Was David Gilmour’s Comfortably Numb solo really a first take? Total Guitar sets the record straight
In light of Roger Waters’ recent comments regarding Pink Floyd producer Bob Ezrin, the UK guitar magazine has clarified the situation

In 2022, producer Bob Ezrin spoke to UK guitar magazine Total Guitar – part of GuitarWorld.com’s family of brands – about his work with Pink Floyd. However, a comment that Ezrin made in this interview about the song Comfortably Numb was misconstrued by TG – so we are now clarifying exactly what Ezrin said in relation to the two guitar solos in this track, performed by David Gilmour.
Ezrin was misquoted in Total Guitar with the statement: “The second solo in Comfortably Numb was a first take.” Ezrin was in fact referring specifically to the first solo in the middle of the track when he said: “It was a first take.” But at the time, TG believed – incorrectly – that Ezrin was referring to the second solo at the end of the song.
As a result of this mistake, the incorrect quote which TG attributed to Ezrin has been repeated in recent days in various online stories in which it was also reported that former Pink Floyd bassist/vocalist Roger Waters had claimed that Bob Ezrin “lied” about the recording of the second guitar solo in Comfortably Numb.
Total Guitar is happy to set the record straight, and we offer our sincere apologies to Bob Ezrin, Roger Waters and David Gilmour for any misunderstanding arising from the interview we published in 2022.
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Content Editor at Total Guitar and freelance writer for Classic Rock since 2005, Paul Elliott has worked for leading music titles since 1985, including Sounds, Kerrang!, MOJO and Q. He is the author of several books including the first biography of Guns N’ Roses and autobiography of bodyguard-to-the-stars Danny Francis, and has written liner notes for classic album reissues by artists such as Def Leppard, Thin Lizzy and Kiss. He lives in Bath, UK – of which David Coverdale recently said, “How very Roman of you!”

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