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Rhythm Deep Dive: "Wild World" by Cat Stevens
Lesson #602 • Oct 8, 2025
About this lesson
In this lesson I’ll look at Wild World by Cat Stevens, and break down the counting & rhythm needed to play this song at the proper tempo. This is in reply to a question I got about the beats per minute (BPM) this song uses. Some other teachers write it up at 75bpm, while in my Wild World tutorial I recommend playing it at 150bpm. This video explains these two different BPM approaches, and how ultimately they’ll yield the same musical result if you space your strumming out properly.
Instructional PDF 5 pages
Lesson Discussion
Extended Video Lessons
Here’s a few extra videos, made in thanks to those supporting me with Premium membership here on my Song Notes website. To those showing your support, you have my true thanks and appreciation — and I hope you find these additional videos helpful!
Strum-Along Practice (75bpm)
This video shows me playing the song at the same pace as Cat Stevens, with counting at 75bpm. Chords & strumming are shown on screen for each line of the verse and chorus, so you can follow along. I count in two full measures before starting, which should help you settle into the rhythmic groove I’m using. Notice how this BPM approach puts the strong beats on the quarter notes (i.e. the 1, 2, 3, and 4 counts), and requires us to use 16th note counting for the strumming pattern.
Strum-Along Practice (150bpm)
This practice track takes the same audio above (Wild World played at Cat Stevens’ pace), but with counting at 150bpm. Chords and strumming are shown accordingly for each line of the verse and chorus. This effectively doubles the amount of “counts” we’ll have, which means most chords are played for one full measure. Likewise, the strumming here is rhythmically simpler, as only need to use 8th notes to count it (no 16th notes required). I count in for four full measures to help you settle into the groove before I begin.
Related & Recommended
If you’re looking for some other Cat Stevens guitar lessons, I’ve got a few! This includes my full tutorial for Wild World, should you want guidance with the rest of the song.
If you’re interested in other rhythm break-downs for specific songs, here’s some you might enjoy. Each of the lesson pages below contains links & resources for that song (e.g. with a link to my full song lesson, in cases where I’ve made one).
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