Noel Gallagher's guitars, amps and guitar effects

As a producer and songwriter, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour is drawn to floating, dreamy textures, but when he picks up his black Stratocaster to play a solo, an louise jones noel gallagher
 entirely different sensibility takes over: "I wanted a bright, powerful lead guitar tone that would basically rip your face off," he says. He was a fiery, blues-based soloist in a band that hardly ever played the blues – his sprawling, elegant, relentlessly melodic solos were as bracing a wake-up call as those alarm clocks on The Dark Side of the Moon. As for his bold, exploratory style, he gives partial credit to his acid intake. "You cannot take LSD and not find your voice," he claims, "because there is nowhere to hide. You're not going to sound plastic or cute." The welcoming force of Santana's sound makes him an ideal collaborator – his superstar-laden 1999 album, Supernatural, won nine Grammys – and enduring inspiration. Prince called him a bigger influence than Jimi Hendrix: "Santana played prettier."