Born To Be Wild Guitar Lesson (Steppenwolf)

Here’s an epic rock riff that’s sure to get your hands grooving like a well-oiled machine. 

This one takes us back to 1967. It’s a legendary song that has been in movies and played at parties, and it’s often cited as one of the first heavy metal songs.

I believe it’s a must-know for every rock guitar player. So grab your axe and let’s dive into this “Born To Be Wild” guitar lesson.

Who originally sang Born To Be Wild?

“Born To Be Wild” was originally written by Canadian musician and songwriter Mars Bonfire (a stage name for Dennis Edmonton). He shopped the song around to other bands first, but Steppenwolf was the band that took it and turned it into a hard rock anthem.

You see, Mars originally wrote it as more of a slower, introspective song. But it ended up taking on a harder, more aggressive tone with Steppenwolf. “Born To Be Wild” was recorded in 1967 at American Recording Co. in Studio City, California. 

Their arrangement added the iconic heavy guitar riffs and faster tempo, making it the classic rock anthem it is today. The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1968. It was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll." And the song became associated with the counterculture movement and biker lifestyle. It is most notably featured in the 1969 film Easy Rider. 

What key is Born To Be Wild in?

Steppenwolf’s original recording of “Born To Be Wild” is in the key of E major. It’s a bluesy vibe, and it’s all based around the E7#9 chord. Borrowing chords from the E Mixolydian scale like G, A, and D as well. But the home key is E major.

Born To Be Wild Guitar Lesson Chords

To play “Born To Be Wild” you’ll only need to know 4 main chords E, G, A, and D. Let’s take a look at some common ways these chords can be played on guitar. 

For E, I like to use a bar chord in the 7th position like this:

Note: when I play this chord I use all the strings except for the 1st string. So make sure to not bar too much and get the 1st string. This is a common mistake rock players make. I mute the 1st string. 

Next up is G. For this chord I play a standard bar chord shape in the 3rd position using all six strings like this:

For A, simply bring the G chord up 2 frets. So instead of fret 3, it should be played on fret 5 like this:

Finally, we have the D chord which is the same as the E chord just shifted down to the 5th position like this:

Let’s next take a look at the…

Born To Be Wild Riff

The first time I heard “Born To Be Wild” was in a skateboarding video as a kid. I was blown away when my childhood neighbor friend figured out how to play it on guitar. He played the opening “Born To Be Wild” riff and I was stunned by how cool it was. 

The intro starts off on an E bar chord in the 7th position. Then you reach your pinky finger up and play a bluesy-inspired shuffle riff like this: 

This blend of rock rhythms and bluesy patterns is what helped create this iconic riff.

If you would like to play epic bluesy solos like Steppenwolf does, I would highly recommend learning your blues scales up and down the neck. The simplest way to learn this, and to make sure you get the correct patterns, grab my free blues scale pdf right here:

After the riff, we head to the…

Verse

The verse section is all based around the E chord. It starts using a driving eighth-note rhythm and then blends the intro riff into the verse. The first part of the verse uses a technique called palm-muting. Palm-muting is where the player rests the edge of their picking hand lightly on the strings near the bridge of the guitar while playing. This technique dampens the strings, producing a muted, percussive sound rather than letting the notes ring out fully.  

Then the riff is played like a “Call & Response” to the lead singer. There’s a bar of E chunking rhythm, then it segues into the riff and alternates back and forth like this:

| E | Riff | E | Riff |

This 4-bar pattern goes twice for a total of 8 bars. Note the bluesy influence of the rhythm pattern as well as the use of “Call & Response”. If this blues rhythm pattern is unfamiliar to you, check out this 12 bar blues guitar lesson here.  

The “Call & Response” goes with the lyrics:

| Get your motor running… | Riff | Head out on the highway…| Riff |

| Lookin' for adventure… | Riff | And whatever comes our way…| Riff |

"Call and response" is a musical idea that involves two distinct parts played or sung by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary or reply to the first. This technique is prevalent in many musical traditions, including African, African-American, classical, and popular music genres.

Not bad eh?

From there we head to the… 

Chorus:

The chorus is another 8-bar progression total. But we can break the whole thing down into a simple 2 bar progression. We’ll start with a bar of E, and then follow that up with a split bar using both the G and A bar chords from above. This split bar means we’ll be spending 2 beats on each chord like this:

| E | G A |

Then just repeat that 4x to get 8 bars total for the chorus.

|| E | G A | E | G A |

| E | G A | E | G A ||

Conclusion: 

To wrap it up, “Born to Be Wild” is more than just a cool riff and rock song. It’s rock and roll history. From its early roots as a slower tune by Mars Bonfire to its flip into a hard rock anthem by Steppenwolf, this song has stood the test of time. 

By working on it, you will catch a glimpse of some powerful rock guitar skills you can use to play many songs you love. So keep it up. And if you want to be able to start writing your own epic blues riffs like this one.

Get your hands on my FREE blues scale PDF guide right here now: 

Jon MacLennan