Gilmour...

Cirrus

Loobs said:

dazzajl said:

Also, I would say that Waters is a lyrical genius. 

Breathe, breathe in the air. Don't be afraid to care. 

Hardly Leonard Cohen, was he? 

But I hear him coughing, all night long.


Lyrics devoid of context are shit.

english_bob

Cirrus said:

Loobs said:

dazzajl said:

Also, I would say that Waters is a lyrical genius. 

Breathe, breathe in the air. Don't be afraid to care. 

Hardly Leonard Cohen, was he? 

But I hear him coughing, all night long.


Lyrics devoid of context are shit.

Some lyrics are shit *in* context. 

But you're not wrong- that's how they should be judged.

p90fool

Does nothing for me I'm afraid, in fact as a guitar obsessive and rock fan in the 1970s I was barely aware of Pink Floyd as a guitar band at all, other than for the odd bit of Hillage-style dreamy noodling. 

I'm sure if I listened to it properly I'd find some value in it, but it always seemed kind of obvious and inoffensive to me in guitar terms, sort of "synth pad, cymbal wash, minor key, try not to stand out too much" sort of playing. 

Teetonetal

dazzajl said:

Also, I would say that Waters is a lyrical genius. You can't write Floyd songs without Roger and you can't perform them without Gilmour. Post Sid era of course. 

Given that the band Waters has been touring with of late is nothing short of exceptional, I am not sure that the second half is true.

Gassage

When discussing Gilmour's writing, five of my favourite PF songs are High Hopes, On the Turning, Great Day For Freedom, Sorrow and Coming Back to Life

earwighoney

SPECTRUM001 said:

Back to Gilmour though. 

If he is "vastly over-rated", then....errrr....

He is one of the finest prospects in the Chelsea youth team. 

If anything he is under rated.

Should get more game time under Tuchel.

absolutpepper

I'll put Gilmour in the genius camp IMHO.  Sure on a technical level he isnt a Vai or a satriani but his sense of melody is pretty exceptional and his lyrical tone, his feel and his touch really gives his guitar a voice.  I struggle to think of many floyd songs where his parts appear incongruous.  His solos are more often than not a perfect fit for their music.  Im often drawn more to lead playing where its not about what notes, how many and how fast you can play and more about how it serves the song.  Gilmour is a master at that.  I also agree that some of his best songs are post Waters' era floyd (see Gassage above), even if he's not a gifted lyricist (which he's not and makes no bones about it being the case).

dazzajl

Teetonetal said:

dazzajl said:

Also, I would say that Waters is a lyrical genius. You can't write Floyd songs without Roger and you can't perform them without Gilmour. Post Sid era of course. 

Given that the band Waters has been touring with of late is nothing short of exceptional, I am not sure that the second half is true.

I've just double checked, it is

More seriously, that's actually kind of my point. You can assemble a band of the very finest musicians but you can't recreate the essence of what Gilmour brings to the performance of those songs. Conversely, I think that Gilmour's current touring band have performed the definitive versions of The Great Gig In The Sky, Shine On and Comfortably Numb.

Without Waters and Wright those songs would never have existed but without Gilmour, they don't come alive at all. Roger is doing quite well though, so luckily my opinion really isn't too important here.

Logie

His solo's are like songs within songs to me. I don't really care how high up the technical ability charts he is.

His music post Roger Waters era Floyd does nothing for me but taking him just as a guitar player I could listen to his solo's on a loop all day.

It would be hard to name a guitarist in the modern era who wouldn't appear to be technically better than Gilmour but he'll do for me.

Gassage

Teetonetal said:

dazzajl said:

Also, I would say that Waters is a lyrical genius. You can't write Floyd songs without Roger and you can't perform them without Gilmour. Post Sid era of course. 

Given that the band Waters has been touring with of late is nothing short of exceptional, I am not sure that the second half is true.

Joey Waronker was absolutely mind blowing as a drummer on that last tour

AlexC

Bottom line is - it's downto personal taste is all. If you love speed metal or country chicken pickin' then chances are you don't 'rate' Gilmour. I see people, inevitably on ths forum, are mentiong Vai and Satriani and I just don't 'get' them at all. Just sounds like technical exercises to me. However...

And the term 'overrated': quantify. Rated by whom? (and this applies to anyone.) Rolling Stone magazine? Somebody with a YT channel? Some guitar magazine? People who buy and listen to music? Or people who enjoy playing guitar for a hobby?

Really, this thread is 'do you like David Gilmour as a musician, or not.?' End of.

crunchman

dazzajl said:

Loobs said:

dazzajl said:

Also, I would say that Waters is a lyrical genius. 

Breathe, breathe in the air. Don't be afraid to care. 

Hardly Leonard Cohen, was he? 

I didn't say every word was perfect. For that, there is only Paul Simon.

I'm really not a Waters fan, he comes across as a big headed and petulant 6 year old to me but I can't not credit him with some truly great work.

I've not been a huge fan of Waters.  Watching his "The Wall" film on Netflix the other week did give me a better understanding of where he was coming from though.  He is undoubtedly a creative genius, but I wouldn't have wanted to be in a band with him back then.

Gilmour is superb.  I love his playing.  Great playing without great songs doesn't have the same impact though.  Waters was absolutely key to all that classic Floyd stuff.

LastMantra

Gilmour has a very limited "voice". His solos all sound very similar. 

Still awesome though.

downbytheriver

It’s all just taste. 

earwighoney

Gassage said:
Joey Waronker was absolutely mind blowing as a drummer on that last tour

I saw him play in Beck's band many years ago and he was shit hot. That's Devil's Haircut Beck, not Jeff Beck.

Great drummer.

crunchman

LastMantra said:

Gilmour has a very limited "voice". His solos all sound very similar. 

You could say the same about most players though.

To a lot of people, all Vai solos will sound very similar, or all BB King solos at the other end of the scale.

dazzajl

crunchman said:

LastMantra said:

Gilmour has a very limited "voice". His solos all sound very similar. 

You could say the same about most players though.

To a lot of people, all Vai solos will sound very similar, or all BB King solos at the other end of the scale.

BB went to the other end of the scale?? When did this happen?

Loobs

Cirrus said:

Loobs said:

dazzajl said:

Also, I would say that Waters is a lyrical genius. 

Breathe, breathe in the air. Don't be afraid to care. 

Hardly Leonard Cohen, was he? 

But I hear him coughing, all night long.


Lyrics devoid of context are shit.

Tbh, most of Cohen's lyrics stand up pretty well without music, if that's what you mean. 

impmann

Tbh, Gilmour's USP is his ability to play just enough without going into noodle-fest. Playing PF songs isn't *that* hard, but capturing the feel is hard and not overplaying is harder still. Comfy is such a great chord progression to solo over, but 90% of normal guitar players just ruin it with too many notes, cliches and "look at me" playing - and look utter cnuts doing so. With DG, its effortless - I don't think I've ever seen him play a bum note, or miss strike a string etc. Yes, the clinicians will berate the technical ability and sneer at the pentatonics, but honestly nobody does it better - including most of them. 

Genius? Hmmm - I'm not sure I could find an argument *against*. Whether or not you like the music may sway your judgement but in terms of what he's consistently done since the late 60s (and continues to do), I can't argue against it.

And yes, I love his playing.

mid57

Solo or with Floyd so distinctive you know who your listening to straight away, wether that floats your boat or not is down to personal pref not been many that applies to, genuis maybe great one of a kind a yes from me