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The Who

4 guitar songs · Tabs, Lessons & Tone Guide Rock

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Band Overview

History and Guitar Legacy

The Who emerged from London in 1964 and became one of rock's most influential bands. Pete Townshend pioneered the power rhythm guitarist role, filling the entire sonic space with aggressive open chords and slashing strums. Without a second guitarist, Townshend had to serve as both rhythm section and harmonic engine simultaneously, inventing an approach that fundamentally changed rock guitar forever.

Playing Style and Techniques

Townshend's signature style centers on suspended chords that create an instantly recognizable shimmering quality, heard in songs like "Pinball Wizard" and "Behind Blue Eyes." His right hand technique features the famous windmill strum, a full-arm method generating massive dynamic range and percussive attack. He pioneered controlled feedback and power chord riffing that directly influenced punk, grunge, and modern rhythm guitarists seeking bigger, fuller sounds.

Why Guitarists Study The Who

The Who's music is a masterclass in rhythm guitar as a lead instrument. Townshend's approach demonstrates how to fill sonic space with energy and precision rather than speed. His work rewards guitarists who prioritize rhythm, dynamics, and raw power over shredding techniques. Every electric guitarist should study his suspended chord voicings, dynamic control, and how to make one instrument sound like an entire band.

Difficulty and Learning Path

The Who's catalog accommodates all skill levels. "Behind Blue Eyes" is an excellent intermediate piece teaching fingerpicking precision and power chord work. "Pinball Wizard" challenges fretting hand stamina with rapid barre chord hammer-ons and pull-offs. "Baba O'Riley" features iconic slashing open chords requiring tight rhythm and dynamic swells. Townshend's catalog emphasizes building rhythmic power and dynamic control over technical shredding speed.

What Makes The Who Essential for Guitar Players

  • Townshend's extensive use of sus2 and sus4 chord voicings gives The Who's sound its signature tension and release. Learning songs like 'Pinball Wizard' will drill these shapes into your muscle memory and open up your rhythm playing beyond standard major and minor barre chords.
  • The windmill strum technique is a full-arm motion originating from the shoulder, not just the wrist. It creates a percussive, almost snare-drum-like attack on downstrokes and generates enormous volume dynamics, essential for playing The Who's music with the right feel and energy.
  • Townshend frequently uses rapid hammer-on and pull-off sequences within chord shapes, particularly in 'Pinball Wizard' where barre chords are embellished with quick hammer-ons on the B string. This technique blurs the line between rhythm and lead playing.
  • Dynamic control is everything in The Who's guitar parts. Songs like 'Behind Blue Eyes' shift from delicate, clean arpeggios to crushing overdriven power chords, training you to manage your pick attack, volume knob, and amp gain as expressive tools rather than set-and-forget settings.
  • Townshend was an early adopter of feedback as a musical element, using it intentionally rather than fighting it. By positioning himself relative to his amp stack and manipulating his guitar's volume and tone knobs, he turned sustained feedback into melodic and textural content, a technique worth exploring if you play at high volume.

Did You Know?

Pete Townshend is estimated to have destroyed over 100 guitars on stage throughout his career, but his iconic guitar-smashing wasn't just rebellion, he claimed it started accidentally when he broke a Rickenbacker's neck on a low ceiling at the Railway Hotel in Harrow in 1964.

The acoustic intro of 'Pinball Wizard' was originally a demo technique exercise that Townshend almost discarded. He played the entire chord progression using a rapid barre chord hammer-on pattern that producer Kit Lambert immediately recognized as the hook of the song.

Townshend was one of the first rock guitarists to use Marshall stacks in a full 'wall of Marshalls' configuration, essentially turning the stage into a giant speaker cabinet. His demand for more volume directly pushed Jim Marshall to develop higher-wattage amplifier heads.

The iconic synthesizer intro on 'Baba O'Riley' was created by Townshend using a Lowrey organ fed through a sequencer, but the song's emotional peak is entirely guitar-driven, those slashing open E and B chords demonstrate how a single guitar can fill a stadium.

For the recording of 'Behind Blue Eyes,' Townshend used a combination of his Gibson J-200 acoustic and a Fender Stratocaster to layer the delicate arpeggiated sections with the heavier electric parts, creating the song's dramatic dynamic arc.

Townshend developed tinnitus and significant hearing loss from decades of performing at extreme volumes, which led him to become an advocate for hearing protection, a cautionary tale for every guitarist who rehearses or gigs at high SPL levels.

Pete Townshend pioneered the use of the guitar as a rhythmic percussion instrument in rock. Keith Moon's explosive drumming and John Entwistle's lead-style bass freed Townshend to play rhythm guitar as aggressively as possible, creating the template that punk bands like The Ramones and The Clash would later adopt.

Essential Albums for Guitarists

Who's Next album cover
Who's Next 1971

This is the essential The Who album for guitarists. 'Baba O'Riley' teaches massive open-chord dynamics and rhythmic precision, 'Behind Blue Eyes' covers arpeggiated fingerpicking and clean-to-heavy transitions, and 'Won't Get Fooled Again' features some of Townshend's most aggressive power chord work with a driving eighth-note rhythm that builds incredible right-hand stamina.

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Tommy album cover
Tommy 1969

'Pinball Wizard' alone makes this album essential, its rapid barre chord hammer-on technique is a rite of passage for intermediate guitarists. The full rock opera also features a wide variety of Townshend's playing styles, from delicate acoustic passages to full-blown power chord assaults, making it a comprehensive study in dynamic range and song arrangement from a guitar perspective.

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Live at Leeds album cover
Live at Leeds 1970

Widely regarded as one of the greatest live rock albums ever recorded, this captures Townshend's raw, unpolished power at its peak. The extended versions of 'Young Man Blues' and 'My Generation' showcase improvised rhythm guitar work, aggressive feedback manipulation, and the sheer physical intensity of his playing style, invaluable listening for any guitarist who wants to understand how to command a stage with just rhythm guitar.

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Quadrophenia album cover
Quadrophenia 1973

This double album features some of Townshend's most sophisticated guitar arrangements, layering acoustic 12-string, electric rhythm, and textural overdubs. Songs like 'The Real Me' and '5:15' demand tight rhythmic interplay, while 'Love Reign O'er Me' builds from sparse arpeggios to a massive wall of overdriven chords, a lesson in arranging guitar parts for maximum emotional impact.

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Tone & Gear

Guitar

Pete Townshend is most associated with the Gibson SG Special (late 1960s, often in cherry red), Fender Stratocasters (particularly from the mid-1970s onward), and Gibson Les Paul Deluxes. His early career featured Rickenbacker 330s and 345s, which contributed to The Who's jangly mod-era sound. For acoustic work, especially 'Behind Blue Eyes' and 'Pinball Wizard', he relied on Gibson J-200 jumbo acoustics. Townshend's electrics were typically stock, though he went through them at a remarkable rate due to his on-stage destruction.

Amp

Townshend is synonymous with Hiwatt DR103 Custom 100 heads, which he adopted in the late 1960s and used extensively through The Who's peak era. These amps were paired with WEM and later Hiwatt/Sound City 4x12 cabinets loaded with Fane speakers. The Hiwatt's extremely clean, high-headroom design meant Townshend could push enormous volume without early breakup, giving his chords incredible clarity and punch even at stadium levels. Before Hiwatt, he famously pushed Marshall JTM45s and 100-watt Superleads to their limits, and his volume demands directly influenced Marshall's product development.

Pickups

Townshend's Gibson SG Specials used P-90 single-coil pickups, gritty, mid-forward, and slightly hotter than a Strat pickup but with more bite and snarl than a humbucker. This P-90 character is a huge part of the classic Who tone: aggressive and cutting without being overly compressed. His Stratocasters used stock Fender single-coils, which he favored for their clarity and chimey top-end when combined with the Hiwatt's clean headroom. His Les Paul Deluxes featured mini-humbuckers, which split the difference with a tighter, more focused midrange.

Effects & Chain

Townshend's effects setup was relatively minimal but historically significant. He was an early champion of the Edwards Light Pedal (a homemade optical volume swell device) and used a Dallas Rangemaster treble booster to push his amps harder. He occasionally employed a Univox Super-Fuzz for heavier sections and experimented with early wah pedals. However, the core of his tone was always guitar straight into a cranked amp, the dynamics, feedback, and harmonic richness came from volume and playing technique rather than a pedalboard. For live work, a simple A/B box to switch between guitars was often his most essential piece of gear.

Recommended Gear

Fender Stratocaster
Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

Townshend switched to Fender Stratocasters from the mid-1970s onward, using their stock single-coil pickups for clarity and chimey top-end that cut through massive stadium volumes when paired with his Hiwatt amps. The Strat's responsiveness to his dynamic, windmill attack made it ideal for The Who's power chord precision.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

While Townshend primarily used Les Paul Deluxes with mini-humbuckers, the Standard's full humbuckers would deliver a tighter, more compressed midrange that contrasts with his preferred P-90 aggression. A Standard represents a warmer, less cutting variation of his classic mod-era tone.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

The Les Paul Custom shares the Deluxe's mini-humbucker character that Townshend favored for a focused midrange, though its premium construction would offer slightly more sustain than his typical gigging instruments. Townshend valued stock electronics and destructive live performance over luxury features.

Marshall JTM45
Amp

Marshall JTM45

Townshend famously pushed Marshall JTM45s to their limits in the late 1960s, driving them into aggressive overdrive that influenced Marshall's louder amp designs. His volume demands and hard-hit playing style directly contributed to Marshall developing more powerful heads to match his revolutionary stage presence.

How to Practice The Who on GuitarZone

Every The Who song page on GuitarZone includes a built-in Practice Toolbar. No app to download, no account needed. Open any song, then use the toolbar to slow the video to 0.5× speed, set an A/B loop around the exact riff you're working on, and jump between song sections instantly.

The toolbar appears automatically on every guitar tab, lesson, and cover page. Pick a song below, hit play, and start practicing at your own pace.

Practice Pinball Wizard - Guitar LessonPractice Behind Blue Eyes Pt.1 - Guitar LessonPractice Baba O'Riley - Guitar Lesson