

And I bet someone like Gilmour still thinks his touch is not perfected.

 

[la szum]

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the era and the level the stakes were raised to. I just hated not being at that level myself

Peer pressure is a total motherfucker! I get it. I thought that's what I should do, or needed to do. I fucked
myself up trying to get there. I am glad I did. Because it taught me a lot of other things.

Besides, by the time I would have ever arrived, if I ever arrived, the party would have been over!!

 

[JT]

Peer pressure is a total m*****f****r! I get it. I thought that's what I should do, or needed to do. I f****d
myself up trying to get there. I am glad I did. Because it taught me a lot of other things.

Besides, by the time I would have ever arrived, if I ever arrived, the party would have been over!!

For me; I got to a certain plateau. Had a few good teachers. They were all great players but always saw different musical things for me than I wanted to.

One guy was local shredder; killer player. But looked at everyone else around me and how they were all "lead players" and his pride was reflected in his work with them and not showing me another Slayer song he hated. The guy before him was a Yes and Rush and overall prog nut. He told me I should play bass. He wasn't insulting me; I think he could just see my mind working and see I had some excellent rhythmic potential (mainly because I was a speed metal nut).

I have times where I feel like that might have been a good move for me but for better worse I kept playing guitar.

 

[DrewJD82]

It's funny to me, because there is a tremendous amount of "technique" in what Gilmour does.
His ear and pitch and sense of intonation is amazing, and someone more in the weedly-weedly
camp may not have that same sense of refined touch. f**k! Bending is not easy, man, and guys
chucking out stereotypes about it overlook that fact.

I've heard enough off pitch bending and vibrato in person to last me a lifetime.

And I bet someone like Gilmour still thinks his touch is not perfected.

What always blows me away the most when I actually sit down and learn Gilmour stuff is he’ll do some cascade of notes and you think he’s moving all the way down the f*cking scale only to realize he’s repeating about half the notes several times. I’m not sure anyone has a better handle on that blues lick where you bend the G-string up to match the pitch of the B-string fretted note and either go to the E-string or pick the next note in the scale on the B-string, than Gilmour does, but he uses that lick in every single solo and it never sounds overplayed or like it’s a crutch. Or all the licks in the intro of Shine On; same deal, he’s repeating most of the notes before a phrase is over but it never sounds that way.

And it’s so f*cking clean.

When I first got my AxeFX it had been about 15 years since I played any Floyd songs at all, man, I felt so f*cking naked when I went to play them again. Aside from just not remembering how the solos on PULSE went, without any of the tricks I’d picked up in those years, I was lost. No whammy bar stuff, no 3-note-per-string runs, no arpeggios, none of the stuff I regularly rely on. That in itself is what spurred the reinvigoration for my Gilmour fanaticism.

I had to throw away all the sh*t I’d been trying to put into my playing and strip it back to play anything remotely close to what he was doing. It was a big part of the reason I wanted a Strat again, I just felt doing that stuff on my JEM wasn’t going to work because of the way I think of that guitar, I just want to go nuts on it, not restrain myself. I still think that even after getting a couple Strats.

 

[JT]

What always blows me away the most when I actually sit down and learn Gilmour stuff is he’ll do some cascade of notes and you think he’s moving all the way down the f*cking scale only to realize he’s repeating about half the notes several times. I’m not sure anyone has a better handle on that blues lick where you bend the G-string up to match the pitch of the B-string fretted note and either go to the E-string or pick the next note in the scale on the B-string, than Gilmour does, but he uses that lick in every single solo and it never sounds overplayed or like it’s a crutch. Or all the licks in the intro of Shine On; same deal, he’s repeating most of the notes before a phrase is over but it never sounds that way.

And it’s so f*cking clean.

When I first got my AxeFX it had been about 15 years since I played any Floyd songs at all, man, I felt so f*cking naked when I went to play them again. Aside from just not remembering how the solos on PULSE went, without any of the tricks I’d picked up in those years, I was lost. No whammy bar stuff, no 3-note-per-string runs, no arpeggios, none of the stuff I regularly rely on. That in itself is what spurred the reinvigoration for my Gilmour fanaticism.

I had to throw away all the sh*t I’d been trying to put into my playing and strip it back to play anything remotely close to what he was doing. It was a big part of the reason I wanted a Strat again, I just felt doing that stuff on my JEM wasn’t going to work because of the way I think of that guitar, I just want to go nuts on it, not restrain myself. I still think that even after getting a couple Strats.

Man; that red strat of his

 

[DrewJD82]

Man; that red strat of his

This was about 15 seconds after I touched it, which explains the doofy ass look on my face. I’ve got some words for/about my ex-wife, but that’s one thing I’ll always be thankful for; it was at her insistence that I did it. “You know you’re not going to be happy when you leave here if you don’t touch it. I’ll watch the curator and I’ll nudge your foot when he turns around”

I left a little fingerprint right under the bridge. It seems silly, but touching that guitar was a highlight of my life. The idea of it just seemed so far out of reach my entire life and it was THAT particular guitar that made me want to play, next to his playing. The non-guitar player in me thought it looked so damn cool and futuristic.

 

[la szum]

For me; I got to a certain plateau. Had a few good teachers. They were all great players but always saw different musical things for me than I wanted to.

One guy was local shredder; killer player. But looked at everyone else around me and how they were all "lead players" and his pride was reflected in his work with them and not showing me another Slayer song he hated. The guy before him was a Yes and Rush and overall prog nut. He told me I should play bass. He wasn't insulting me; I think he could just see my mind working and see I had some excellent rhythmic potential (mainly because I was a speed metal nut).

I have times where I feel like that might have been a good move for me but for better worse I kept playing guitar.

Fuck them!

I think a "teacher" who can't see beyond what he or she wants for a "student" is not a "teacher" at all.

 

[la szum]

View attachment 4315

This was about 15 seconds after I touched it, which explains the doofy ass look on my face. I’ve got some words for/about my ex-wife, but that’s one thing I’ll always be thankful for; it was at her insistence that I did it. “You know you’re not going to be happy when you leave here if you don’t touch it. I’ll watch the curator and I’ll nudge your foot when he turns around”

I left a little fingerprint right under the bridge. It seems silly, but touching that guitar was a highlight of my life. The idea of it just seemed so far out of reach my entire life and it was THAT particular guitar that made me want to play, next to his playing. The non-guitar player in me thought it looked so damn cool and futuristic.

Doooooooooooooooooood!!!

 

[DrewJD82]

Here, have some closeups-

 

[JT]

Thats totally awesome. Watching this Pulse vid bit by bit again is super inspiring.

This other player on the Pulse vid with the Aztec Gold (Inca silver?) Emg loaded guitar is a great player too. His tone on that little outro melody if Learning to Fly is something else!

 

[DrewJD82]

Thats totally awesome. Watching this Pulse vid bit by bit again is super inspiring.

This other player on the Pulse vid with the Aztec Gold (Inca silver?) Emg loaded guitar is a great player too. His tone on that little outro melody if Learning to Fly is something else!

Tim Renwick and yeah, it’s an Inca Silver Deluxe Strat Plus. The only reason I know that is because he auctioned it on ebay a few years back. He’s actually using Gilmour’s touring pedalboard from the Animal’s tour on the PULSE dvd, his first Cornish board.

That thing must weigh at least 100lbs. Pete makes those out of wood.

 

[JT]

Tim Renwick and yeah, it’s an Inca Silver Deluxe Strat Plus. The only reason I know that is because he auctioned it on ebay a few years back. He’s actually using Gilmour’s touring pedalboard from the Animal’s tour on the PULSE dvd, his first Cornish board.

View attachment 4325

That thing must weigh at least 100lbs. Pete makes those out of wood.

I'd be lying if I said all this late era Floyd exposure isn't giving me strat GAS

 

[la szum]

I had a CAR Fender Classic 50's Strat I put the DG20 setup in. Such a great guitar,
but we were leaning more modern rock and I needed something with more Oomph
and that would take drop tuning better. If I had the means I had now I would still
have that guitar.

I watched that Gilmour and Friends concert they did at The Royal Albert Hall, and
every time he strapped on his CAR Strat I damn near cried.

 

[JT]

^That is SUBLIME

 

[la szum]

I sometimes think the fact that he grew up playing the Saxophone (and is a singer!) really influenced
how he plays and approaches the guitar. It's just another lyrical voice for him.

Then the bastard plops down on the steel guitar and blows the last shred of mind I had left!

 

[JT]

I sometimes think the fact that he grew up playing the Saxophone (and is a singer!) really influenced
how he plays and approaches the guitar. It's just another lyrical voice for him.

Then the bastard plops down on the steel guitar and blows the last shred of mind I had left!

Stupid over-talented asshole!

 

[DrewJD82]

I sometimes think the fact that he grew up playing the Saxophone (and is a singer!) really influenced
how he plays and approaches the guitar. It's just another lyrical voice for him.

Then the bastard plops down on the steel guitar and blows the last shred of mind I had left!

He actually didn’t start playing saxophone until after Floyd’s last tour, he hadn’t been playing it very long by the time he did On An Island. It was a topic in most of the interviews around that album’s release, he said he wanted to see if his melodic sense would carry over. Fair to say that yes, it does!

That’s another thing I need to add to my collection, a lap steel. ”One Of These Days” is pretty f*cking metal in my book, but I want to write something that’s really heavy on a lap steel.