Gonna See My Friend chords by Pearl Jam

I’m Gonna See My Friend

Pearl Jam, from the album Backspacer.

Chords by Tom Richmond (tomrichmond@gmail.com)

A pretty straight forward rock song to play, it’s
pretty much all power chords (Or 5th chords, to be
technical...) As with most Pearl Jam stuff there is
lots of harmonising going on between the different
guitars and the Bass. During the intro Mike McCready
is playing what sounds like a flatted 2nd over the B,
but I couldn’t find a good way of replicating this
with just one guitar, any suggestion welcome! Also,
in the bridge section (A, G, F#, E “Wanna leave it
all…”) Jeff Ament is holding down the chords that I
have listed, while Stone seems to be playing more of
an ascending riff, however, the bass is definitely the
dominant chord and the one that sounds best (to me
anyway) when played with one guitar. Again, any ideas
are welcome. Also, what I have suggested in the chorus
playing a E5/G is representative of a bass riff, but
sounds good… If you listen carefully the bass also
plays an A sometimes, so if you have flexible fingers
you might be able to get your little finger onto the
5th fret (without muting the A string!) Do what you
like!

On the intro I play a barred B and A chord, with index
and little finger. I mute the bass string with the top
of my index finger and the treble string with my little
finger. I find that if I play the full chord (ie: add
in the treble string) it doesn’t fit with the 5th
chords later on in the riff.

     A
e:--x---x--------------------------------------------|
B:--4---2--------------------------------------------|
G:--4---2--------------------------------------------|
D:--4---2--------------------------------------------|
A:--2---0--------------------------------------------|
E:--x---x--------------------------------------------|

For the chorus I play E5 with my index finger only, and use my middle finger to
hammer on to the G, 3rd fret sixth string.

    E5…
e:--x----x-x----x-x-x--x-----------------------------|
B:--x----x-x----x-x-x--x-----------------------------|
G:--x----x-x----x-x-x--x-----------------------------|
D:--2----2-2----2-2-2--2-----------------------------|
A:--2----2-2----2-2-2--2-----------------------------|
E:--0----0-0----3-0-3--0-----------------------------|
    I’m gonna   see my friend…


Intro: A…

F#5
Do you want to hear something sad?
           F#5
we are but victims of desire
F#5
I'm gonna shake this day
                   F#5
I wanna shake this day before I retire

E5       (E5/G)
I'm gonna see my friend
         (E5/D5
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away
E5         (E5/G)
I'm sick of everything
         (E5/G)                 (E5/G)     D5
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away

F#5
Well I said I... I won't be long before we all walk off the wire
     B5
     F#5
Well I'm gonna see my friend, I'm gonna see my friend for what I require
F#5
Well I said I will come in quick
              F#5
don't want my flame to get no higher

E5        (E5/G)
I'm gonna see my friend
          (E5/G)                (E5/G)     D5
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away
E5          (E5/G)
I'm sick of everything
          (E5/G)                (E5/G)     D5
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away
E5        (E5/G)
I'm gonna see my friend
          (E5/G)                (E5/G)     D5
gonna see my friend, make it go away

E5,

A5
Wanna leave it all
G5
Wanna give it up
E5
Wanna see it gone once and for all

A5
Wanna feel withdrawl
G5
Want an overhaul
F#5
Wanna be there
E5
Hard as a statue, black as a tattoo
E5
Never to wash away

F#5
Gonna take me an astral plane
          F#5
I'm gonna tunnel through denial
    F#5
But I'm gonna shake this thing
                   F#5
I wanna shake this thing before I retire

E5        (E5/G)
I'm gonna see my friend
          (E5/G)                 (E5/G)     D5
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away
E5          (E5/G)
I'm sick of everything
          (E5/G)                 (E5/G)     D5
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away
E5        (E5/G)
I'm gonna see my friend
          (E5/G)                 (E5/G)     D5
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away

A…


Enjoy it! I'm working on the rest of the album, mail
me if you want to get any of the songs quicker...