Learning To Fly Chords & Guitar Lesson

Welcome to my Learning to Fly chords and guitar lessons by Tom Petty. This is a great song fortunately with the same repeating chord progressions for the majority of the song.

Let’s look at the chords we will be using below.

As you can see we do have one barre chord to content with, the F major chord, but you could also use Fmaj7/C chord below if your barre chords aren’t the greatest and it actually makes for an easy transition from the C chord since the first and third fingers are already in place. Neat!

Fmaj7+v2

Learning To Fly Guitar Chords:

Learning To Fly Strumming Patterns:

Strumming 1: Most of the Song
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
DU DU DU DU

Chords will change on the up strum after 2:
F       C
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
DU DU DU DU

There is a drum breakdown that occurs later in the song and you can simply do the first half of the pattern.

F       C
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
DU DU

Learning To Fly Guitar Lesson:

Find this website helpful? Click the button to show your support.

Learning To Fly Chord Chart:

Intro:
|F  C|  |Am  G|  x4

Verse:
                |F         C|    |Am  G|              |F        C|     |Am   G|
Well I started out,             down a dirty road
    |F          C|  |Am   G|    |F      C|    |Am   G|
Started out                  all alone
                  |F                 C |    |Am   G|           |F                  C|  |Am  G|
And the sun went down,              as I crossed the hill
                 |F         C|  |Am  G|          |F              C|   |Am  G|
As the town lit up,             the world got still

Chorus:
        |F               C|     |Am  G|         |F               C|     |Am  G|
I’m learning to fly,            but I ain’t got wings
   |F             C|    |Am  G|              |F            C|    |Am  G|
Coming down             is the hardest thing

Verse:
                    |F            C|   |Am  G|         |F       C|   |Am   G|
Well the good ol’ days,          may not return
                   | F                 C|   |Am  G|               |F               C|    |Am   G|
And the rocks may melt            and the sea may burn

Chorus:
        |F               C|     |Am  G|         |F               C|     |Am  G|
I’m learning to fly,            but I ain’t got wings
   |F             C|    |Am  G|              |F            C|    |Am  G|
Coming down             is the hardest thing

Solo:

|F C| |Am G| X4

Verse:
              |F            C|   |Am  G|        |F                 C|   |Am   G|
Well some say life              will beat you down,
    |F                  C|   |Am  G|    |F                  C|   |Am   G|
Break your heart,              steal your crown
             |F        C|   |Am  G|         |F                     C|   |Am   G|
So I started out,             for god knows where
       |F             C|   |Am  G|          |F            C|   |Am   G|
I guess I’ll know              when I get there

Chorus:
        |F               C|     |Am  G|         |F               C|     |Am  G|
I’m learning to fly,            but I ain’t got wings
   |F             C|    |Am  G|              |F            C|    |Am  G|
Coming down             is the hardest thing

Drum Break: Strum 1 + 2 +
|F C| |Am G|

Chorus:
        |F               C|     |Am  G|         |F               C|     |Am  G|
I’m learning to fly,            but I ain’t got wings
   |F             C|    |Am  G|              |F            C|    |Am  G|
Coming down             is the hardest thing

          |F               C|   |Am  G|    |F                  C|     |Am  G|
I’m learning to fly,              around the clouds,
            |F              C|   |Am  G|       |F                    C|     |Am  G|
But what goes up                   must come down
            |F              C|   |Am  G|   |F   C|    |Am  G|
I’m learning to fly,
           |F              C|   |Am  G|   |F   C|    |Am  G|    End on C
I’m learning to fly,

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.

Find this website helpful? Support today.

Scroll to Top