In this Phish guitar tutorial, I'll show you how to play the song “Waste.”

From the song's conception in 1996, the band performed this song live in the key of C, and etched it into stone on Billy Breathes in the same key.

Rather than demonstrate this pre-1997 version of this song, I'll show you how to play it in the key of D, as Phish has been performing it live for the past 20+ years.

This wasn't some random move, the song actually sounds WAY better in the key of D.

In this lesson, I'll go over the song's chords and rhythm on my trusty Martin acoustic electric DCX1E guitar.

If you're wondering about the scribbles on the spruce top, this guitar served as a guestbook for my wedding.



This is a beginner lesson, because I'll be showing you an easier way to play the song's intro and verse.

For you Phish purists that want to play it exactly like Trey, the tab below will show you how he voices the Intro & Verse.

The way Trey Anastasio plays it involves some fairly big left hand stretches, so beware.

In case you didn't know, he has ENORMOUS hands for a dude that's 5'8″ ish.

You can watch Phish play any post-1996 version of Waste on Youtube if you want to see it in action.

For the rest of us, I've included a PDF for this beginner lesson below the Gear section.

Page 1 is tab, page 2 contains lyrics with chord symbols.


Phish Waste Guitar Tab & Lyrics