Was David Gilmour’s slide on ‘Wish You Were Here’ in open G or standard tuning, and did he use a brass or glass slide?

David Gilmour played the slide guitar parts on Wish You Were Here (the song) while the guitar was in standard tuning (EADGBE), not open G. That’s a common misconception — plenty of players assume a slide part that soulful must be in an open chord, but Gilmour kept the standard tuning and used his vibrato control to bend into those crying microtonal notes.

The slide itself was metal, not glass or brass. Gilmour famously used a Zippo lighter on the recording (a hack he picked up early in his career), though live he often switched to a brass or steel tube. The result is that sharp, singing attack on the Martin D‑35 — glass slides tend to sound rounder and warmer, metal gives you that cutting, airy sustain. He also kept his action quite low for a slide player, relying on very light touch and fine pitch control.