Improvisation has always been a key element in rock music, with many musicians viewing it as a true test of their skill. It often means that live performances won’t perfectly replicate studio recordings, no matter how iconic a song may be. This approach contrasts with bands like Rainbow, who, according to Bob Daisley, carefully rehearsed every move on stage, as well as groups who prefer to play their material exactly as it was recorded.
For David Gilmour, however, improvisation is an essential part of his artistry. The legendary Pink Floyd guitarist revealed that he has “never learned” the final solo of “Comfortably Numb”, opting instead to reinvent the part each time he performs it live.
During an interview with Rick Beato, Gilmour was asked about his tendency to change the ending solo of “Comfortably Numb” (as transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). He explained: “I’m not thinking about the audience and what they want, to be honest. I just like it starting the way it starts, and the rest of it sort of so ingrained in me, that the various parts of it are going to find their way into what I’m doing. But I’ve never learned it. Yeah, I’ve never learned that guitar solo.”
“I mean, there are a lot of guys who can play that. But I don’t play it [laughs]. To me, it’s just different every time. I mean, why would I want to do it the same? Would it be more popular with the people listening if I did it exactly like the record? Or do they prefer that I just wander off into whatever feels like the right thing at the time? I don’t know. I suspect they like they prefer it to be real, and to be happening, you know? There are cues within it, which I use to tell the band, ‘We’re going to end’, or, ‘We’re going to do this.’ And so, they crop up as being the same every time, pretty much.”
While Gilmour approaches his solos freely on stage, Pink Floyd’s studio work was highly structured and deliberate. Every instrument and detail was carefully discussed during recording sessions.
Reflecting on the band’s creative process, Gilmour said: “All the time, on everything, on every instrument. Nick [Mason, drums] didn’t need telling him very much, to be honest. He had his own thing, and he did it. In the ’60s with the very early Pink Floyd, he was very much busier, but he gradually got a bit simpler with it.”
He went on to describe a specific example from “Comfortably Numb”: “But there were things. On “Comfortably Numb”, there’s a place where there’s a bass drum missing. I said, ‘Can you just not play that bass drum? I want that gap.’ And that was my thing. I wanted that gap. Little things like that. Of course, you if you’re creating, writing music, it’s in your head, and you have very clear ideas, often of exactly what you want, and what you don’t want. And every one of us would be making suggestions more or less forcefully, given the moment, and what the idea and what the dream was.”
For Gilmour, keeping his performances spontaneous is a way to keep the music alive and authentic, even when the studio versions were built with painstaking precision. This balance between structure and freedom continues to define his legacy as one of rock’s most revered guitarists.
