The Who - Baba O'riley

How to play The Who - Baba O'riley by Zumie94 on guitar

This song is a great beginner pick because it has a strong, driving feel and a repeating progression that locks in quickly. You get to focus on steady timing and clean changes, and once it clicks, it feels powerful and satisfying to play along with.

You can lean on the open shapes F, Dm, C, E, and G, but the harder barre shapes A#, Fm, A#m, and Cm will ask for more hand strength and clean muting. The main change to watch is the opening move from F to A# to Fm and back to A#, since that shift is the one most likely to slow you down.

Start by looping the opening progression very slowly and making each change without stopping. Then practice the barre shapes on their own, add the open shapes, and only after that bring it up to the full tempo. Keep your strums even and let the pattern feel automatic before you try to push speed.

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.