I have been a fan of Pink Floyd and David Gilmour as long as I can remember. Actually I became a bit fanatical about the band as teens can do. In this lesson I show you a technique that Gilmour uses quite a bit, the half step bend. The example is in the key of Em – E F# G A B C D E. As you can see the half steps are between F# and G and B and C. The chord Em is spelled E G B and the first note I play is the G, but I am bending to it from the F# a half step below. This bend gives you much more control of how we can add vibrato and control the pitch of the note. As you see I am purposely bending a little flat to add a darker sound, a trademark of Gilmour’s playing. We can hear this technique in most every solo he plays, most notably on Comfortably Numb and Mother. Give it a shot and really dig into this, it takes a little practice, but anything worthwhile always does!