Chords + Lyrics | Into The Great Wide Open
Intro
||: Em Emmaj7 | Em7 Em6 :||
Verse 1
| Em Emmaj7 | Em7 Em6 |
Eddie waited ’til he finished high school.
| Em Emmaj7 | Em7 Em6 |
He went to Hollywood, got a tattoo.
| Am Am7/G | Am/F# Am7/G |
He met a girl out there with a tattoo too.
| G Fadd9 | C G | C G |
The future was wide open.
Verse 2
They moved into a place they both could afford.
He found a nightclub, he could work at the door.
She had a guitar and she taught him some chords.
| G Fadd9 | C G | C G | C G D5 D |
The sky was the limit.
Chorus 1
| G Cadd9 | Dadd4 |
Into the great wide open.
| G Em | Dadd4 Dadd4/A |
Under them skies of blue.
| G Cadd9 | Dadd4 |
Out in the great wide open.
| G Fadd9 | Em Asus2 G | C G | C G |
A rebel without a clue.
Instrumental 1
||: Em Emmaj7 | Em7 Em6 :||
Verse 3 (as verse 1)
The papers said Ed always played from the heart.
He got an agent and a roadie named Bart.
They made a record, and it went in the charts.
The sky was the limit.
Verse 4 (as verse 2)
His leather jacket had chains that would jingle.
They both met movie stars, partied, and mingled.
Their A&R man said, “I don’t hear a single”.
The future was wide open.
Chorus 2
| G Cadd9 | Dadd4 |
Into the great wide open.
| G Em | Dadd4 Dadd4/A |
Under them skies of blue.
| G Cadd9 | Dadd4 |
Out in the great wide open.
| G Fadd9 | Em Asus2 |
A rebel without a clue.
Chorus 3 (as chorus 1)
Into the great wide open.
Under them skies of blue.
Into the great wide open.
A rebel without a clue.
Into The Great Wide Open Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Into The Great Wide Open. I’ve used stem separation to extract the guitar while keeping the drums, bass, keys, horns, and vocals intact.
After studying the chords and TAB, use my backing tracks to prepare for playing this tune with a band.
Should you want to play along with the original recording instead, you need to tune your guitar sharp to 442Hz. In the backing tracks, I’ve done this job for you by tuning it to 440Hz.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
Tom Petty’s Into The Great Wide Open features chord movements that evoke similarities to other well-known songs. Recognising these connections helps deepen your understanding of musical language, rather than implying any direct borrowing.
The Em chords in the intro and verse bear a resemblance to My Funny Valentine, while the Am progression with a descending bass line recalls Sunny Afternoon. Then there’s the Dadd4 chord, which combines both the sus4 and the 3rd—just like the one R.E.M. used in Man on the Moon.
On the studio recording, Tom Petty and Mike Campbell layered multiple guitar parts to create a rich sound. However, for a live performance where you might be the only guitarist, I’ve put together a TAB arrangement that works in a band setting, check it out further down this guitar lesson.
Let’s break down the chord progressions in Into The Great Wide Open and uncover the theory behind Tom Petty’s clever songwriting.
Intro
The intro follows a descending pattern within Em, using chromatic movement in the extensions rather than the bass line:
||: Em Emmaj7 | Em7 Em6 :||
This starts in Aeolian, but the 6 (from Em6) belongs to Dorian, making this a modal interchange.
Verse
As the verse begins, we continue with the same Em progression before shifting to Am (chord II), where the bass now takes a descending motion—pure genius:
| Am Am7/G | Am/F# Am7/G |
In the final line, Tom introduces another modal shift, treating Em as if it belongs to multiple modes—this time Phrygian (chord III from the key of C):
| G Fadd9 | C G | C G |
At the end of verse 2, a D5 keeps things ambiguous, leaving the listener unsure whether it’s major or minor.
Chorus
The chorus, however, firmly grounds us in G major, following the familiar I – IV – V progression:
| G (I) Cadd9 (IV) | Dadd4 (V) |
| G (I) Em (VI) | Dadd4 (V) Dadd4/A |
| G Cadd9 | Dadd4 |
For the final line, an F chord appears again, functioning as a backdoor dominant (bVIIx), rather than another modal shift.
Despite all the movement outside the key, the repetition makes these changes feel natural. Once you’ve worked through my TAB and played along with the original, all you’ll need is a simple chord chart—so here’s one I made for you.
Into The Great Wide Open Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
After all that TAB and chord theory, the chord chart above looks so simple!
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Into The Great Wide Open chord chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Into The Great Wide Open iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
Into The Great Wide Open | TAB
On the record, Tom and Mike have layered several parts that sound great—but won’t help you at this Saturday night’s gig.
Here’s a verse part that would work if you’re playing Into the Great Wide Open with your band:
There are lots of little details here worth mentioning. The Em and Am progressions are similar but not the same. For the Em, the bass player stays on the E, so it’s the extensions that change. For Am, it’s the actual bass—genius!
The C chord is played without string 5, but since the bass plays a C, we must call it a C, not C/E or C/G.
The D5 makes the initial D chord more powerful. The last two open strings make it easier to play the first chorus chords.
Here are Into the Great Wide Open’s chorus chords as a part, using TAB:
I’ve kept a similar approach to what the verse had in order to maintain familiarity. Adding one more string on beat two fattens it just enough.
When you can play both sections, try it with the backing track and chord chart above.
Johnny Depp Stars as Eddie Rebel
The stars aligned when Tom Petty set out to create the music video for Into The Great Wide Open. At the same time, the indie comedy-drama Arizona Dream (1993) unexpectedly went on hiatus, freeing up its lead actors.
As a result, Johnny Depp, Gabrielle Anwar, and Faye Dunaway stepped into the video, portraying Eddie Rebel, his girlfriend, and his manager.
With the song’s vivid storytelling, bringing the narrative to life wasn’t difficult—though setting up the scenes and securing such a high-profile cast certainly wasn’t cheap.
The end product? Arguably one of the greatest music videos ever made.
Into The Great Wide Open Chords: Continue Learning
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