Pinball Wizard - The Who

At first sight - or should that be on first hearing? - this sounds a horrendously complicated song
with a lot of chords, but with a little forward planning, the changes really aren't that difficult.
With Pete Townshend, it's not so much which chords you play as where and how you play them - anyway,
in my opinion, this classic is well worth struggling with at first - when you finally get it right,
wow, what a buzz!

I'm going to split this into three sections...the intro, the verses and the main riff, and the
bridge and 4th verse - there's a key change there, which is a littly tricky at first, but with the
two P's - Practise and Patience - it'll all come together.....trust me!!!

The intro is pretty much a study in partial chords...these are what you'll need. Don't be put off
by the fact there's quite a few of them, with some slightly exotic fingering....as you'll see from
the order in which they're laid out, it's a very neat and logical progression.....
and it's played something like this........

Bm/F# Bm(add4)/F# F#7sus4 F#7
E-2---------------0---------------0---------------0---------------/
B-3---------------3---------------2---------------2---------------/
G-4---------------4---------------4---------------3---------------/
D-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-/
A-----------------------------------------------------------------/
E-----------------------------------------------------------------/

F#m7 Em/F# Em/G F#7 F#7 F#7sus4
E-0---------------0---------------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-/
B-2---------------0---------------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-/
G-2---------------0---------------4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-4-/
D-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-/
A---------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
E---------------------------------------------------------------------------------/

The easiest way to play this is:

For the first bar (Bm/F#)put your 1st finger on the B&E strings at the 2nd fret, your 2nd finger on
the B string at the 3rd fret, your pinkie on the G string at the 4th fret, and your ring finger on
the D string, also at the fourth fret......

For the 2nd bar (Bm(add4)/F#) remove your 1st finger from the top E string.......

For the 3rd bar (F#7sus4) just lift your 2nd finger off the fretboard and place it on the 3rd fret
of the G string....

For the 4th bar (F#7) simply take your pinky off altogether.....

The 5th bar, F#m7 is slightly more tricky....and a bit of a stretch.....keep your ring finger where
it is (D string, 4th fret - it shouldn't have moved yet!) move your 1st finger from the B string,
2nd fret to the G string 2nd fret, at the same time moving your 2nd finger from the 3rd fret of the
G string to the 2nd fret of the B string......

6th bar (Em/F#) is much easier (isn't that true about all pub crawls!) - leave the ring finger where
it is, take the other two off - ring finger should now be the only finger in contact with the fret-
board...

For the 7th bar (Em/G) you're going to move that ring finger for the first time...slide it up one
fret to the 5th, at the same time putting your 2nd finger on the 4th fret of the G string....and this
is where it gets a little trickier still, you play the top 4 strings here (the top 2 open)....play
the first chord with a downstrum, let it ring briefly, then the next 3 chords are dud dud dudd....

For the 8th bar (F#7) slide the two fingers you've already got on down a fret each, and put the 2nd
finger on the B string at the 2nd fret - the strumming's a little faster again here, I think it's
16ths instead of 8ths - I have mentioned before, I'm no expert on strumming patterns.....

The 9th bar (F#7) again may well be a continuation of the 8th bar it's all down to timing - but make
sure for the last strum of that bar you give the F#7sus4 a quick strum......

Well that's the intro finished - now this is where it gets really tricky!

The verses are bsed on a descending riff .........

Bsus4 and B, Asus4 & A, Gsus4 & G, Fsus4 and F - please don't ask me about strumming patterns, again
this is something beyond my capabilities to translate to paper....it'd take a Noteboat or a DHodge
to get this down accurately, and I'm a long way short of that class of playing......

From the "official" tab sheet, Townshend plays the riff something like this.......

Bsus4 B Asus4 A Gsus4 G F#sus4 F#
E--7----7---5---5---3---3----2---2---------------------------------
B--7----7---5---5---3---3----2---2---------------------------------
G--9----8---7---6---5---4----4---3---------------------------------
D--9----9---7---7---5---5----4---4---------------------------------
A--x----9---x---7---x---5----x---4---------------------------------
E--7----7---5---5---3---3----2---2---------------------------------

What he's doing is playing the top 4 strings, bringing the thumb round to the bottom E string for the
bass note, and muting the 5th (A) string with his thumb.......

However, if you play the sus4 with a half-barre, like this, you'll find you'll mute the B string and
still let the top E ring out, which you need.....

E A D G B E
7 9 9 9 7 7

Full barre across the 7th fret, half barre across the 9th with your ring finger....if you bend the
ring finger down sharply from the top knuckle, you'll find what you play is this.......

Bsus4 B Asus4 A Gsus4 G F#sus4 F#
E--7-----7---5---5---3---3----2---2-
B--m-----7---m---5---m---3----m---2-
G--9-----8---7---6---5---4----4---3-
D--9-----9---7---7---5---5----4---4-
A--9-----9---7---7---5---5----4---4-
E--7-----7---5---5---3---3----2---2-

(The small "m" stands for "muted note".........you could actually play it as

Bsus4 Asus4 Gsus4 F#sus4
E--x--------x-------x--------x----------------------------------
B--x--------x-------x--------x----------------------------------
G--9--------7-------5--------4----------------------------------
D--9--------7-------5--------4----------------------------------
A--9--------7-------5--------4----------------------------------
E--7--------5-------3--------2----------------------------------

but it really is better if you let the top E string ring out.........

anyway back to the song.........

after the F#sus7 in the intro, we move onto ....(the way I do it anyway......the "easy (hah!) way.....

Bsus4 B Bsus4 B
E--7-----7----7--7--
B--m-----7----m--7--
G--9-----8----9--8--
D--9-----9----9--9--
A--9-----9----9--9--
E--7-----7----7--7--

and here's where that famous powerchord comes in.....

it's basically an A chord, slide it up two frets quickly....

E-----
B-----
G-4s6-
D-5s7-
A-5s7-
E-3s5-

then repeat the Bsus4/B riff, and the powerchord, and we're into the verses......

Ever (Bsus4)since I was a young boy, I (B)played the silver ball,
From (Asus4)Soho down to Brighton, I (A)must've played 'em all,
But I (Gsus4)ain't seen nothing like him, in (G)any 'musement hall,
That (F#)deaf dumb and blind kid, (B)sure (A)plays (F#)a mean (A)pin(B)ball

(Where the B chord comes in the middle of "pin(B)ball", this is where the the other classic riff
comes in,,,,,,)

BB A D EE, BB A D EE(all full chords, barred - B at the 7th, A at the 5th, D at the 5th, and E at
the 7th......and repeat......

(Bsus4)Stands like a statue, becomes (B)part of the machine,
(Asus4)Feelin' all the bumpers, (A)always playin' clean,
(Gsus4)Plays by intuition, the (G)digit counters fall,
That (F#)deaf dumb and blind kid, (B)sure (A)plays (F#)a mean (A)pin(B)ball,

(Repeat the B chord in the middle of "pin(B)ball", this is where the the other classic riff
comes in,,,,,,)

BB A D EE, BB A D EE(all full chords, barred - B at the 7th, A at the 5th, D at the 5th, and E at
the 7th......and repeat......

Chorus (1):

(E)He's a pin(F#)ball (B)wizard, there (E)has (F#)to be a (B)twist,
A (E)pin(F#)ball (B)wizard's got (G)such a supple (D)wrist,(Dsus4)(D)

(These chords are played barred again....as above, with G at the 3rd fret and D at the 5th...)

Then there's a short bridge before coming back for the 3rd verse....

How do you think he does it, (I don't know) What makes him so good,
D Csus2 G D Csus2 G

E-5----------3-----3--5-----------3-----3-----5----------3---3--5---
B-7----------3-----3--7-----------3-----3-----7----------3---3--7---
G-7----------5-----4--7-----------5-----4-----7----------5---4--7---
D-7----------5-----5--7-----------5-----5-----7----------5---5--7---
A-5----------3-----5--5-----------3-----5-----5----------3---5--5---
E-5----------3-----3--5-----------3-----3-----5----------3---3--5---

3rd Verse: played in a similar fashion to the first two.....

(Bsus4)Ain't got no distractions, can't (B)hear no buzzers and bells,
(Asus4)Don't see no lights a-flashing, (A)plays by sense of smell,
(Gsus4)Always gets the replay, (G)never seen him fall,
That (F#sus4)deaf dumb and blind kid, (F#)sure plays a mean pin(B)ball

Here's that riff again....

BB A D EE, BB A D EE(all full chords, barred - B at the 7th, A at the 5th, D at the 5th, and E at
the 7th......and repeat......

Chorus (2): this time play the D chord at the 10th fret....

I (E)thought (F#)I (B)was the (E)bally (F#)table (B)king,
But (E)I (F#)just (B)handed my (G)pinball crown to (D)him...

This is where the key changes for the last verse, which is preceded by a rapidly strummed sequence
of Dsus4 and D chords done at the 10th fret.....

Dsus4/D/Dsus4/D/Dsus4/D/Dsus4/D

Even (Dsus4)on my favourite table, (D)he can beat my best,
His dis(Csus4)ciples lead him in and (C)he just does the rest,
He's got (Bbsus4)crazy flipper fingers, (Bb)never seen him fall,
That (Asus4)deaf dumb and blind kid, (A)sure plays a mean pin(D)ball(C)(F)

(D chords at the 10th fret, C at the 8th, Bb at the 6th and A at the 5th...then back up to the 10th
for D, the 8th for C and F.....)

and then the outro is just Bbsus4 and B (at the 6th fret) until the fade....

Now PLEASE don't ask me about strumming patterns....this is one of those songs where you're just
going to have to listen to the record over and over again (like I did!) to work it out - it does
actually seem straightforward, though fast....anyone has any ideas, suggestions, feel free to chip
in....

I hope you can make sense of this, there seems an awful lot of it - I broke it down into sections
and played them one at a time till I'd got the hang of it, then moved on to the next....first time
I managed to get all the way through it, I thought my face was going to be stuck in that dopey grin
forever.....