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David Gilmour - Survivor Champion
Part 1: Floyd guitarist defeats Clapton, Page
More of this Feature
• Part 2: Order of elimination
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"Page was definitely good, but... guys like David Gilmour, Hendrix, Les Paul and others are infinitely more creative and ingenius"
James
Related Resources
• Gilmour-ish Lesson 1
• Gilmour-ish Lesson 2
From Other Guides
• Pink Floyd Web Index
• Dark Side/Wizard of Oz
Elsewhere on the Web
• David Gilmour Bio
• Gilmour's Gear Set-up
• Pink Floyd guitar tabs
• Pink Floyd discography
On December 26th, 2000, at 9 AM (EST), votes were tallied, and the first Guitar Survivor champion was crowned. After 18 weeks of voting, and over 20,000 votes, only one guitarist remained... Pink Floyd's David Gilmour.
It was a long, uphill struggle for Gilmour, who surely couldn't have been considered an early favorite to take away the Guitar Survivor crown. Although he was never in real danger of elimination throughout the contest, the immense popularity of fellow UK guitarists like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page seemingly made it clear Gilmour wouldn't remain when the dust settled. The backlash against Eric Clapton (some question his intensity) and against Page (many criticize his technique) apparently worked in Gilmour's favor, however, and the last week of voting closed with Gilmour leading by several hundred votes.
Here are a few quotes from you, the Guitar Survivor voters, which might explain how Gilmour prevailed when pitted against Page and Clapton in the final weeks of voting:
"Clapton is excellent... but Gilmour can really touch the people with his solos..."

"Page is the choppiest, sloppiest player in history! That doesn't mean he isn't a great songwriter or "artist" but in terms of guitar playing - FORGET ABOUT IT!"

"Although Eric Clapton is favored by the media,I think that David Gilmour has a much stronger following."

So, that's a wrap for the first Guitar Survivor competition. Thanks to everyone who participated - I sincerely hope you had fun playing along. Look for similar contests in the future, including a "Best Guitarists Throughout History" poll. Be sure to read on for a week by week listing of who was eliminated from the Guitar Survivor competition.

Next page > Results week by week > Page 1, 2

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