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Pink Floyd - Hey You - Guitar Cover

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Key G minor
Pink Floyd - Hey You guitar cover video
Kfir Ochaion
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The Wall album cover
The Wall
1979 4:40
Listen on Spotify
Pink Floyd Progressive Rock 1979 G minor
Capo Advisor 0 G minor · Original key

About Hey You

From the bleak midpoint of The Wall, "Hey You" opens with one of the most recognisable fingerpicked acoustic passages in Pink Floyd's catalogue. That intro figure sits in G minor and moves through a series of chord shapes that demand clean, deliberate fingerpicking rather than strumming. The real challenge is keeping the picking hand relaxed at 120 BPM while the fretting hand stretches into some awkward minor voicings low on the neck. When David Gilmour enters with the electric lead, the tone shifts completely, and replicating that singing, sustain-heavy quality requires careful attention to pick attack and vibrato. The outro solo is the hardest single section, with wide bends and legato phrasing that feel natural at full speed but fall apart when first learned. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop that solo passage slowed down until each bend lands precisely in pitch before you bring the tempo back up. E Standard tuning throughout means no retuning is needed, which at least keeps the setup simple for a song that asks plenty of everything else.

  • The opening section uses fingerpicked acoustic guitar in G minor, requiring clean string separation across some wide, low-neck chord voicings.
  • The electric lead tone relies heavily on sustain and vibrato, so practising Gilmour-style finger vibrato slowly is essential before attempting the outro solo.
  • At 120 BPM in E Standard tuning, the song sits at a moderate tempo, but the outro solo contains wide bends that need careful intonation work.

How to Play Hey You

Tuning: E Standard · Key: G minor · Tempo: 74 BPM

Loop each section and focus on clean, even timing rather than speed, with the metronome at 74 BPM.

Fender Stratocaster
Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

Gilmour's 1969 Black Strat is his primary instrument, offering glassy neck pickup tones perfect for his singing bends and the warm, rounded character that defines Pink Floyd's melodic solos without harsh brightness.

Fender Telecaster
Guitar

Fender Telecaster

This workhorse guitar provided Gilmour with a brighter, more cutting tone for rhythm work and alternative textures, offering the snap and clarity needed for Pink Floyd's diverse sonic palette across studio and live performances.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Gilmour's 1955 Les Paul Goldtop, fitted with original P-90 pickups, delivers the thick, gritty midrange essential for iconic solos like Comfortably Numb's outro, providing tonal weight and sustain that Strats cannot match.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

Though less documented than the Goldtop, this model would offer similar thick, sustained tones with enhanced versatility through multiple pickup switching, supporting Gilmour's need for varied textures within complex Pink Floyd arrangements.

Fender Twin Reverb
Amp

Fender Twin Reverb

Gilmour used Twin Reverbs for their exceptional clean headroom and built-in reverb, creating spacious, shimmering textures that complement his delay-heavy effects chain and define Pink Floyd's atmospheric, three-dimensional soundscapes.

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Pedal

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah

The Cry Baby opens Gilmour's effects chain, allowing expressive vocal-like phrasing on solos, integral to Pink Floyd's emotional delivery and creating dynamic dynamic tonal sweeps that enhance the band's psychedelic and progressive character.

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