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Published: March 25, 2026
Video Description
🎸 How to play Free Fallin' on guitar by Tom Petty with this step-by-step guitar tutorial
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(Taylor 254CE Plus 12-String. I used a 12-string for this lesson because the original studio recording features a 12-string guitar. But don't worry, everything I teach in this video works exactly the same on a regular 6-string. The chords, the strumming, the capo positions, all identical. A 12-string just doubles each string so it sounds fuller, but your fretting hand does the exact same thing either way.)
In this lesson I'm showing you two different methods to play Free Fallin' by Tom Petty on guitar, and each method has three levels of complexity so you can start wherever feels comfortable and build from there. Method 1 is how Tom Petty actually plays it live, with a capo on the 1st fret using E, Asus2 and Bsus4. Method 2 uses a capo on the 3rd fret with D, G and A chord shapes. Both methods sound great, and the three levels let you ease into it at your own pace.
This is one of those songs that just uses three chords the whole way through, which makes it a fantastic tune for anyone working on their chord shapes and transitions. Whether you're just getting comfortable switching between chords or you want to tighten up your strumming, this one will help you build some real momentum. Each level adds a little more detail to your strumming, but even the first level sounds awesome on its own.
Here's a cool bit of trivia for you: Tom Petty originally wrote this song just to make producer Jeff Lynne laugh in the studio. He threw together that first verse as a joke, and when Lynne suggested the word "freefalling" for the chorus, Petty sang it at a higher octave but couldn't fit the whole word in one breath. So he sang "freeee" then "free falling," and they both immediately knew they had something special. The whole song was written and recorded in just two days.
00:00 LESSON PREVIEW
01:24 INTRO CHORDS (STANDARD TUNING)
03:32 VERSE CHORDS (STANDARD TUNING)
04:54 PRECHORUS CHORDS (STANDARD TUNING)
05:57 CHORUS CHORDS (STANDARD TUNING)
07:00 BRIDGE CHORDS (STANDARD TUNING)
07:11 CHORUS 3 CHORDS (STANDARD TUNING)
07:37 CHORUS 4 CHORDS (STANDARD TUNING)
08:01 LEAD GUITAR INTRO (STANDARD TUNING)
09:28 INTRO CHORDS (STUDIO TUNING)
11:46 VERSE CHORDS (STUDIO TUNING)
12:38 PRECHORUS CHORDS (STUDIO TUNING)
13:14 CHORUS CHORDS (STUDIO TUNING)
14:04 BRIDGE CHORDS (STUDIO TUNING)
14:16 CHORUS 3 CHORDS (STUDIO TUNING)
14:45 CHORUS 4 CHORDS (STUDIO TUNING)
14:54 LEAD GUITAR INTRO (STUDIO TUNING)
16:33 SONG PLAYTHROUGH (STANDARD TUNING)
22:04 SONG PLAYTHROUGH (STANDARD TUNING)
Big thanks to Eric Ben for his vocals on this track, check out his Youtube channel here - https://www.youtube.com/user/ericbengayomali
Enjoy! Like this #FreeFallin video by #TomPetty and subscribe to the channel for more videos in the future!
-Dave Tran (Your online guitar teacher)
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