If you had to guess what David Gilmour’s favorite Pink Floyd solo would be, we wouldn’t fault you for suggesting titles like “Comfortably Numb,” “Another Brick in the Wall, pt. 2,” or “Money.” These guitar features have come to define the overall sound of the British psych-rock band, thanks to Gilmour’s signature squealing highs and boomy, full-bodied low end (thanks to his unique string configuration that features two different gauge sets).
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But when speaking to Guitar Player in 2003, Gilmour offered up a different song that, for some Pink Floyd fans, might have come out of left field.
David Gilmour’s Favorite Pink Floyd Solo
David Gilmour’s solos in Pink Floyd are as integral to the band’s sound as their dystopian lyricism and Roger Waters’ pulsing bass lines. Mostly played on his signature black Stratocaster, Gilmour ushered in countless high moments throughout Pink Floyd’s discography. From the lazy lap steel introduction to “Breathe” from Dark Side of the Moon to the emotional powerhouse that were his multiple solos in “Comfortably Numb,” Gilmour had a skillful way of setting the mood for each Pink Floyd album post-1967.
But out of all these knockout performances, only one truly stands out to Gilmour. Speaking to Guitar Player in 2003, the guitarist said, “There’s a solo on “Dogs” that I thought was pretty good and unusual. It hasn’t entered the pantheon of the ones people seem to like because it’s a slightly different style for me, I suppose. I tracked it with an old Tele, and I was really thrilled with it.”
As is often the case on Pink Floyd songs (particularly ones that hit the double digits in length, like “Dogs”), there are multiple instrumental breaks that allow Gilmour and his electric guitar to shine. “Dogs” features four solos, but Gilmour didn’t clarify which he was referring to in 2003. Guitar Player hypothesizes he meant his third solo due to his use of the word “unusual,” and we’d have to agree. (Although, one could argue that the other solos have their moments, however brief, of oddity. They were Pink Floyd, after all.)
What Makes The Perfect Solo?
David Gilmour referencing the third solo on “Dogs,” the A-side closer to the 1977 album Animals, is not an unreasonable guess. The Pink Floyd guitarist himself called it “unusual,” and that’s certainly an appropriate way to describe this particular guitar feature. Gilmour’s guitar starts with his signature, held-out squeals. Climbing up the neck into almost squeaky territory, Gilmour then shows off the bass-heavy side of his guitar with a fuzzy, quintessentially rock ‘n’ roll tone. Then, before the listener knows it, Gilmour is almost chirping (or, perhaps more fittingly, barking) with his guitar, releasing small bursts of notes that hop on and off the underlying rhythmic groove.
Given what Gilmour has said about solos in the past, it’s unsurprising that he would choose one of his more eccentric features as his favorite. “The great [solos] just come out of thin air,” Gilmour said in a later interview. “They sort of appear as if they are out there in the air. They just sort of appear to you in bits. But I don’t know how they get there. Sometimes, often, you work very hard and struggle over them. Trying to write things for months and months and months and they still aren’t very good at the end.”
Photo by Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns
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