Getting the Guitar Part Right
The main riff sits around B major and E major with some open string chording. David Gilmour plays this with a lot of bend-and-release work, especially on the G and D strings. If you're just learning the song and searching for a Pink Floyd Young Lust Tab, the basic version is easier than it sounds. The trick is not rushing the tempo. The studio recording is around 138 beats per minute, but live versions drag it out more and add extra phrasing. Here's what the opening riff looks like roughly: E string: 7-9-11-12 (bend the 11 up a whole step, release, then play the 12)
B string: open, 7, 9, 9 (hammer on from open) G string: 7, 9, open, 7 D string: open, 7, 7, open
The chord shapes that follow are mostly B major open position (x24442) sliding into E major (022100) and back. That slide is where most people mess up. You have to hold the B shape and slide your whole hand up five frets into E, then come right back down. It needs to be one smooth motion, not a stop-and-go thing. Count it as one beat in the riff, not two separate chords. The bridge section uses G major and D major shapes. Again, G to D is a slide, not a clean switch. Gilmour leaves his fingers on the strings while moving up the neck, which gives that smearing sound. On a clean amp setting it's audible; on a high-gain setup it becomes a bit muddy if you're not careful.
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The Slide Guitar Section
The solo and solo-adjacent parts use a bottleneck slide, usually on the middle finger. Gilmour typically uses a brass slide on a Gibson ES-335 through a Hiwatt DR103 combo. For the tab, the slide comes in on the pre-chorus and solo areas. Play it with a heavy pick attack and let the notes ring into each other. Don't try to pick every single note cleanly—the whole aesthetic relies on controlled ambiguity between notes. One specific problem I ran into when first learning this: the bent note on the 11th fret of the high E string doesn't quite reach pitch if you just do a standard full bend. You actually have to push the string sideways across the fretboard a bit, not just pull it up. My guitar had a slightly higher action at the time, so the bend wouldn't reach the target note no matter how hard I pulled. The fix was simply lowering the action on that string by about two notches on the saddle, which took maybe ten minutes with a Phillips screwdriver.
Common Pitfalls
Most beginners play the B-to-E slide too abruptly. It should be almost imperceptible to the ear—a ghost slide, not a visible transition. If someone hears where you move your hand, you're doing it wrong. Another issue is timing the final sustain. The riff ends with a feedback swell, not a clean cut. Leave the amp on and let it breathe for a second before you stop playing. This is not optional if you want it to sound anywhere near the record. The tab itself has some variations depending on who transcribed it. Some sites show the E chord as 022100, others as 022000. The difference is the open low E vs. a fretted note. The album uses the open voicing, so stick with that. Also, some tabs include an extra harmonic tap near the end of the solo that isn't actually on the original recording. Ignore it unless you specifically want that flourish.
Where to Find a Reliable Tab
Look for tabs that list the bending notation clearly and include the actual chord voicings rather than just a single-string approximation. A decent tab will show both the bent and released versions of notes, not just the target pitch. If the tab doesn't indicate bend amounts, it's probably incomplete. The song also benefits from knowing which frets are palm-muted versus open, since Gilmour mutes heavily during the verse chords but opens them up for the chorus swell. Practice the slide transitions at half tempo first. Once your hand remembers the distance without looking, bring it up to speed. The whole riff takes about thirty seconds to play through cleanly, but learning it properly will take you a few weeks if you're starting from scratch. Not because the notes are hard, but because the feel is what matters here.
