For this article a short lesson on how to play the intro of Pinball Wizard by the Who. The song comes orginally from the album Tommy, which was made in the late 60s. It was at a time when Pete Townshend started experimenting with sus4 chords. The Seeker is another classic example of Pete’s use of sus4 chords.

Okay, let us now have a listen to the song before I introduce you to the chords of the intro:

The intro is fairly short but sound great.

 
           1    2      3      4      5           6      7     8

  E  —-2—0—————–0——–0——————–

  B —-3—3—–2—–2—–2——–0—-3—–2——–

  G—-4—4—–4—–3—–2——–0—-4—–3———

  D —4—4—–4—–4—–0——–0—-5—–4———

  A —2—2—–2—–2—–2——–2———————

  E  ———————————————————-

There you go, eight chords in total. You need to keep on playing the B (fret 2 on the A string), keep it going and then add the chords to it, one bar at a time. Here is where this version is different from what you see most of the time. For last two chords you leave the low B!!

Have a look how some other people play this intro:

In this one you get a good close up for the intro chords!

The version I have given you here is different in its use of constant B note and the 5th and 6th chord are different, but they work very well, keep the sound consistent and clear.

What about the rest of the song? I will go into detail about the rest in another blogarticle sometime in the future.

I want to leave the final words of this article to Roger and Pete where they will announce their North American tour for 2012 and some other Who issues for those of you who do like their music:

Hope to see you soon again!
Eddie