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Pink Floyd - Run Like Hell - Part One - Guitar Lesson

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Key D minor
Pink Floyd - Run Like Hell - Part One guitar lesson video
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Pink Floyd Progressive Rock D minor
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About Run Like Hell - Part One

"Run Like Hell" is built almost entirely around one of the most recognizable guitar riff patterns in rock: a driving, arpeggiated figure in D minor with heavy use of open strings and a relentless rhythmic pulse. David Gilmour plays the riff with a distinctive combination of palm muting and picked attacks that give it that propulsive, machine-like momentum. The challenge for most players is not the notes themselves but locking in the rhythm with absolute consistency, since any hesitation in the picking hand immediately breaks the hypnotic drive the part depends on. A liberal amount of delay is baked into the original tone, and getting that effect synced to your tempo matters a great deal. Pink Floyd built the track around this repetitive tension, so stamina and evenness across a long stretch are what you are really practising here. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the opening riff slowed down until your picking hand runs on autopilot before bringing it up to full speed.

  • The signature riff relies on a repeating arpeggiated pattern in D minor, where consistency in the picking hand matters far more than finger placement.
  • Gilmour's tone on the original uses a slapback-style delay synced to the tempo, so dialing in your delay time is essential to making the riff feel correct.
  • The riff sustains for most of the song, so building picking-hand stamina and evenness is the main physical challenge when learning this part.

How to Play Run Like Hell - Part One

Key: D minor · Tempo: 116 BPM

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 116 BPM to build it up to tempo.

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.

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