David Gilmour

• Use a long slapback delay (400–500ms) at low mix level
• Big Muff sustain around 7–8, tone around 5
• Vibrato is everything — practice slow, wide bends
• Play in the spaces — Gilmour's phrasing is about silence as much as notes
• Clean amp is essential — the Muff does the work, not amp distortion
• Add a mid-boost (Boss GE-7 EQ or MXR 10-band) after the Big Muff — the Muff's severe mid scoop disappears in a band mix without it
• Use dotted eighth-note delay: delay time (ms) = (60000 ÷ BPM) × 0.75 — this is the rhythmic pattern behind Comfortably Numb, Shine On, and most Gilmour leads
• Switch between neck and bridge pickups within the same song — neck pickup for solo leads, bridge for rhythmic chord work
• Try a compressor before the Big Muff to tighten the attack and increase sustain, or after it to even the output — both are valid and give different characters
• Pick in the middle of the strings, not near the bridge — Gilmour's full, round tone comes from picking further from the bridge, giving each note body and warmth before it hits the pedal chain
• Use the Strat's in-between pickup positions (positions 2 and 4 on a five-way switch) for clean rhythm parts — the quacky, bell-like quality is essential to "Wish You Were Here" and the chord work throughout The Wall
• Keep delay repeats to 1–2 maximum for lead playing — Gilmour's echo is rhythmic reinforcement, not a wash; a single clean repeat that decays quickly preserves note clarity and the silence between phrases

David Gilmour's tone is the benchmark for sustained, singing Stratocaster leads — rich vibrato, cathedral-like delay and modulation that turns a single note into a landscape.

Gilmour's evolution tracks Pink Floyd's studio ambition — from the raw Hiwatt/Big Muff combination of the early 1970s to the complex multi-amp, multi-effect systems of the 1990s and beyond. Across all eras the Stratocaster remained the constant anchor.