Eighty years on, David Gilmour still sounds like no one else. His incredible guitar playing does more than make notes. It breathes emotion, bending each pitch into something deeply human. Today marks his 80th birthday, and we’re digging into one of the songs that best captures that essence: Pink Floyd‘s “Comfortably Numb.”
The song was released in 1979 as part of the band’s epic concept album and film “The Wall,” on which it arrives in the third act. “Comfortably Numb” serves as an emotional pressure valve, bringing the narrative’s grandiose concept to a painfully intimate place. In the film, the song accompanies a forced transformation as the protagonist is medicated and forced to get back onstage to perform.
The song was co-written by Gilmour and Roger Waters, and each of their parts stands as a contrast to the other. Waters sings the verses, narrating the doctor’s part over a stark soundscape. Gilmour sings the chorus, which serves as the main character’s inner monologue, set to a lush orchestral arrangement. Though the chorus is fleshed out with strings, horns, and more, it all began on Gilmour’s guitar.
In an interview with Rick Beato last year, he revealed that he wrote the chorus on an acoustic Ovation with a special tuning. A drummer friend told him about a recording session he was in where the guitarist was using “high-strung” tuning to double his part. Gilmour experimented to find his own method.
“I came up with what I use, where the top two strings are the same. The third string – the G string – is up an octave,” he said (as transcribed by Ultimate Guitar. “The next two are all up an octave, and the bottom E is two octaves up.”
Aside from the incredible lyrics and singing, Gilmour’s two guitar solos on “Comfortably Numb” advance the narrative without the need for words. The first solo comes just after the first chorus and uses the same hopeful, introspective chord progression. Like a crack in the armor, it briefly opens a window into the character’s inner world before the wall closes back in for the next verse. The second solo is taken over the verse chords, replicating the inner turmoil of a person in crisis.
Beato, who calls the solos some of the greatest of all time, analyzed all of “Comfortably Numb” as part of his “What Makes This Song Great?” Series on YouTube. He explains how Gilmour uses Hendrix-style rakes, bends, and upper extensions to create emotional and haunting phrases.
As much as we can analyze the music, Gilmour says it all comes down to feel. That’s especially true on a song like “Comfortably Numb.”
“Comfortably Numb” is one of those things where you can play in one key. You can basically be stuck in B minor, and the chords will change to A to G to E,” he said. “But you don’t have to think about that, and you can just blow away to your heart’s content.”
Get the sheet music for the guitar solo to “Comfortably Numb”:
