The blues has always been spoken of as the foundation of modern music — the spark that inspired generations of musicians to pick up an instrument and chase the sound of their heroes. For some, like Eric Clapton or Keith Richards, blues was total freedom, a base that allowed them to build something new. But for David Gilmour, while it was a love, it was also a limitation.
In an old interview, Gilmour explained how he studied the greats when he was young — Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and other blues players — but eventually, he needed to go beyond. “Blues lines as such are fairly specific,” he told Guitar World. “It’s like, you’ve got a series of things you can put together, but there aren’t that many moves you can make. Instead, I try to approach things from a more melodic standpoint and just work on it until it sounds nice.”
For Gilmour, blues shaped him, but he didn’t want to be tied down by rules. He wanted freedom to explore melody and emotion in ways that blues alone couldn’t give him. “The blues influence may come out at times,” he admitted, “but I like to think I come at it from a different angle.”
When it comes to Clapton, Gilmour’s feelings are both admiring and honest. “I have to confess to a certain sort of jealousy of Eric Clapton’s position,” he said. “He’s such a consummate blues player that he’s got a wealth of older people’s material that he can play. He can take out a new band every time and do his stuff, and that would be a nice position to be in.”
That kind of flexibility was something Gilmour never had. His entire career was deeply tied to Pink Floyd, where experimentation mattered more than playing blues standards. In a way, he suggests that if he had stayed too close to the blues, he might never have carved out the unique sound that made Pink Floyd so iconic.
Blues gave him a beginning, but melody gave him his voice. And by stepping away from tradition, Gilmour found a way to make guitar playing limitless — something more personal, more emotional, and entirely his own.
