“Scarily brilliant”: The one guitarist that turns David Gilmour into a pathetic fan
David Gilmour has achieved everything there is to accomplish in the music business. There aren’t many drawbacks to being at the top, but it can make some take their position for granted for so long means they forget what made them love music in the first place.
Gilmour didn’t just wake up one day with an inexplicable technical proficiency; he ensured that his life revolved around improving inch by inch every day and emulating his heroes. Eventually, he reached a point where it was his immense talents that were filling young, aspiring guitarists with a sense of awe and amazement in equal measure.
An early important moment for Gilmour as a guitarist came when he was exposed to artists like Bill Haley and the Everly Brothers, who got him hooked on rock ‘n’ roll.
Although academically capable, music was all he ever wanted to do with his life. Upon finishing school, Gilmour, who had already played in bands by this stage, tried his hand at forging a career and, unconventionally, descended to France with two friends. While it didn’t directly lead to a path paved with gold, it made him step up his game.
Then, upon returning to the United Kingdom, the stars aligned, and Gilmour joined Pink Floyd, whom he’d known for many years. Around this same stage, Gilmour was first introduced to the otherworldly sounds of Jeff Beck, who was playing in The Yardbirds, and he was immediately transfixed. To this day, Beck represents the pinnacle in the trusted opinion of Gilmour, a figure that is hard to argue against.
For Gilmour, there are two main reasons why Beck existed in a league of his own. First is the immense range that Beck boasted of in his arsenal, but also the forward-thinking approach that he took throughout his career was another attribute that was respected by Gilmour for. Beck always kept one foot forward, taking flight on adventurous projects which would expand his horizons, a personality trait that also exists within the psyche of Gilmour.
During an interview with Guitar World in 2015, Gilmour gushingly said of his peer: “I’m sort of horribly, pathetically fannish about Jeff. Ever since ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’ came out [in 1967] when I was 20-odd years old, I’ve revered him and his playing. In many ways, he is just the best guitar player. And 40-something years since he came to prominence in the Yardbirds, he is still the only person pushing forward in that way. He’s never retreading old ground; he’s always looking for a new challenge.”
He continued: “Jeff’s scarily brilliant. He’s a tightrope walker. I’m not. I like to cover all my bases and make myself secure with a great band, with the music all rehearsed. I just walk out there, and if I didn’t even play anything it would still sound great. Jeff’s different. He’s out there mining that seam.”
Although Gilmour had rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names that have ever graced the game, which makes one desensitised to fame or starstruck, his respect and admiration for Beck was never diluted. In fact, the opposite occurred, and the level of affection only grew as Beck continued to tread new ground.
Beck, who departed the world in 2023 after a short illness, knew how much he meant to Gilmour, too. The Pink Floyd guitarist had the immense honour of sharing a stage with his hero at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2009 to perform ‘Silver Lining’, and also ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’, the song responsible for sparking his life-changing obsession with Beck.
