Born To Be Wild Chords & Guitar Lesson

Super easy guitar song by Steppenwolf. Welcome to my Born To Be Wild Chord Chart which focuses primarily on using the chord Em. Seriously, some parts of this song you just hang on Em. What's better than that?!

There are a few different sections of the song but for the most part we will be using an eighth note strumming patterns of all down strums as seen below.

Born To Be Wild Guitar Chords:

Born To Be Wild Strumming Patterns:

Strum 1:
1 + 2+ 3+ 4+
DD DD DD DD

Bridge Strum:
G  -     A    -         E
1 + 2 +  3 + 4 +      1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
D   DU  D    DU      D   DU    U DU

If the syncopated pattern on the E chord is too much for you, you can simplify the strumming by playing the same pattern for the G and A chords over the full measure of the E chord.

The video below uses the strumming patterns listed below but would still be a good watch to get a feel of the parts of the song.

Ideally, I would use palm muting for the verses where you stay on Em. Make it sounds pretty cool.

Born To Be Wild Guitar Lesson:

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Born To Be Wild Chord Chart:

Intro: Em x8

Verse:
Em
                                Em
Get your motor runnin'
Em                                 Em
Head out on the highway
Em                                 Em
Lookin' for adventure
Em                                         Em
In whatever comes our way

Bridge:
|G           A |                     E
Yeah, darlin' gonna make it happen
|G                A |               E
Take the world in a love embrace
|G    A |                E                              |G         A|                 E
Fire all of the guns at once and      explode into space

Verse:
Em
                                   Em
I like smoke and lightnin'
Em                                 Em
Heavy metal thunder
Em                                 Em
Wrestlin' with the wind
Em                                         Em
And the feelin' that I'm under

Bridge:
|G           A |                     E
Yeah, darlin' gonna make it happen
|G                A |               E
Take the world in a love embrace
|G    A |                E                              |G         A|                 E
Fire all of the guns at once and      explode into space

Chorus:
               E                         E
Like a true nature's child
                    G                           G
We were born, born to be wild
                      A                          G                       E (hold for 2 measures)
We could climb so high, I never wanna die

(hold each chord):
  E                    D   E D
Born to be wild,
  E                    D   E D
Born to be wild,

Instrumental: Em x22 (hold last 2 measures)

Verse:
Em
                                  Em
Get your motor runnin'
Em                                       Em
Head out on the highway
Em                                 Em
Lookin' for adventure
Em                                          Em
In whatever comes our way

Bridge:
|G           A |                     E
Yeah, darlin' gonna make it happen
|G                A |               E
Take the world in a love embrace
|G    A |                E                              |G         A|                 E
Fire all of the guns at once and      explode into space

Chorus:
               E                         E
Like a true nature's child
                    G                           G
We were born, born to be wild
                       A                         G                      E (hold for 2 measures)
We could climb so high, I never wanna die

(hold each chord):
  E                    D   E D
Born to be wild,
  E                    D   E D    Em all the way out
Born to be wild,

This file is the author’s own work and represents his interpretation of this song. It’s intended solely for private study, scholarship or research.

We do not distribute printable chord and lyrics charts. These charts are here only to support online learning. We highly recommend buying music from Hal Leonard or a reputable online sheet music store.

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