[Chris Meck]

As a guitarist, one of the most difficult and rewarding things I've ever done is three different theatrical runs of 'The Wall'. Though I'd been a fan of Floyd and of that record since I was a kid, I did not realize just how orchestrated the guitar parts are. Almost every phrase appears in different form in different songs throughout, and the only unique appearances of any phrase serve as bridges to those phrases. If that makes any sense.

I spent about 6 weeks, a couple hours a day, working through that record to get it note for note once I realized that there was no improvising anything. It's just a towering work, it really is.

The other thing that was incredibly difficult is copping Gilmour's utterly unhurried delivery. The man plays SO FAR on the back of the beat he's almost late; but that's what makes you hang on every note. The tension and release he creates is just amazing.

I've gotten to do quite a few really cool things as a musician; toured in Europe, toured the states more times than I can remember, been a sideman for a lot of my heroes, but if you told 14 year old Chris Meck he'd get to play the Comfortably Numb solo(s) and nail 'em in front of standing room only audiences multiple times-well, that would have been enough to make it all worthwhile right there. As lame as that might seem, tapping into that controlled fury and feeling room packed full of people just freaking out...well, that's what music is all about, at it's highest level.

All of these kids do a nice job, by the way. But Gilmour's really all about the TONE, and the PHRASING, and it's really hard to nail that emotional content, that controlled fury. So the two guys there have it closest; the first guy wins on the 'not rushing' front. Second guy mostly has it, but does get out in front a little, and it DOES lessen impact. But extra points for doing the live version from Pulse. I snuck a little of the ending of that second Pulse solo in the last few times we did that. It was fun that some people noticed that and freaked out a little extra. The first girl is really technically good, but she's too far on front of the beat, the phrasing is off, and her sonic choices aren't my favorite. The last girl is doing more of an 'inspired by' kind of take, she's a good player, but it's not the specific solo so much.

Thanks Stryker for alerting me. This was fun!