With over five million tickets sold for performances all across the globe, The Australian Pink Floyd Show are undisputed champions when it comes to recreating the music of the world’s most celebrated prog rock band. And they even come with an official stamp of approval – David Gilmour was so impressed by them, he invited the group to perform at his 50th birthday party. Here, Steve McElroy, the guitarist who helped start the project all the way back in 1988, talks us through the tools needed to emulate those genre-defining sounds and explains why the Pink Floyd guitarist is in a class of his own when it comes to channelling emotion…
David Gilmour and Fender Strats are, quite simply, a match made in heaven. Why do you think the formula works?
It’s rare to see photographs of David playing anything else, though he has very occasionally used Telecasters and even Les Pauls. He was such a big Hank Marvin fan, so the revered Strat was what he gravitated towards. Syd Barrett [original Floyd guitarist and vocalist] played Danelectros and Telecasters, so when David joined, he was expected to use the same instruments, but obviously he
