Learn to play "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam!

Last Kiss was recorded in 1964 by J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers and became a hit when Pearl Jam played it live in 1998.

Pearl Jam’s remake of Last Kiss has a cool backstory! They only released it as a single because radio stations had access to an exclusive record, and it had already become extremely popular before release!

The band had a condition, though: all the profits from The Last Kiss single should go to Kosovo’s refugees. :) I love when bands use their music to help people out!

This one’s great for beginners because it has a repeating four-chord progression and Old Faithful will do the job. But there are a couple of unusual bits - we’ll need to play some stops on G, and the song starts with a chorus. :)

Last Kiss by Pearl Jam on Guitar: Chord Progression

As mentioned, there’s only one chord sequence in Last Kiss. It’s G, Em, C, and D. I prefer Rock G in this context, but otherwise the chord grips are standard. :) Easy peasy!

At the end of each verse and chorus, we play one bar of G then strum on the first beat of the next bar and let it ring out.

Last Kiss by Pearl Jam: Basic Strumming Pattern

Let’s start nice and simple with the Old Faithful pattern. Make sure you feel nice and relaxed while you strum - that’s so important. And don’t worry if you add extra strums or forget a couple - just keep your hand moving consistently. :)

You’ll probably get fed up of this pattern quite soon; it’s tricky to make it work for a whole song. And there are loads of delicious things to steal from Pearl Jam's version of Last Kiss, like picked fingerstyle and chord ornaments. So let’s check ‘em out!

Last Kiss by Pearl Jam on Guitar: Picked Fingerstyle

The picked fingerstyle part works great if you have another guitarist playing chords. There’s no set pattern - just try strumming the full chord on beat 1 then picking out individual notes for the rest of the bar. Keep your hand moving consistently too.

🎸 Picked Fingerstyle: explore this technique in more detail with my Intermediate lesson on Picked Fingerstyle.

You might like to add some ornaments by adding or removing fingers from the basic open-chord grips. On the C chord, for example, I like lifting off finger 2 to reveal the 2nd and lifting off finger 1 to reveal the 7th. You can also try adding finger 4 to fret 3 of string 2 to get a Cadd9 sound. But always trust your ear - if it sounds good, it is good. ;)

💡 Chord Explorer: Want some cool ideas for your guitar embellishments? Check out these Chord Explorer lessons: G chord explorer, D chord explorer, C chord explorer.

Picked fingerstyle is a little deceptive. It looks simple, but it takes a bit of practice until it feels natural and automatic. So start on the G, get used to the technique, then try it with other chords and add those embellishments.

You can even go down the Pearl Jam route and have two guitars exploring these embellishments at the same time. You might just end up with some amazing weaving…

That’s all there is to Last Kiss. Now it’s time for some practice. ;) Laters!

🎵 Want chords, tabs, and lyrics to follow along with my song tutorials for guitar? Check out JustinGuitar Tabs!