11 guitarists that Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour said he likes

David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd in the late 1960s as a support for Syd Barrett but soon became the band’s lead guitarist and vocalist. His unique style and tone were essential to the band’s iconic sound, helping Pink Floyd become one of the best-selling and most influential bands in music history.

Over the years, Gilmour has inspired countless musicians and also shared which guitarists influenced him. Rock and Roll Garage selected 11 guitar players that David Gilmour has praised, along with his thoughts on why he admires them.

11 guitarists that Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour said he likes

Jeff Beck

The first guitarist is the late Jeff Beck, who Gilmour said was his favorite guitar player of all time. “I have lots of favorite guitar players. Probably the person who I have admired the longest and the most consistent is Jeff Beck, in the guitar playing stakes. A lovely guy,” David Gilmour said on his official YouTube channel when asked who was his favorite guitarist.

They were good friends and the Pink Floyd member had the chance to perform with Beck a couple of times over the decades. For example, Gilmour was a special guest at Beck’s concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London back in 2009. On the documentary “Jeff Beck: Still On The Run”, the Progressive Rock guitarist called Beck a “maverick” player. “He is a maverick. A maverick guitar player who doesn’t like to repeat himself. Who takes big risks all the time and has done all the way throughout his career,” David Gilmour said.

He is a big fan of Jeff Beck’s first albums, especially “Blow By Blow”, that he told Guitar Tricks Insider in 2017, that was one of his favorites. The famous record has tracks like “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” and it reached number 4 American Billboard charts. Curiously, when Pink Floyd decided it was necessary to get a new guitar player due to Syd Barrett’s erratic behavior, they had Jeff Beck in mind before inviting Gilmour.

Pink Floyd wanted to hire Jeff Beck

He is aware of that story and talked about it in an interview with French Guitarist magazine back in 2002. (Translated by Rock and Roll Garage): “Yes that’s right. I’m not sure they contacted him. But they considered calling him (Note: Meanwhile, Rick Wright confirmed that there had been contact but Beck seemed too good to go).”

“They always said they would have loved to recruit Jeff. He’s an amazing guitarist. But I don’t know if he would have been perfect for this job. We’ll never know. But the story would have been quite different,” David Gilmour said.

Beck passed away suddenly in 2023 at the age of 78 and Gilmour shared a special message on his social media, saying Jeff was his hero and friend. “I am devastated to hear the news of the death of my friend and hero Jeff Beck, whose music has thrilled and inspired me and countless others for so many years. Polly‘s and my thoughts go out to his lovely wife Sandra. He will be forever in our hearts,” David Gilmour said.

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix is an obvious name in every list of the greatest guitarists of all time and Gilmour is also a big fan of his work. He actually became a fan of the American guitarist long before he was Hendrix, because he first had the chance to see him playing live when Hendrix was still a sideman for other artists.

In an interview with French Guitarist and Bass magazine back in 2009, the guitar player talked about his influences and revealed that it was Jimi Hendrix, who died only a few years after he joined Pink Floyd, which was his major influence. Curiously, the Progressive Rock band was Hendrix‘s opening act during a small tour across England before Gilmour joined them.

He told this story in an interview with BBC’s “Tracks Of My Years” in 2006 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) after revealing “The Wind Cries Mary” was one of the songs he liked the most. “Jimi Hendrix, fantastic. I went to a club in south Kensington in 1966. This kid got on stage with Brian Auger and the Trinity. (He started to play) the guitar with the other way around (upside down) and started playing. Myself and the whole place was with their jaws hanging open.”

David Gilmour continued:

“I went to the next day to record shops. I said ‘You’ve got anything by this guy Jimi Hendrix?’ They said ‘Well, we’ve got a James Hendrix’. He hadn’t yet done anything. So I became rather an avid fan waiting for his first release. Also this is one of his beautiful ballads that I really love,” David Gilmour said.

“A few years later, in 1970, when Hendrix was already a successful act with his band, Gilmour accidentally ended up helping to mix the sound for his show at the Isle of Wight Festival. He happened to be at the festival that day and was asked by a friend to help.

Pete Townshend (The Who)

Gilmour is a good friend and fan of The Who’s guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend. He had the chance to see The Who live in the early days of their career and said that Pete has always been his hero. Pete has always been one of my heroes. When I was very young, I hitchhiked from Cambridge to London to see him play at the Marquee Club. It was the very beginnings of the Who. He is incredible. He rarely plays lead, well, he could very well do …”

“We played back when he had very serious problems with his eardrums. The doctors had recommended him not to play with an amp. So he took an acoustic guitar and hired me to play his usual role. He couldn’t play the loud parts and he gave them to me. He is doing much better today and he went back to electric without problem. So much the better! I can’t imagine Pete without being able to do the mill on his guitar,” David Gilmour told French Guitarist.

He wrote and recorded with Pete

Besides playing together live several times, Gilmour was one of the few musicians who Pete collaborated with. They wrote together two tracks which were part of David’s solo album “About a Face” (1984). He told Mojo that he was “dumbstruck” during the sessions. “We’d done some recording for ‘The Final Cut’ (Pink Floyd album) at the Eel Pie Studios (Owned by Townshend) and Pete had told me he had really liked my first (solo) album.”

“I was dumbstruck, but he said he was having difficulty writing music, but had loads of words. I sent over two or three tracks and he came back with lyrics for ‘Love On The Air’ (Released on the 1984 Gilmour solo album “About Face”), ‘All Lovers Are Deranged’ (Also released on Gilmour’s “About Face” and re-recorded by Townshend on his 2001 compilation album “Scoop 3”) and a third one, ‘White City Fighting’, which ended up on his next album,” David Gilmour said.

Eddie Van Halen

Although Gilmour was never recorded heavier music, he liked Eddie Van Halen. He even told Guitar Classics magazine in 1985 that Eddie was one of the guitarists that influenced him during that era. “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.”

“I can’t play like Eddie Van Halen, I wish I could. I sat down to try some of those ideas and I can’t do it. (But) I don’t know if I could ever get any of that stuff together. Sometimes I think I should work at the guitar more. I play every day but I don’t consciously practice scales or anything in particular,” David Gilmour said.

Although he liked Eddie, Gilmour admitted to Guitar Player magazine in 2009 that he didn’t really listen to the band Van Halen that much. “I have to confess I don’t listen to an awful lot of Van Halen, but Eddie is fantastic. His moments of sheer, unbridled, joyful playing – as he did on the Michael Jackson track – can’t help but make you want to jump around on a dance floor.”

“He was a major influence on a lot of people, wasn’t he? He changed Rock music. (Eddie) made a lot of very average players think they were a lot better than they actually were!” David Gilmour said. Eddie passed after years battling cancer back in 2020 at the age of 65.

Another Blues player Gilmour loves is the late B.B. King, who was also a fan of David’s guitar playing. They had the chance to perform together in 1998 at the Jools Holland show on BBC Two. They performed the track “Eyesight To The Blind”.

“He’s a lovely chap. His early stuff was stupendous, and he’s just kept going. I first met him in New York. He came up to me and said, ‘Hey, boy, are you sure you weren’t born in Mississippi?’ I’ve played with him a couple of times since, on a Later With Jools Holland session and on one of his albums.”

“When he’s in the dressing room, he spends all his time writing lyrics. There are some guitar players who are instantly recognisable, and then there are all the rest,” David Gilmour told The Guardian in 2006.

One of the most important Blues artists, B.B. King died back in 2015 at the age of 89.

Mark Knopfler

David Gilmour and Mark Knopfler are really good friends and the Pink Floyd singer/guitarist was quite impressed when he first heard Dire Straits in the late 70s. He listed in an interview with Guitar Tricks Insider their self-titled debut album as one of the best he ever heard.

“I bought their first album. I thought they were fantastic, really. Very good, you know? They were young and fresh and something different,” Gilmour said.

He also said Mark Knopfler was a very important influence during the 1980s for his sound and the direction of Pink Floyd’s music after Roger Waters left the band.

Eric Clapton

David Gilmour is also a fan of Eric Clapton. He admires Clapton’s blues playing and especially how Eric’s tone and phrasing influence him. “I love Eric Clapton. I loved Cream. That kind of thing, that British Blues style, really made a big impression on me,” Gilmour said in an interview with Guitar Player magazine. “He’s a fantastic guitar player. He’s a player who’s always there when you listen, and it’s clear and it’s pure. And that’s a great influence,” Gilmour added.

Hank Marvin

Last but not least, David Gilmour has spoken about Hank Marvin, the lead guitarist of The Shadows, as a great influence on his early guitar playing.  He said that Hank Marvin “was very important” in shaping the early British rock sound. “He had a great sense of melody and tone, which I think is essential for any guitarist,” Gilmour said in an interview.

Gilmour admired the clean, melodic style of Marvin’s playing and mentioned The Shadows as one of the first bands he listened to as a kid.