Whether you think they are overrated or you can’t get enough of their music, you can’t deny that Pink Floyd is one of the biggest Rock bands to come out of the 20th century.
In fact, a few years ago David Gilmour’s famous “The Black Strat” guitar, which was used in some of the band’s biggest songs, was sold at auction for almost 4 million dollars!
And Roger Waters is still touring… unfortunately popping up in the news for all the wrong reasons as he seems to stick his foot in his mouth quite frequently.
In a testament to just how big Pink Floyd was, during the rise of the Punk Rock scene in 1970s Britain, they and other hugely successful bands were so popular that they were often demonized as “dinosaurs”, music that young people just couldn’t identify with.
But I don’t think that’s entirely correct, and even the Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten eventually admitted that he really likes Pink Floyd.
Maybe the giant budgets for albums, the grandiose touring shows, and double LP concept albums could be off-putting, but musically, I find most Pink Floyd songs to be very balanced.
They certainly weren’t shredders and I feel like the instruments were always subservient to the song, rather than the song serving as a vehicle to show off musical chops.
So there are plenty of Pink Floyd songs that are suitable for beginner to intermediate players.
And if you only know songs from the biggest albums such as Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, and Wish You Were Here, there’s a lot more to discover!
So grab your guitar and get ready to take a trip back in time to find out why Pink Floyd is still a household name after half a century.
1. Flaming
This is a track off of Pink Floyd’s first album titled The Piper at the Gates of Dawn in 1967, the same year that the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released.
And if this one sounds a little different than what you’re expecting from a Pink Floyd song, that’s because of the influence of original member Syd Barrett who wrote most of the album’s songs.
Basically, it is more Psychedelic than the band’s later work, which would come to be known as Progressive Rock.
And it’s a quick song to learn with one chord progression and a simple strumming pattern repeated through the whole thing.
This is how to play the song.
E D Bm A (Asus4 A Asus2 A – played as a fill)
E A D F E
And here’s a lesson:
2. Pigs on the Wing Part 1
This song comes off of the album Animals, which was a big success but I think its popularity has waned compared to the band’s other albums from the mid-1970s.
Each song on the album deals with an animal in some way, and most of the songs are quite dark.
However, this one is quite mellow and has a positive vibe, just warning to look out for pigs on the wing, a reference to fighter planes in a pilot’s blindspot.
It’s a simple composition with just guitar and vocals so you can learn it in a matter of minutes once you have memorized the song’s melody.
Here are the chords for the song.
Intro: G C
Verse: G C Cadd4 C G Csus2 G (play two times)
A G A G A7
G C D G Am F Am F C C/B Am
D Dsus4 D G
And here’s a lesson:
3. Welcome to the Machine
One of my favorite trippy Floyd songs comes from Wish You Were Here.
And this album, which a handful of music critics thought would be a flop, has gone down in history as an incredible musical achievement.
The lyrics on this song (and album) still hit just as hard today as they did when it came out almost half a century ago, which is one of the hallmarks of great music.
For example, just think about how well the lines “Where have you been? It’s all right, we know where you’ve been” relate to data collection technology these days.
And it’s also an album full of amazing guitar work, mixed with (but not overshadowed) lots of Space Rock synthesizers.
But it can easily be stripped down to perform solo and would make a great campfire song on an acoustic. And that Emadd9 chord just sounds so good!
Here is a breakdown of the non-instrumental parts of the song.
Intro: Emadd9 Cmaj7 Emadd9
Verse 1: Em Cmaj7 Emadd9 C
Am Em C Emadd9
C Em Cmaj7 Emadd9
Verse 2 is similar with some of the chord voicings slightly changed (highlighted in bold).
Em Cmaj7 Emadd9 C
A Em Cmaj7 Emadd9
Cmaj7 Emadd9 Cmaj7 Emadd9
And here’s a lesson:
4. Wish You Were Here
The title track from the same album is a masterclass in how to write simple but effective guitar chord progressions.
And the lyrics that deal with being “present” in the moment feel more important than ever, with most people more excited about taking pictures of everything than actually “being here” and just experiencing the moment!
You can watch the linked video tutorial to learn the single-note transitions between chords but the actual song is easy as pie.
Here is how to play the song.
Intro played with walk-up / walk-downs:
Em7 G (two times)
Em7 A7sus4 (two times) G
Verse: C D/F# Am/E G
D/F# C Am G
Instrumental bridge is played like the intro!
And here’s a lesson:
5. Comfortably Numb
If you’ve been going through these songs in order, you may have noticed that none of the songs so far have had actual choruses, but that’s about to change with this song from The Wall.
This absolute monster of a song is like a guided tour of what it’s like to get hooked on narcotics yet it somehow remains transcendent and uplifting.
Even fictional Mafia boss Tony Soprano loved this song, singing it in the hit HBO crime drama.
And… it has some of the most famous guitar solos by the inimitable David Gilmour that have ever been committed to tape.
They’re definitely amazing solos and it’s more about the emotional playing than difficulty, but let’s take a look at the core of the song.
Verse 1: Bsus2 Bm A G G/F# Em Bm (repeat 3 times)
Verse 2: same chord progression as Verse 1 repeated two times but you can omit the G/F# chord.
Chorus: D A D A G/B C G G/B C G (play two times)
A G/B Cadd9 G D (on the second chorus play Asus4 before the A chord here)
And here’s a lesson:
6. Money
7. Have a Cigar
8. Breathe (In the Air)
9. Hey You
10. Another Brick in the Wall Part 2
11. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I – V)
12. Time
13. Goodbye Blue Sky
14. Run Like Hell (You need a delay effect to do this one!)
15. The Great Gig in the Sky
16. Us and Them
17. Lost for Words
18. Young Lust
19. Interstellar Overdrive
20. Brain Damage
21. High Hopes
Hello there, my name is Ramiro and I’ve been playing guitar for almost 20 years. I’m obsessed with everything gear-related and I thought it might be worth sharing it. From guitars, pedals, amps, and synths to studio gear and production tips, I hope you find what I post here useful, and I’ll try my best to keep it entertaining also.
