Wild Thing

How to play Wild Thing by The Troggs on guitar

Wild Thing is a great beginner song because it has a simple, driving feel and a strong repeating groove that you can lock into quickly. At about 104 BPM, it sits in a comfortable pocket where you can focus on steady changes and get the song feeling solid fast.

You will mostly move between open shapes and barre shapes, so the main challenge is keeping your fretting hand relaxed while shifting cleanly. The opening move B - C#m - B - A is the change to watch out for, since it asks you to jump between harder shapes and then land on an open chord without losing time.

Start by practicing each shape on its own, then loop B - C#m - B - A slowly until the motion feels automatic. After that, add the rest of the song in short sections, and only speed up when your changes stay even. Keep your strumming simple and consistent so the chord changes stay in front of the rhythm.

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.