Beginners can play this iconic Pink Floyd riff!

Develop your guitar skills by practicing 'Wish You Were Here.' :)

Learn how to play a beginner version of the Wish You Were Here riff by Pink Floyd on the acoustic guitar! This ballad is an all-time party favorite - people love to sing along to this song. It's also an excellent riff exercise to practice those stuck 3&4 chords. There are loads of good stuff there, which will be great for you to explore!

2️⃣ Grade 2+. Wish You Were Here is excellent to practice all the things we learn in the JustinGuitar Beginner Course - Grade 2.

To play the riff for Wish You Were Here as a beginner, you'll need to:

Use a slightly thicker pick
Fingerpick individual notes
Listen to the rhythm by ear.

In this lesson, we'll focus on learning the riff as a practical exercise to use the techniques we're learning in this course! Check out the full song tutorial here if you want to learn the entire song.

How to Play the 'Wish You Were Here' Riff

This simplified riff version is almost the same as the original. The original has a few more subtle things: extra strums, hammer finger techniques, and fingerpicking variations. But my simplified version makes it so much easier to play for beginners! And it sounds just as cool.

This riff has a mixture of picking out notes individually and then strumming. I recommend using a thicker pick - it'll help ring out those individual notes!

'Wish You Were Here' - Guitar Chords

The Wish You Were Here chords start with the stuck 3&4 Chords in open G. Then, you'll play an open A string and an open D string. In the intro, only use down picks for now. As you progress and feel more confident with the chords, you'll be able to get fancy and add some picking variations.

There is an Em 7 in there - and there's no way around this stretchy chord. E minor 7 chords will be tricky! Getting that stretch between those two fingers is hard work! So it's normal if the transition isn't flawless at first!

And it might be tempting - but don't use your thumb to reach over the fretboard and mute the thickest string. Doing this will cause more problems and muscle pain - and you'll need your muscle intact for an upcoming barre chords lesson.

So, make sure you keep your thumb right behind the neck of your guitar fretboard - and keep it there!

Wish You Were Here Rhythm

You might find counting the rhythm for this riff a bit challenging. The best way to learn this is by listening to the original recording. So please give it a few listens to understand how it rhythmically flows.

Don't worry too much about the rhythm! This song is in 16th note counting, which we deal with in the intermediate course. For now, focus on knowing where things fall on the beat! If you need to, tap your foot to help guide you - it'll be easier than counting out loud!

I hope you enjoy learning this awesome Pink Floyd tune! If you want to have a bit of a laugh, then go and check out how Nitsuj's attempt! You can watch him fumble my way through this song, and maybe you'll relate to some of his struggles :)

'Wish You Were Here' - Free Tabs for Beginners!

Here are free guitar tabs to help you learn Wish You Were Here faster! But long-term, you'll need to memorize the song rather than play it from paper. :)

Beginner, easy tabs for Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd on the guitar.

💡 Get full tabs, chords, and lyrics to follow along with over 700 song lessons! Check out JustinGuitarTabs and start your free trial right now. :)

👉 Have some fun with it! When you're ready, let's get into some practical Theory with notes in the open position!