Nail the TonePink Floyd

Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd · Wish You Were Here · 1975

The rhythm part is pure acoustic guitar with no amp: Gilmour's 1969 Martin D-35 six-string for the close, warm strummed accompaniment, layered against the 1971 Martin D12-28 twelve-string that carries the main riff. The famous distant intro is not a different guitar but the same performance EQ'd hard into a midrange-only, AM-radio band, with real radio interference from his car cassette deck laid on top. To play it, run a dreadnought clean and flat with the bass trimmed and the mids up, and save any lo-fi EQ trick for the intro only.

Where these numbers come from: worked out from the documented rig and the sound of the record

Tuning

Standard tuning, no capo

Standard tuning throughout; the distant intro/main riff is a 12-string (Martin D12-28) and the closer, fuller strummed accompaniment and solos are a 6-string dreadnought (Martin D-35), so the full record is two guitars layered.

Part: Rhythm

Guitar

  • Martin D-35 (1969) · none (mic'd acoustic) · n/a
  • Martin D12-28 (1971) 12-string · none (mic'd acoustic) · n/a

Amp

Mic into console (no guitar amp)

The acoustics went to tape through a mic and the Abbey Road EMI desk, not through a guitar amp; Gilmour said the radio-sounding 12-string was made by EQ'ing a copy of the mix "very middly," pulling out the bass and most of the high top.

Amp

Acoustic combo / DI + PA (clean, for playing it live)

GAIN
3.0
BASS
4.5
MID
6.0
TREBLE
6.0
PRESENCE
5.0
REVERB
2.0

Practical modern equivalent, not on the record: back off the bass so a dreadnought doesn't get boomy, keep mids up for the woody midrange of the album take, just a touch of reverb.

Pedals

  • Console EQ (mix processing) · EQ / lo-fi radio effect · On a copy of the mix: bass and most of the top rolled off, heavy midrange boost around 1-2 kHz, bandpass for an AM-radio sound
  • Car cassette radio (recorded to tape) · found sound / interference layer · Radio tuning and heterodyne whine recorded in Gilmour's car at Abbey Road, laid over the intro

Tone character

dry mic'd acoustic · woody midrange · thin AM-radio intro · open ringing chords · almost no reverb

easy

The chord shapes (Em7, G, A7sus4, C, D/F#, Am) are all open-position and beginner-friendly; the work is in the picked-and-strummed feel and in changing cleanly on the Em7-G-A7sus4 move without letting the ringing strings choke.

Want this on your own amp?

These are the record's settings. Tell us what you play through and we'll translate every knob to the amp you actually own — free.

Adapt it to my gear

Sources