Pink Floyd - Breathe - Guitar Lesson

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Pink Floyd - Breathe - Guitar Lesson

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The Dark Side of the Moon album cover
The Dark Side of the Moon
1973 2:50
Capo Advisor 0 Em minor · Original key

Breathe


"Breathe" is a song by Pink Floyd, featured on their landmark 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon. Known for its spacious, unhurried feel, the track showcases David Gilmour's smooth, expressive guitar work built around gentle chord voicings and subtle pedal steel-influenced bends. It is an excellent piece for electric guitarists looking to develop tone control, clean picking dynamics, and a feel for atmospheric, effects-driven playing.

  • The song is sometimes listed as "Breathe (In the Air)" to distinguish it from other tracks with similar titles.
  • David Gilmour's guitar tone on the track blends clean amp settings with careful use of reverb, making it a study in restraint.
  • The track runs just under two minutes and fifty seconds, making it a concise but rich piece to learn and analyze.
Fender Stratocaster
Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

Gilmour's 1969 Black Strat is his primary instrument, offering glassy neck pickup tones perfect for his singing bends and the warm, rounded character that defines Pink Floyd's melodic solos without harsh brightness.

Fender Telecaster
Guitar

Fender Telecaster

This workhorse guitar provided Gilmour with a brighter, more cutting tone for rhythm work and alternative textures, offering the snap and clarity needed for Pink Floyd's diverse sonic palette across studio and live performances.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Gilmour's 1955 Les Paul Goldtop, fitted with original P-90 pickups, delivers the thick, gritty midrange essential for iconic solos like Comfortably Numb's outro, providing tonal weight and sustain that Strats cannot match.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

Though less documented than the Goldtop, this model would offer similar thick, sustained tones with enhanced versatility through multiple pickup switching, supporting Gilmour's need for varied textures within complex Pink Floyd arrangements.

Fender Twin Reverb
Amp

Fender Twin Reverb

Gilmour used Twin Reverbs for their exceptional clean headroom and built-in reverb, creating spacious, shimmering textures that complement his delay-heavy effects chain and define Pink Floyd's atmospheric, three-dimensional soundscapes.

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Pedal

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah

The Cry Baby opens Gilmour's effects chain, allowing expressive vocal-like phrasing on solos, integral to Pink Floyd's emotional delivery and creating dynamic dynamic tonal sweeps that enhance the band's psychedelic and progressive character.

Play with Backing Track

Play with Backing Track

Solo (Backing Track)

Solo (Backing Track)