MAD GENIUS Syd Barrett may have named his band after Georgia

bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, but Pink Floyd bore no

trace of blues influence until well after Barrett’s departure. The

quintessential psychedelic pop band, Barrett, Roger Waters, Rick

Wright, and Nick Mason should also be acknowledged as among the

founding fathers of today’s alternative and grunge styles. @ Pink

Floyd’s first singles, *Arnold Layne” and “See Emily Play,” and their

1967 debut album, The Piper At The Cafes Of Dawn, all written by Bar-

rett within a mere six months, still sound remarkably contemporary.

“Lucifer Sam” or nInterstellar Overdrive” wouldn’t sound out of place in

the repertoire of Nirvana or countless other current bands. The Beat-

lesque production of these recordings is understandable, considering

that the fab ones were in the midst of making Sgt. Pepper at the time,

and the two bands, both

recording at Abbey Road Studios, would get together to check out each

other’s music. But Pink Floyd were hardly Beatles soundalikes. Barrett’s

idiosyncratic pop tunes, the band’s extended free-form improvs, and

liberally applied echo and sound effects earned Pink Floyd the *space

rock” moniker they would despise well through their second incarna-

tion with David Cilmour. @ Those in search of new Floyd gossip can

stop reading here. We’ll only be analyzing the band’s work up through

1979% The Wall, an era that encompasses a staggering variety of guitar

textures. @ While Barrett’s guitar solos were notoriously, shall we say,

over the top, he had a knack for coming up with extremely clever tunes.

Typical of early Floyd pop-psychedelia, Ex. I features an unusual rq-bar

verse progression that combines a descending single-note figure with

open-position power chords (we can get through these without tab,

right?). It’s gloriously simple and invigorating. And don’t be surprised

if the rb-bar chorus induces a severe bout of windmillitis. (Careful with

that whammy bar, Eugene!)

lune 1994 GUITAR PLAYER 81

LX. I
1x134 N.C.

*E A G D E
6

y open posltm chord

wcmgs throughout.

Il.
D C A (G#;“’ D C G D A
12

The progression in Ex. 2 clocks in at an unlikely 20 bars but manages to feel quite natural. The nine-bar verse has a 214 rhythmic “glitch,” and an
ethereal slide guitar overdub implies an Em chord that is never actually fretted. The chorus smells a bit like the Yardbirds’ “Shapes Of Things,” but
only for four of eleven bars.

TX. 2 *A G l *D/F# “Am/E 8,au.. _. _. _ -. Cmaj7

.I Am
J=122 Slide guitar @l:!fC
19fr.

‘Play open position voicings “Sass guitar plays F #.E.

throughout.

G N.C.(G) (B) (D) E D E

6

E7 A A7 G

8 2 GUITAR PLAYER lune 1994 @ LESSONS ON LINE I-900.370-OOZO”12~7 & W48

 a saucer full of secrets
Ek. 3a casts Barrett in the rightful role of proto-punk grunge pioneer. It’s also indicative of the “doom and gloom’ element that remained a Floyd
characteristic even after Syd’s departure. Ek. 3b adapts the line to the IV chord for a twisted, quasi-blues effect.
Ex. gb
Ex. ~a
F#m) (W
J=138 N.C. J=na NC

Barrett’s accompaniment style had lighter moments. The jangly figure in Ek. 4a reinforces the notion that Syd tended to view the fingerboard ver-
tically, playing along, rather than across, the strings. Lovely as it is, singing a sustained Band switching to A#on beat 3 really brings Ex. 4b to life.

Ex. &a Ex. qb

J=120 J=112

Ex. 5
J.=52 A G
12.string acoustic

Though Barrett used a 12string acoustic to create

T .
A
B 7
the octaves in JZx. 5, his full-blown octave solo in Ek.
6 features those of the Montgomery kind. Despite its
chaotic qualities, there is form, thematic develop-
ment, and other good musical stuff. The b5 of doom
. rears its ugly head before resolving and completing
< “1 n 9 n\? r
a surprisingly cohesive solo statement.

Ex. 6
J=134

he 1994 GUITAR PLAYER 83

 Rx. 7 is full of the kind of raw energy that has fueled “new” musical trends for the past 20 years. No shame about using full bane chords here! For a
slightly toned-down version, try playing only the sixth-string roots except for the final Echord.
Ew. ,
B A G# A G# G
J=130 A# B A#

After Barrett’s departure in 1968, David Gilmour began his tenure by playing and singing Syd’s parts, but it wasn’t long before his musical person
ality dominated. His first recording with the band was A Saucer Full Of Secrets, which also featured Barrett on several tracks. Giimour brought to the
band a rich variety of influences, including the earthy folk and blues elements that gradually supplanted the Barrett-era psychedelia. Together wid
Roger Waters’ ongoing penchant for sound effects, Gilmour’s vocabulary forged Pink Floyd’s new sound, culminating in masterworks such as Urn.
magumma, Meddle, Atom Heart Mother, Dark Side Of The Moon, Animals, and The Wall.
Many of Gilmour’s two-bar riffs approach total heaviosity. Witness Bx. 8a, a Delta blues from hell that ends in unsettling bitonahty, and Fx. 8b
cool both for its choice of notes and their phrasing. Slightly less scary Bx. 9a inserts a spooky b2 (Bb) into an otherwise pedestrian (dare I say Spina
Tapian?) blues-rock riff. On a more uplifting note, Fx. 9b majestically outlines an Em-GECprogression.
Ex. 8b
Ex. 8a
E J =52
J.=66

Bll4
n
K n I ii

play 3x

JT B R

A c n 4 n r: n r;

8 4 GUITAR PLAYER lune 1994

 a saucer full of secrets
Ix. gb
(Em) G) F) (Cl
A=72 N.C.

Ew. 10

J=114 Am Am/G
acoustic guitar - h

Traces of Gilmour’s folk roots (he learned to play in part

from a Pete Seeger instructional record) surface frequently in
his Floydal accompaniments. The dreamy two-bar sequences
in examples 10 through 12 illustrate his penchant for minor
tonalities with added 9ths and Dorian-based i-IV progressions.
The jazzy figure in Ex. 13 conjures a smoky cabaret vibe, further
testimony to Gilmour’s versatility.
Ex. II Em
J=SS
play 3x I --

Ew. xx A
Emadd A Asus

Fm (Fm/maj7) (Fm7) VW

lune 1994 GUITAR PLAYER 8 5

 Gilmour eschews conventional bottleneck technique, preferring to slide on a 6-string lap steel with tunings such as E, B, E, G, B, E and D, G, D, G,
B, E (low to high). The latter allows minor and major triads to be played on strings 1,2, and 3 and 2,3, and 4, respectively. This works just as well with
standard tuning and slide technique, so grab a bottleneck and try Bx. 14. Bring out the melodic possibilities inherent in the progression by exploring
each arpeggiated chord shape.
Ix. 14
J=72 Em Am G Bm G#”
1 4a ~8,~............-........-.--.-....-.--.-. ..__._....__._ .._.........__. .__.......

*Eva on repeat only. Eva fingering to right of I in TAB. Positions off fingerboard use hypothetical fret numbers.

4 El,
8va.-.-.-.-----.------------------------....-..-............”--
Am B Em
e....... “^.......,
5

Gilmour’s extensive use of tri-

EX.
ads reveals an awareness of
Dm C Dm C G F
J=102 . * . .
chord/scale relationships. He defi-
nitely has a handle on the sort of
funky, syncopated diatonic triads
that appear in Ex. 15. The triad-
over-a-held-bass-note approach of
9qf clean tone I II Ex. 16 yields a chordal riff of am-
phitheatrical proportions, extra
bigness courtesy of the dropped-D
tuning. Examples 17a and 17b fuse
rockabilly-style open-string voic-
ings with eerie bitonality.
Ex. 16
J=116 D A/D G/D D

8 6 G U I T A R P L A Y E R hne 1994
 a saucer full of secrets
En. 16 cont. A/D G/D D

Ex. ~,a
J=88
73, -37
ET3=m E7

acoustic guitar D9 -EL

E7
Ew. r7b Extensive use of echo fig-
D7 D5
ures prominently in
Gilmour’s sound. He can
play a basic figure such as
Ex. 18a and, by applying
several repeats three-quar-
ters of a beat apart, create
an uninterrupted flow of
sixteenth-notes (Ex. 18b).
Mixed triads and double-
stops get the same echo
treatment in Fx. 19, which
Ix. x8a
J=IOZ
(Dm) includes a brief yet effective
N.C. stab outside of the estab-
lished tonality. Simultane-
ously playing the parts la-
beled “guitar 3” and “guitar

I I Q?fpa,mmute __ ___. __ _. _ __ _ ._. __ _, P

p&m”te- .-..- ____ ._____ _ ..____,
P II
4” presents no great prob-
lem, but to pull off all three
you’ll need two delays, one
with an infinite hold or
sampling mode.
Ex. r8b N.C.
Dry signal
J=102 palm m”te _. _ _ _ _. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. _. _. . _. ,
palmmute--------------- .____,

p I P I
EX. 19
0-N I \

J=102 NC

I1
(gtr. 1 cont. sim.)

S
S .^
-

* Delay sun to 16b

As if it needs to be said, David Gilmour plays blues-style licks with Herculean authority. Fx. 20, which kicks off a slow blues chorus, is right up
there with Jeff Beck’s faux-slide vibrato bar technique. Ex. 21’s textbook call-and-response phrasing is laced with soulful vibrato. The muscular two-
step bend in Ex. 22 works best with a reinforced, three-finger bending technique. (Not recommended for first string use!)

J=126
737 B m
-

Ex. xx
D m

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 a saucer full of secrets
The 9th shows up as often in Gilmour’s soloing as in his chording. In Ex. 23, it colors a Dpentatonic-minor lick. There’s even heavier emphasis on
the 9th in Ex. 24, where string bends and bar manipulations segue to a smooth Emadd arpeggio. Although this fingering lends itself to sweep pick-
ing, Gilmour alternate-picks every note after the opening slur. In Ex. 25, trademark quarter-note triplets glue a superimposed descending Asus
arpeggio to the underlying Eminor harmony. It’s a fine example of Gilmour’s uncanny ability to mutate standard blues-rock King-isms into a highly
original solo voice ideally suited to Pink Floyd’s harmonically adventurous compositions. 9
Lx. 25
J=102

Ex. 24

J =67 c-3, -3,

J3=3T=J+-Tn
Bm(i)

I J W I bar I I-
B R -1 R even dive

L X . x5
Bm(i) Em(iv) Bm