Unlike many of his peers, Pink Floyd‘s David Gilmour remained interested in the music scene over the decades, keeping up with what was happening, especially in the genres he liked. Obviously, he paid close attention to the guitar players and in the 70s and 80s, in particular, there was a wave of incredible guitarists. Among them were Eddie Van Halen, who revolutionized the instrument and inspired a huge number of players, and Prince, who was a complete artist, singing and playing many other instruments, but also a fantastic guitarist. Gilmour talked about both of them a few times and shared his views on them as musicians.
David Gilmour on Eddie Van Halen and Prince
David Gilmour is a big fan of Eddie Van Halen and Prince, having praised both guitarists. In the 80s he even said he was being influenced by Eddie. “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,” he told Guitar Classics in 1985.
One year before, he was a guest DJ for a day during a radio special and picked Van Halen’s hit “Jump” to be played, praising the guitar solo. “We gonna carry right on into a very esoteric little thing that probably none of you have heard. This is called ‘Jump’ by Van Halen and it’s got a great guitar solo! A wild little track there from the boys,” he said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
He was impressed by Prince’s live concert
Besides Eddie Van Halen, another incredible guitar player who rose to fame during that decade was Prince, who, of course, was also a singer and multi-instrumentalist. David had the chance to see him perform live at Wembley Stadium and was impressed by how good he was. “There are corners that can be cut and corners that can’t. Just a million little details that one could look at.”
“But I went to see Prince at Wembley and he was bloody good. He definitely does things from the right attitude. I think he goes out of his way to get the best people to do the best job, and he thinks about every detail. He gets people around him who share his belief that it will come right if you get it right, which is our attitude,” David Gilmour said in an interview with Q magazine in 1990.
David Gilmour said he didn’t have “the fingers” to play like Van Halen
Although he said he was influenced by Eddie Van Halen, Gilmour couldn’t replicate all of his playing. When asked by Guitar World in 1988 if he was aware of Yngwie Malmsteen, he mentioned Eddie. (I haven’t heard Yngwie) I do like Eddie Van Halen’s playing a lot. Of course, I can’t do that at all. I don’t have the fingers for it,” he said. In another interview in the 90s, David mentioned him again, saying he wasn’t a big fan of modern guitar techniques, “probably because sour grapes, because I’ll never be able to do it”.
He had the chance to meet him a couple of times and thought he was a very nice guy. The Pink Floyd guitarist also said he was fantastic and changed Rock music.“I’ve met him a couple of times. He always seemed to be a very nice guy. 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 in an interview with Guitar Player magazine in 2009. The Michael Jackson song he referred to was “Beat It”, which has Eddie’s highly praised guitar solo.
Gilmour never attempted to play a Van Halen song live but he did cover Prince with Tom Jones
As David Gilmour has said a couple of times, he would never be able to play like Eddie. He never played a Van Halen song live, but when it comes to Prince, he did have the chance to play one and really well. Accompanied by the legendary Tom Jones, they performed “Purple Rain”.
That happened when Tom Jones had a TV Special called “The Right Time” in 1992. Gilmour was one of the several special guests. The Welsh singer covered many new and old songs during that show and Prince’s hit was one of them.
24 years later, in 2016, when the American musician passed away at the age of 57, Gilmour paid tribute to him during one of his solo shows. During his concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, he combined the guitar solo of “Comfortably Numb” with the one from “Purple Rain”.
Gilmour is from an older generation compared to them, being nine years older than Van Halen and 12 years older than Prince. This shows how the Pink Floyd member remained interested in the music scene over the decades.