Every Comfortably Numb Guitar Tone Archive (1979-2016)

Greatest guitar solo of all time, Comfortably Numb! We all love the solo and the tone but there are hundreds of versions! Personally, I want to feel like I'm playing the same so I decided to make an archive for me and you, to get the tones I want!
I want to point out that nothing is fixed, let's talk about your gear too, not just here but on Patreon!
🎸 Absolute Essential Top 10 Gilmour Solo Backing Tracks and Tabs: www.patreon.com/mustafacankay...
🔥 Access to the backing tracks, tones, tabs, request videos and support my work!: / mustafacankaya
💵 Here are the 9 CHEAP AND BEST pedals I recommend for almost all the tones I get: thmn.to/thocf/xxm4h02xts
✅ Here are all my gear that I can't live without: thmn.to/thocf/at2lukfwk3
➡️ Check Out My Jams: • Covers and Jams!
I want to thank my Patrons who support this channel. They're getting the goods there :)
Mark Quinton
Oliver Klein
Rudy Leferve
Joe Clark
Jonathan Glover
Anthony Merola
max00d
Jimmy Lipham
Kyle Shively
Timothy Bowser
Andy L
Kim Michael Albrecht
Gboom (Gabrielea)
Lynden Warren
Paul Cristian
Wilhem Hagelsieb
Edoardo Daniele
Richard Smith
Gabriel Rodrigues
Tom Robinson
Peter Simpson
Adam Romero
Hilias
Kuba Gawłowski
Mj
Tom St John Eve
Antonio
John Anderson
Georgios Zazias
Richard Smith
Lau Henriksen
Diogo Cunha
Taylor
Patrick Fitzgerald
Ivan Gehring
Lusk Luther
Pink Side of The Moon
Cesar Camacho
Marc Andre
Some Awesome Fellow with (No Name)
Rodney Stewart
Rod Ballou
Adam Lewis Paulk
Rhys Willis
Jakob Chavera
Chris Stanek
Chris
Leonardo Barbiero
David Stohl
Mr Finn
Adam 33
Rodney C Tod
Mo
Julien Sire
BumblebeeTuna
Davey Lane
Ian Herszterg
Hugues Gaillard
Igor Feofilaktov
Arthur Mathie
Derek Jennings
Anas Alazri
Garrett Trojanek
Cristian
Suappo1
Jack Garland
00:00 David Gilmour’s Comfortably Numb Tones
00:07 Studio Version (1979)
02:00 The Wall Live (1980)
03:24 Solo Work (1984)
04:38 Weird Guitar (1986)
05:45 Delicate Sound Of Thunder (1988)
07:07 Venice (1989)
07:31 Knebwort (1990)
07:54 PULSE (1994)
09:57 In Concert (2002)
11:06 Live 8 (2005)
12:40 Live in Gdansk (2006)
13:57 Royal Albert Hall (2006)
14:36 Live At Pompeii (2016)
15:57 Final Thoughts…

[@mustyguitar]

26.04.2023 Edit: I think on 1988 Delicate Sound Of Thunder, chorus was TC Electronics' and not Boss CE-2. But for Venice and Knebworth, it's still CE-2 and video is correct. Okay, there are minor editing mistakes I’ve made (sorry I really work a lot on a lot of things, I record and edit these videos mostly at nights) First, at 13:30 Gdańsk tones, I’ve used Charlie Brown, not boss bd-2, correct signal chain at 13:50 Second, I got copyright issued (not just demonetized) so I had to cut short a few things Third, on rotary cabinet signal chains, I only show rotary cabinets but actually it’s split chain and one goes to rotary one goes to hiwatts, I don’t know why I didn’t do that… Every isolated guitar sound is at my Patreon page for you to download, here: www.patreon.com/posts/comfortably-numb-81418161?Link& A TON OF my tone guides are there with pedal and amp settings for the covers I do, tabs, backing tracks and more to come! It’s AN ARCHIVE for Gilmour (and a little Hendrix…) And please remember that any pedal setting I'd show might only work on my rig, maybe not work on yours, I don't want to misguide you, just want to give you a guideline… Also, all the extracted guitar sounds are, well, extracted from original recordings, so there are missing frequencies and stuff, so yeah, the pedals are correct, but since it’s isolated, it sounds A LOT better normally… I love to be wrong, this is just MY guide and archive for myself, if there’s anything you need to add or correct, let’s talk more! 🎸 Absolute Essential Top 10 Gilmour Solo Backing Tracks and Tabs: www.patreon.com/mustafacankaya/shop/10-essential-gilmour-solo-tabs-solo-14794?Link& 💵 Here are the 9 CHEAP AND BEST pedals I recommend for almost all the tones I get: thmn.to/thocf/xxm4h02xts ✅ Here are all my gear that I can't live without: thmn.to/thocf/at2lukfwk3 ➡ Check Out My Jams: kzbin.info/aero/PLZE1z4lCW33MVR-33x4zk9aecfnJiUIfj

[@mattgilbert7347]

Finally someone who agrees that Pulse Comfortably Numb tone is not so good. Pedestrian. Overly compressed. Mediocre.

[@jeffrobodeenyehcmon5925]

Do you think I need the boss rt-20 if I already have the keeley dark side work station?

[@mustyguitar]

@@jeffrobodeenyehcmon5925 I'd get one if I find it

[@67er_matze97]

great work and fantastic tones 👍

[@HackTheSystem-kw1nb]

my maaan did it again! what a video man! greatly appreciated!

[@godwinmanuel6963]

Thank you! Great tone and playing!

[@Thearcherfl]

Thank you again. Also fun little thing. Snowy white in tour with waters uses his black Strat for this solo but there was an interview where he mentioned using a blues jr for it on tour. I believe it was in his rig rundown

[@damianovalente]

Great Job 👌

[@navemae021]

Nice video man! We are watching from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

[@mustyguitar]

Thank you! Many thanks to everyone

[@andrewpappas9311]

I covered Comfortably Numb for one of my college classes and still jam on the song all the time, I find that I got fairly close with my EHX Big Muff Pi and both MXR Phase 90 and MXR Uni-Vibe (depending on which one I want to use) but this was a great video nonetheless. Fantastic job, man

[@chrisradzion2148]

Great job capturing the variations of each era. I think that CE-2 is key to almost all the tones, especially if you don’t have an RT-20 (or a Yamaha rotating speaker!). Lots of good CE-2 clones out there, like the Ensemble King. There’s a Waza Craft version, but those are a little pricey. There’s also a Waza version of the HM-2; I actually gave a Behringer HM300, and aside from being pink and plastic, it does the HM-2 well, especially Gilmour’s settings. The Mooer E Lady is one of the best Gilmour flangers out there; it’s so close to the original big box and is pedal board friendly. And of course, all of the EHX Muff reissues have been spot on.

[@stefanotonypellegrini1654]

Bravissimo un lavoro unico .E bello vedere che con pedali economici riesci a fare suoni straordinari come Gilmour.Bravo 👋👋👋👋👋👋👋

[@thibderobAKAfremen]

Thanks for that video ! Actually, I also thought about making one, but not with as much different versions (studio, Delicate sound of thunder, Pulse, Gdansk and Pompeii only), and no details about the gear used. Just joined your Patreon too !

[@mustyguitar]

Thank you Thibault de Robillard! That's quite a name :)

[@thibderobAKAfremen]

@@mustyguitar Lol, thank you ! I'm French, but live in Mauritius, where I lead a Pink Floyd tribute band :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3TYmZiwZ9Fqors

[@Dressagevids]

It was a Charvel with a single bridge humbucker ....the volcano benefit 86.....it went in the auction

[@KYCDK]

pompeii actually hadf a mixer which would mix the flanger in slightly, really it's most noticeable in the top end of the signal, I think it was the counteract the volume loss and bass loss

[@WeirdErnie]

I love my Laney Cub 12R. I have used it on stage with my Floyd band.

[@johnparker2636]

Thanks for doing this. I take 2 things away from this: 1. there is no single CN tone. 2. You don't need lots of fancy/boutique pedals to get a great CN tone - actually using easily obtainable (in most countries) pedals ( Boss/ EHX MXR)when touring makes a lot of sense easy to replace if required - not that thats something DG probably needs to worry about too much 😁

[@lightningstrikes7314]

Outstanding stuff, fascinating presentation. Interesting how he's kind of come full circle to a more gritty Ram's head/flanger tone. I do like the 80s/90s tones though. The Flanger seems to cut more where the chorus makes things a bit mushy. I think chorus works better on clean tones and the Flanger. 'Yowzah' indeed! Have you tried the Mojo FX fuzzes, made in Texas, very cool pedals? There's one called 'Iron Bell' which is all Gilmour fuzzes in one. FYI Gretsch is basically pronounced 'Gre-tch' with no 'S' sound but it really doesn't matter, your accent is very cool!

[@bradleybeauchamp5582]

Thank you so much for this video and breaking it all down, also the isolated tracks are the clearest that I have heard, normally it isn't the easiest to get the guitar separated from the other instruments that great. One thing I had a question about with the 1979 studio recording of Comfortably Numb was reverb, I'm pretty sure there is some but what kind would it be. One other thing is that he might possibly have used his Colorsound power boost pedal for the recording.

[@mustyguitar]

I don't think Gilmour ever used reverb on his recordings except a few, like "more blues" and a couple of others. And I have no doubt that Gilmour didn't use Colorsound for boosting on studio recordings.

[@KYCDK]

I think comfortably numb might be doubletracked with a lapsteel playing the same thing in the studio

[@MasterChiefTheChef]

My guess would be 2 amps, one rotating, one hiwatt with additional gain.

[@sq1tl]

It’s the hiwatt/rotary combo, auto-doubletracked

[@kkrsnn5632]

Tamam 😁 Very nice scientific approach and results 😎

[@mustyguitar]

Thank you!

[@KYCDK]

comfortably numb doesn't sound harsh on the studio version to me, the first solo is really smooth and the second one maybe has a slight harshness? but I love the tone because of it's smootheness

[@cadams1607]

That has a lot to do with the fact that the fist solo is played on the neck pick up and the end solo is on the bridge.

[@KYCDK]

@@cadams1607 half correct, gilmour has a switch that activates the neck pickup in conjuction to his pickup selector, making it so he can have both neck and bridge pickups on at the same time, which is what he did on the first one.

[@sq1tl]

⁠​⁠@@KYCDKDavid has said he’s actually never used that neck/bridge combo on a studio recording. He’s said that a number of times, iirc. Maybe it was just less production overall on the tone - smoother EQ ig

[@Jbthehut]

Can you do this but for the Time solo? This is awesome info!

[@jeffrobodeenyehcmon5925]

Do you think I should get the boss rt-20 if I already have the keeley dark side work station?

[@tagretz]

so at least the secret weapon for this sound is the Electric Mistress....

[@quentinthewhale1623]

hey mustafa, i love your videos so much and i am a huuuuuge pink floyd fan! i want to ask you one question. i got a transistor amp and i want to play with effect pedals (like the rams head big muff). now the question: do you think i should buy the big muff and plug it on the transistor amp or should i buy a (cheap) tube amp and then buy the effect pedal? is there a hearable sound difference? is it useless/stupid to plug an effect pedal on a transistor amp? i bought my transistor amp because it’s not that expensive as tube amps… continue with your videos i love them 😊 quentin

[@mustyguitar]

I don't recommend using a transistor amp with pedals, if that transistor amp has modeling, which most have, you should use the amps pedal simulators and stuff. I think a tube amp brings out the best in pedals. with that being said, it's not easy to manage a tube amp in bedroom level. careful with that axe eugene!

[@quentinthewhale1623]

@@mustyguitar thanks a lot for the advice! i’ll see what i can do! shine on you crazy diamond!

[@spyglass-music5098]

The fender Champion Models are actually very cheap and have a huge sound with Pedals. These are Modeling Amps of course and they are voiced after a Twin Reverb. I recomend the Champion 40. It’s actually that inexpensive that you could buy two and use them in stereo like David did between 1987 and 1993 for Sessions and smaller live gigs.

[@mcmentalmusicmakers3219]

He also slaved a 1971 mark 1 boogie for the distortion, into the Hiwatt's. There are pictures of the 1984 solo tour and there is an article explaining

[@Tyrannosaurine]

I believe he didn’t start using the Boogie until the In the Flesh tour in 1977. Prior to that he was using 3 or 4 Hiwatt heads into a bunch of WEM cabinets stocked with 12” Fane speakers (all 100w). Gilmour is famous for playing EXTREMELY loud both live and in the studio. That’s one part of how he gets the crazy sustain he does out of a strat.

[@harveydaniel5428]

Awesome video thankyou.For me Knebworth 90 is my favourite but from the Knebworth 90 album the guitar sounds ever so slightly harsher and the 2nd solo is not edited i couldnt understand why you would ever cut bits out of a David Gilmour solo

[@Mihail_K.]

In the 1986 version he is using a charvel san dimas which originaly had a passive humbucker but was swapped with a EMG-H (single coil in a humbucker housing) so it shouldn't be that different to your strat (if we don't account for the fact that the EMG H is sitting straight compared to the usual strat bridge PU. I think he actually used a muff but I'm not sure, you'll have to check Kit Rae's site, I'm pretty sure he even has photos of the rig from back then. That being said, I think there's a lot of stuff that we don't think into account with these tone "investigations". For example, the final mixing/producing plays a big part in the final sound, it depends a lot on EQ, compression, and quality of the tapes used back then. Also on the studio version, if I have to guess, I'd say he played it without any modulation, then ran the recorded solo through a rotary speaker and then mixed the two together, that's what I get when I listen closely, especially the movie version.

[@mustyguitar]

I didn't know the guitar, thank you for the information and yeah, that's what I'm talking about when I say studio trickery, final mixing plays a big part on the tone. we don't know what goes on in the studio so we can only guess.

[@spyglass-music5098]

Dear Mustafa, the 1986 Version (wich was played for the Columbian Volcano Appeal) was played on a Charvel san Dimas. But ist is actually a *Single Coil* Pickup in a Humbucker Housing (EMG H). So It‘s exactly the Same Pickups you've got. David only plays Humbuckers on his Les Pauls/ Gretsch. I think it is by far his Best CN Solo out there. The Sound and Tremolo work is very Special here

[@mustyguitar]

Thank you! I didn't know this. Great info.

[@spyglass-music5098]

@@mustyguitar I have to Thank You for your Great work! Keep rocking! That 1986 Version would be interesting to cover I think because its so rare and different, with that bassy bottom end of the Tone and typical 80s Gilmour kinda metal-like touch

[@Tyrannosaurine]

That solo is pretty killer. A lot of his solos for comfortably numb rely on the same touchstone licks, where as this is totally different. And much more flashy than DG usually plays. He has mentioned how deep into cocaine he was during the mid to late 80s. I suspect he’s a little amped up there. Especially in Culumbia of all places.

[@spyglass-music5098]

@@Tyrannosaurine Yes that is certainly the case! He really is on fire here. There are a few of his solos from this period where he really sounded different. The Solo on Berlins „Pink and Velvet“ has a similar energy to this one and I think when he used the Steinberger from late 87 on his Sound was even more agressive, for example „Run Straight Down“ by Warren Zevon or „This Feeling“ by Sam Brown.

[@douginny]

But you don't give the RT20 settings or the delay settings???

[@filippopavarini9388]

Hi! I follow your videos since a while to understand how to achieve DG sound in PULSE! Can you share the pedals settings (or is there a video where you explain them)? Thanks in advance!!

[@mustyguitar]

Great big muff video coming this Sunday with pedal settings and everything.

[@kirkhammster1]

I would have love to hear that without active picl ups for the studio version because I dont thi k EMGs were yet used by him in 79 I dont even know if they were actually invented yet

[@slates1969]

I've got to ask, what is that yellow band around your right hand?

[@jacottegrivel9844]

Despite my bad English..! I try to understand !! Indeed Music has not to be translater !❤️❤️

[@maybe1day639]

Can you do a video on childhoods end. That song is awesome

[@mustyguitar]

Most underrated song probably. But what kind of video? I have a few cover notes, studio and 1972 rainbow version. Tones, backing track and tab will be on Patreon

[@vuenx9648]

Çok güzel video olmuş kanka eline sağlık bi de Animals albümünden yapmayı düşünüyor musun?

[@mustyguitar]

Tüm albümler için sağlam bi playlist gelecek, tüm şarkılarını ve tonlarını kapsayan şekilde

[@vuenx9648]

@@mustyguitar Tamamdır

[@Lander-bo2rq]

For research, can you try the david gilmour 7-way switch

[@mustyguitar]

Well, I can give information, but I can't try sounds since I don't got no black strat. And I have a few guitars which I can't risk installing 7-way switch in the hands of Istanbul guitar shops...

[@kamealex]

It always fascinates me how thick it sounds considering it's the bridge pickup. Is there any specific element that makes it sound so fat and bassy? I use Bias FX 2 and my resources are limited like for so many people.

[@SlavJerry]

because big muff is extremely thick by itself

[@user-ov8ek9jd8m]

Live at pompeii has the best tone, it was fuckin awesome

[@guyzeevi2005]

Can you do this time over the years

[@mustyguitar]

It's on my video list but way down

[@JorgeCampos12345]

Great video Mustafa! Can you please tell me the chain of On the turning away ?

[@mustyguitar]

which version?

[@JorgeCampos12345]

@@mustyguitar i really like the 2019 remastered version, i think its from 1988, in new york

[@mustyguitar]

@@JorgeCampos12345 I'm currently working on the tone, I've done the tabs and I'm going to record and cover the song tomorrow, probably will share in a few weeks. I'm not %100 sure if he used a big muff or boss hm-2 but I think it's hm-2. so signal chain is: boss cs-2 -> hm-2 -> boss ce-2 -> delay -> hiwatt + mesa boogie

[@JorgeCampos12345]

@@mustyguitar thank you! Im going to give it a try. I really apreciate your videos,

[@riphopfer5816]

Gilmour used a Les Paul with P 90s for the original recording of Comfortably Numb solo.

[@mustyguitar]

That’s the solo for another brick in the wall

[@riphopfer5816]

@@mustyguitar You’re absolutely correct. Thanks for the clarification. However, I know he used that same Goldtop Les Paul for the Comfortably Numb solo at quite a few concerts when they were touring the Wall, and he would play the solo atop a motorised lift that gave the impression that he was standing atop the cardboard Wall that had been in construction over the course of the concert.

[@sethstopcallingmeryandickh9067]

​@@riphopfer5816 I believe that was Snowy White with Roger Waters solo tour

[@robertkirk6250]

The effects for the tone rotary speaker delay Rams Head

[@stevecorens6375]

Great video. However, the tone is also caused by David Gilmour’s touch and feel. Besides, we don’t have the same hands and fingers than DG. And finally, speaking for myself in the first place, we lack the genius and talent 😉

[@htcauhtcaux8354]

I think DSoT sound 1988 is best. It has great romantic delay. The sound is rich, long and most atmospheric.

[@8BRInteractive]

Holy fried crab brains in a smoked okra and monkey snot sauce. The 1980s "Wall Live" tone is like a generic teenage Van Halen fanboy with an el cheapo Vester, Peavey's cheapest amp, a flanger with the same settings used for covering "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love", and a randomly-set delay. The "In Concert" tone is like trying to cover this song using Albert King's set-up. And the "Live At Pompeii" is the bastard child of the two previous ones. Ick.

[@KYCDK]

honestly I think the reason it doesn't sound exactly like the live 1980 tone is cause the live version seems to be recorded fairly poorly, sounds like the mics were placed really far away or they put too much of the stadium's reverb into the mix

[@mustyguitar]

well, there are better recordings of course, I'm not going to excuse my tones. But you're right, there are a lot of crappy bootlegs.

ismine hiç bakmamıştım, yabancı sandım , parmağıyla "but but" 3:45 , deyince bu Türk dedim.

Pink Floyd fanı olarak bu video için teşekkür ediyorum, harika olmuş, emeğinize sağlık.

[@aliasandmore2316]

joe satriani the forgotten lutfen

[@mattgilbert7347]

Kink FX make a great HM2 clone

[@mattgilbert7347]

Devtech make a good G2 clone.

[@mattgilbert7347]

Devtech and Kink FX are both wonderful Australian pedal builders

[@bahram1471]

Like Like Like Like Like Like Like Like Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@titosantana1340]

👏👏👏👏🎸

[@gregpegel2080]

No one can match the secret tone 😢

[@andresffacevedo]

And the settings?????????????? 🙄🙄🙄🙄

[@mustyguitar]

Settings depend on a lot of things and if I were to explain everything, this video would take hours :)

[@chillpanda27]

Settings depend on the amp, guitar, pickups, etc etc etc... this is why you will never get David's EXACT sound unless you have his amp, guitar, pickups, cables.. fingers

[@KYCDK]

honestly not a fan of delicate sound of thunder, chorus + muff sounds like nails on chalkboard to me, I hate it, I hate CE-2 style chorus pedals (most common chorus pedals) flanger and rotary are just better

[@mustyguitar]

Amen brother!

[@Tyrannosaurine]

Totally. I am a guitarist in a kinda heavy, but very spacey band. I use a lot of effect pedals. I HATE chorus. It sounds bad to me. I use phaser(s) Filter effects (Q-Tron/Wah-Wah) Flanger Tremolo Rotary (which is like if chorus sounded good) But I just don’t like chorus

[@KYCDK]

@@Tyrannosaurine rotary is just a more interesting chorus and for subtle modulation flanger is just more interesting chorus but more in your face modulation basically pick which one you want, flanger for big modulation, rotary for subtle modulation I like it when non chorus pedals can do chorus, because they do it in a more interesting way, eg electric mistress or even getting a tape delay and making it really short, kinda makes it more organic sounding.

[@lightningstrikes7314]

Sounds like you're living in the past, you're stuck in the 70s. Times and guitar tones move on.