Pink Floyd 2nd Solo - Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Guitar Tab

About Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Few guitar solos in Progressive Rock are as deliberately paced and emotionally exposed as David Gilmour's work on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." The second solo sits in a mid-tempo feel at 120 BPM in A minor, and that moderate pace is deceptive: every note has to carry weight, because there is nowhere to hide between them. Gilmour's approach here is about sustain, vibrato control, and choosing the right moment to bend rather than filling space. The wide, slow vibrato he applies at the top of a held note is the hardest thing to replicate convincingly, because it lives in the wrist and takes time to develop. Getting the phrasing to breathe the way it does on the recording is the real challenge, not the finger positions. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop individual phrases slowed down, and focus on where each note peaks and decays before you worry about speed or note selection.

• The solo demands slow, wide vibrato applied with the wrist, a technique that takes deliberate practice to sound controlled rather than shaky.
• Playing in A minor on standard E tuning, the phrases lean heavily on pentatonic positions but require precise bending to hit the characteristic pitch targets.
• Looping short phrases slowed down is essential here, as the expressive timing between notes matters more than technical speed.