“Wish You Were Here” in DADGAD tuning
Like so many guitar players, I learned Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” back in the day, with that ringing guitar riff originally played by David Gilmour on a 12-string guitar.
Wish You Were Here remains my favorite Pink Floyd album, from the haunting title track to the epic “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” with Gilmour’s achingly beautiful melodic guitar solos.
In any case, I hadn’t played or sung “Wish You Were Here” in years, until I recently happened upon a new way to play the signature riff. In that riff, Gilmour plays an Em7, G, and A7sus4 with the same two notes on top: G (first string, third fret) and D (second string, third fret). As a guitar arranger, whenever I notice a pattern of repeating fretted notes like that, I start wondering…what if those were on open strings?
So I began experimenting, and I discovered that if I tuned to DADGAD and added a capo at the fifth fret, those high notes of Gilmour’s riff were on open strings.
Which led me to the complete arrangement above, published by Acoustic Guitar magazine. Read more about the arrangement in this article.
Find the complete notation/tab:
In the book DADGAD Guitar Essentials, which includes in-depth lessons with Pierre Bensusan, Laurence Juber, and other masters, and 17 full songs to play.
An audio download of my arrangement is also available on Patreon.
