Song Lesson – Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd is an enduring force in psychedelic, progressive, art, and experimental rock. The classic rock riffs, powerful lyrics, and unique approaches in their songs make them so popular among many generations. While they have many great tunes to play on the guitar there is one that is perfect for both those learning how to play guitar and advanced players. Here is a song lesson on how to play “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd.

Once you know the changes it will be easy to add embellishment to make the song sound as it does on the album.

Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” is the perfect guitar song for beginners and even advanced players.

Song Background and Structure

There are stories that claim this song is about former member Syd Barrett but that has not been fully confirmed by Pink Floyd members Waters and Gilmour. What is true though is that they collaborated on a song that has incredible meaning for many of its listeners. This song has a simple but strong chord progression that provides a feeling of loss, loneliness, and heartbreak.

Some aspects of this song will not translate into home guitar playing, like you cannot copy the radio sound effects in the beginning. And since there are also two guitars playing at times you will have to pick the right notes to keep the melody going. The intro riff was originally played on a 12-string but will work on a 6-string.

The opening riff and main theme of the song starts it off and continues in one way or another throughout the song. While this opening riff plays, a simple guitar solo accompanies it until we get to the lyrics of the opening verse. Once this verse is done we move into an instrumental that once again copies the opening riff. The chorus does not come in until we are over halfway done with the song at the 3-minute mark.

The Chords of “Wish You Were Here”

Before you worry about any single note picking, make sure you have the guitar chords of the song down first. Once you know the changes it will be easy to add embellishment to make the song sound as it does on the album. Since you probably have this melody memorised you can sing it while we strum our first chords.

When the opening riff starts there are 4 pickup notes before the first measure which is an Em7 (020000), next a G major (320003) is played before this all repeats. Then we go into Em7 again but in the next measure this time it’s A7 sus4 (X02030) and this also repeats again before ending the opening riff on a G chord. Play along with the song to listen to these changes.

Em7-G X 2

Em7-A7sus4 X 2

Before moving to G and then into the next part

Without even looking at tabs you can start to flesh out the notes that play in between the chords because we are in G major or E minor, which means our riff will be built around the G pentatonic scale. The opening notes of “Wish You Were Here” are (E string) 3 (A string) 0 hit 2 (D string) 0 2 which fits the G pentatonic scale. Play this riff and then hit Em7.

After we hit the Em7 we will play the 2^nd fret on the A string, the open D string, then back to A string with the 2^nd fret to open A before hitting the G major. This opening riff repeats before playing the D string (2-0) and the A string (2-0) and playing the A7sus4. It finally ends by playing the open A, hitting the second fret there, and landing on the G chord. This will end our opening riff and leave us ready to move into the song.

After the opening riff, we move into the main verse with the chords changing each measure with C–D–Am-G-D-C-Am-G. The D can also be played as a slash chord D/F# and the Am as Am/E if we want to make it sound closer to the original. Keep it simple at first and play those chords along with the song, changing as necessary. Another verse plays the same before moving into the first instrumental which follows the same Em7-G Em7-A7sus4-G as the intro.

The chorus repeats the same verse chords but with a stronger playing of the C-D-Am-G-D-C-Am-G before moving into the same opening riff and some scat singing that continues as the song ends. The song has way more repeated motifs than most students realise, so once you have the intro and basic chords, it is mostly ready to go! Each chord change is easy to find if you play as you listen.

Further Embellishment and Solos

Your notes added in will be 1/8^th and 1/16^th lengths between the chords above and as mentioned they will follow the scales of what you are already playing. This song can be as hard as you want it to be. If all you do is learn the opening riff and then play the chord changes it will sound great. In fact most people prefer a good singing rendition of this cover as opposed to perfect playing.

If you have another guitarist to play with then it will be easier to do a proper version, especially if you are playing the solos. The first solo is mostly played on the G and B strings on the second to fifth frets to fit the same pentatonic scale as above. The tabs of this solo are some of the easiest to learn. Or you can even try to do it by ear, it is great practice and a perfect song to do it with. For step-by-step video instruction on playing this solo, check out the Wish You Were Here lesson tutorial on Guitar Tricks.

The next solo has part of the intro playing underneath it, for that solo part you will be mostly on the B and high E strings on the 10^th and 12^th fret. We are basically just playing the main hook as the beginning but in a higher octave. Of course, without a second guitarist, this may be hard to pull off alone.

Don’t worry about nailing all the fancy parts of the song at first. Learn the intro chords along with the verse and chorus and focus on getting your changes made right. Once you can sing the lyrics and it sounds good then start adding in embellishment and extra melody. The more you figure out by ear the better the song will sound, try to use tabs as a last resort.

Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” is the perfect guitar song for beginners and even advanced players. For those just starting out it has very simple chords and riffs that aren’t hard to memorise. If you are a more advanced player you can focus on a refined solo and great tone. Either way if you play this for an audience, outdoor event, or even around the campfire you are sure to find many folks singing along to such a great hit!