The guitarist that Paul McCartney said he admires

It takes a lot of talent and hard work to become a successful and influential musician singing and playing one instrument but there are artists like Paul McCartney who can really play many different kinds of instruments and even record entire albums playing everything in it. So it is undeniable that he is really one of the most important musicians in the history of music and he is one of the few who were to be extremely successful both as a member of a band and as a solo act.

Over the decades McCartney has been remembered as an amazing songwriter, singer and bassist but he is also an amazing guitarist and played a lot of guitar on many Beatles songs, for example. He was frequently asked about other guitar players during his career and even mentioned one that he really admires.

The guitarist that Paul McCartney said he admires

Besides George Harrison and John Lennon, Paul McCartney had the chance to work with many other incredible guitarists after The Beatles came to an end in 1970. One of them was the Pink Floyd guitar player and singer David Gilmour. McCartney invited him to play the guitar in the classic track “No More Lonely Nights”.

In 2021 McCartney released a book called “The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present” and there he wrote about how much he admired Gilmour, calling him a genius.

“David Gilmour plays the solo on the record. I’ve known him since the early days of Pink Floyd. Dave is a genius of sorts, so I was pulling out all the stops. I admired his playing so much, I’d seen him around; I think he’d just done his solo ‘About Face’ album. So I rang him up and said, ‘Would you play on this?’ It sounded like his kind of thing,” Paul McCartney said.

“No More Lonely Nights” was originally released on the album and movie soundtrack “Give My Regards To Broad Street” (1984).

Paul McCartney visited Pink Floyd in the studio when they were making “Dark Side of The Moon”

McCartney and Gilmour are good friends since the 70s and the Pink Floyd member is a huge fan of The Beatles. He already said that it was a band that he would have liked to been a member of.

But Paul knew Pink Floyd before Gilmour since The Beatles were recording “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” at Abbey Road studios in 1967 when the Progressive Rock was also there. At the time Gilmour still wasn’t a member of the group and they were making their debut album “The Piper At The Gates of Dawn”.

Those two albums are still considered the ones that really showed the path for what Progressive Rock music would become. All the experimentation on those records gave a whole generation of artists a new perspective on what they could do in the studio. It showed that they could make things that were never done before.

But McCartney also saw them when they were making their best-selling album “Dark Side of The Moon”. At the time he was also recording at Abbey Road with his band The Wings while the Progressive Rock group was also there. In an interview with Rick Rubin for the documentary “McCartney 3,2,1” he recalled that moment.

“(Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) Floyd came in after us, Pink Floyd. (They) did a lot of cool experimental stuff. This was more Wings period, they were next door making ‘Dark Side of The Moon’. That was pretty cool. Yeah (I’ve listened at the time). The engineers were quite exchangeable. So the engineers who would work on their stuff would work on ours. He played us some stuff of ‘Dark Side of The Moon’,” Paul McCartney said.

They performed together at the Cavern Club in London

Besides collaborating in the mid-80s, they had the chance to share the stage in 1999. Right when the Beatle made a special concert at the historical Cavern Club in Liverpool. That venue was really important for Paul, since it represented the early days of the Fab Four. So he recruited very special musicians to perform with him.

Besides inviting Gilmour, he also had the Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, guitarist Mick Green, keyboardist Pete Wingfield and Chris Hall who played the accordion.

In that same year Gilmour answered questions in a MSN Webcast. He recalled how amazing it was to play with McCartney at the Cavern Club. “I’ve completed all the stuff that Paul has so far asked me to do with him. I don’t know if he’s doing anymore. But it was really good fun to get back to that kind of music for a change. Getting to be a Beatle for that night at the Cavern was unforgettable,” David Gilmour said.