Free Fallin'

How to play Free Fallin' by Tom Petty on guitar

These are the sounding chords. With a capo on fret 1 you play E, B, A, the shapes the player above shows.

Free Fallin' is a great beginner song because the groove is relaxed, familiar, and easy to settle into. You get a steady, singable feel that lets you focus on clean changes instead of speed, so it is a good one for building confidence.

You will mostly move between open F and C, with A# as the harder barre shape. The main thing to watch is the jump into A# in the opening cycle F - C - F - A#, since that change can slow you down if your hand is not ready.

Start by looping the opening progression very slowly, then practice just the move into A# until it feels smooth. After that, add the full chord cycle and keep the tempo steady, increasing speed only when the changes stay clean.

Use the play-along above to follow each chord change in time with the music, or learn the shapes first with the chord diagrams below.