The Guitarist David Gilmour Wished To Play Like

Do you ever wish to write like Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell after taking the time to look through some of their most iconic lines or while diving deep into their songs as the lyrics flow away? It’s in human nature to envy, after all, and as millions celebrate them as two of the most delicate songwriters of all time, it’s pretty normal to wish to pen down a few lines like them.

Well, I don’t know about you, but Roger Waters surely had someone to envy whenever someone asked him who he wished to write like, though it was neither Mitchell nor Dylan. It was none other than his former bandmate, Syd Barrett, as the bassist often praised Barrett’s talent to form lyrical structures that simply left him fascinated.

However, after he and his bandmates fired Syd and sealed Pink Floyd’s fate with their newest member, David Gilmour, Roger had the chance to take the songwriting vessel into his hands and try writing a track. The rocker did prove influential in the end, managing to pen down some of the most notable Pink Floyd pieces.

It seemed that Waters also thought that some of his bandmates envied his skills and often tried writing like him, to no avail. The bassist even once discussed how Gilmour and keyboardist Rick Wright tried copying his style, but after seeing that they couldn’t play with words the way he did, the pair would be pissed, which was why they didn’t like Roger Waters so much.

Well, there’s no way of knowing whether David actually envied Waters’ songwriting skills, but when it came to wishing he could deliver lines like somebody else, the rocker also had someone to envy. However, those lines he wished to deliver weren’t lyrics but guitar riffs, as there was a particular guitar hero Gilmour wished to be playing like.

The Pink Floyd icon was chatting with Guitar Classics in 1985, and as the chat drifted to whether there was anyone he wished he could play like, Gilmour didn’t hold back from naming Eddie Van Halen, stating he had been trying out some of his techniques but couldn’t play like the younger rocker.

Although he would often practice with his guitar and subconsciously deliver riffs, he couldn’t really fixate on scales and other things Eddie’s techniques required, so he could never play like Van Halen, which led him to think maybe, he needed to spend some more time with the six-stringed instrument.

David’s words on who he would wish to play like:

“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. 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.”

So, although Gilmour is a guitar hero for millions, there was a fellow hero he envied when it came to delivering some more technical guitar riffs. He praised Eddie while saying he couldn’t play like him and kind of criticized himself for not spending more time with the guitar.