David Gilmour vs. Jimmy Page

There are so many outstanding guitarists from the 60's and 70's like Johnny Winter, Mike Bloomfield, Peter Green etc, and I rarely hear mention of their levels or I should say their true capabilities. Paul Kossoff from Free was a bit like Gilmour and Page combining a style of both and being from that British Blues Boom era, I consider him special.

 

My personal observation of Page is the fact that he played various Les Paul lines.....and long extensive technical lines which Page adapted to the writing style of Zep. Page also tutored Jeff Beck and Beck played many of Les Paul's lines as well. On the technical side, Page was a little monster , playing notes starting at the 14th or 12th fret through a passage that led down to the 1st fret and back up again. He was really crazy!

David Gilmour plays some beautiful slide on Meddle. He is an atmospheric kind of player adding blues styles from the Mississippi Delta but, adapting it to that Space Rock Pink Floyd sound. He opens up a lot of chords ....having that B and E1st string open while producing a melodic atmosphere. His leads were always clean and inspiring.

But to compare Page and Gilmour to each other?.......I don't know but, it doesn't feel logical and the quarter placed in the vending machine does not work. Maybe Page and Beck would be more interesting to me?
During improv soloing from both on electric guitar........Dave Gilmour applies more string bending and while playing notes in a more slower fashion then Page, produces a unique sound and style. Page is sometimes all over the place producing the same effect as Gilmour at a fast pace.  The irony of course is the fact that Gilmour stated many timnes how he felt strange replacing Syd Barrett and how he felt uncomfortable even when Pink Floyd toured as a 5 piece.    But yet....it is David Gilmour who produces the most splendid versions of Syd Barrett's songs.......Astronomy Domine from Pulse...or his performance on DVD of "Dominoes".....Roger Waters doesn't seem to touch this material but, Gilmour gives it a re-birth with his beautiful guitar playing and his melodic singing voice to boot!