Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Mega-Pack

Lessons

• Lesson 1: Carry On

  Carry On is a Stephen Stills composition that kicked off the CSN&Y Deja Vu album in 1970. It is actually a medley with a rearrangement of an earlier song by Stills: Question, which appeared on the last Buffalo Springfield album in 1968.

  
  The acoustic opening and main guitar parts are played in a modal tuning that Stills used often, and at various pitches. It consists of only roots and fifths and in this lesson is done as D-A-D-D-A-D, although the original was done 1/2 step higher at Eb.

  
  The lesson also covers the way they typically played it live, in the key of E and in standard tuning. There is also a short look at the Buffalo Springfield version in D, technically D Dorian.

  There is also an audio file in the key of D for the student to download and play along with.

• Lesson 2: 4 + 20 - Guitar Lesson

  Steve Stills’ basic fingerpicking song is done in a D Modal Tuning- every string is tuned to either D or A, the root and fifth notes of the D Chord. The tuning used for this lesson is DADDAD, slightly modified from Stills’ DDDDAD but since he never plays the 5th string it doesn’t matter and is easier on your guitar and strings.

• Lesson 3: Guinnevere - Guitar Lesson

  A feature of many David Crosby tunes is the use of altered tunings. *Guinnevere*is an great example of how he changes the pitch of a few strings, starts messing around with chord shapes and sounds, adds a somewhat abstract melody with complex harmonies, and creates beautiful music. The tuning is EBDGAD and uses an arpeggio-style picking pattern over some fairly simple, but unusual chord shapes. He also is never concerned with playing anything exactly the same way twice, and as such recreates each song every time he plays it. We take that approach in this lesson and start with some specific patterns but look at changing and varying them on the fly.

• Lesson 4: Helplessly Hoping

  *Helplessly Hoping*is a classic fingerstyle tune by Stephen Stills that was released in 1969 on the first Crosby, Stills & Nash album. Stills’ playing is generally very free form and he never plays this song exactly the same way twice. The lesson covers the chord progression and presents a ‘Campfire Version’ that is easy to strum, as well as great detail on specific licks and additions that Stills uses and how to add your own variations to fingerpicking patterns, making the arrangement your own.

• Lesson 5: Love The One You're With

  *Love The One You’re With*is a Stephen Stills song that dates back to the early CSNY days and is frequently done with electric guitars or as a big production. Like many of Stills’ songs, it started out as an acoustic tune in the D Modal tuning. Stills used CCCCGC but DADDAD is a more efficient and harmonically rich version that is used in this lesson. We also introduce a new twist with this lesson- that we are calling a ‘Work It Out Lesson.’ In the first segment Neil plays through the song and gives you hints about figuring it out yourself. The next segments present the ‘Answers’, with Breakdowns of the chords, the strumming, and the vocals.

• Lesson 6: Marrakesh Express - Guitar Lesson

  *Marrakesh Express*was written by Graham Nash and appeared on the CSN album in 1969. It is a relatively simple strumming song, although it moves along. It uses a couple of unusual chord voicings in the beginning, derived from a ‘D’ shape moved up the neck, but other than that it is standard chords, mostly in the key of G and a lot of fun to play.

• Lesson 7: Southern Cross - Guitar Lesson

  In 1982 Crosby, Stills & Nash released their album Daylight Again, which included *Southern Cross*, which has now become a standard part of their concerts. The song only uses three chords with a bit of a syncopated strumming pattern making it a great guitar lesson for beginning to intermediate students. The lesson includes a chord and lyric chart and breaks the strumming down to concentrating on individual eighth notes.

• Lesson 8: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes - Guitar Lesson

  Suite: Judy Blue Eyes is probably Stills’ most recognized song and the one that really brought them into the spotlight, particularly after their appearance at Woodstock in 1969. It was written for contemporary songstress Judy Collins and consists of multiple sections (hence the ‘Suite” part of the name), all of which include complex guitar parts and lush vocal harmonies.

  Stephen Stills used an E Modal Tuning (EEEEEBE), but this lesson does it in D Modal tuning (DADDAD) and uses a variety of strumming and picking techniques. A Capo at the second fret would put the guitar in the original key. Some of the lesson addresses improvising in Stills’ style in this open tuning.

• Lesson 9: Triad Guitar Lesson

  David Crosby wrote *Triad*while he was still a member of the Byrds but it was a bit risqué for them at the time. It was originally released by The Jefferson Airplane on Crown Of Creation but David continued to play it live at Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young concerts. His version first appeared on 4 Way Street, from their 1970 tour. This short lesson shows the chords and fills that accompany this haunting tune.

• Lesson 10: Teach Your Children - Guitar Lesson

  Graham Nash is a master songwriter of tunes that require only some basic guitar techniques but ones that are really fun to play and sing. Teach Your Children is a classic example of this. The song is a 3-chord progression in the key of D, with a step out into a 4th chord in the chorus. A simple country-style strumming pattern is all that is necessary to make this a great song for beginners to sit around the campfire and play with friends.

• Lesson 11: You Don't Have To Cry

  You Don't Have To Cry is a Stephen Stills tune that really brought the three superstars together and start the band. It was featured on their eponymous debut album in 1969. The accompaniment featured Stills' fingerpicking/fingerstrumming technique backing up the three part harmony that came to define their sound.

  The guitar is tuned to Double Dropped D, with both 'E' strings tuned down a whole step. The lesson goes into a few different approaches to the guitar part, even including some of the fills that Stills added in overdubbed parts.

• Lesson 12: Wooden Ships

  Wooden Ships was a huge part of Crosby, Stills & Nash's grand entrance to the world of music in 1969. The tune was written mostly by David Crosby with parts done by Stephen Stills and Paul Kantner (the song also appeared on the Jefferson Airplane's 1969 album, Volunteers).

  This lesson looks more at the way CSN, and even just C&N, did it acoustically over the years. Many of Crosby's compositions use alternate tunings but this one is in standard tuning but uses many chord shapes with open strings to create a similar effect. 

• Lesson 13: Deja Vu - Guitar Lesson

  *Déjà Vu*is another David Crosby tune that uses the EBDGAD (Em11) Tuning, like the one used in Guinnevere. This one opens with a cross-picked intro before settling into a series of colorful chords that are mostly strummed, in an improvising manner. Translation: We don’t talk about strumming specifics, just a few thoughts about keeping a steady rhythm but creating a mysterious mood, as called for in the song.

• Lesson 14: Our House - CSNY - Guitar Lesson

  Graham Nash has an incredible ability to come up with simple chord progressions, and add poetic lyrics to write beautiful songs. Our House was inspired by a short excursion with Joni Mitchell ending with Graham suggesting that he light a fire while she put flowers in the vase they just bought.
  
  He plays it on the piano in a block chord style with minimal changes. These are not too difficult to transcribe to the guitar and in this lesson we look at a few different ways of doing something similar.

• Lesson 15: Country Girl - CSNY - Deja Vu

  Neil Young left the Buffalo Springfield in 1968 and released his first solo album in 1969. He had dozens of songs he was performing regularly, generally at solo acoustic guitar shows. He joined Crosby, Stills & Nash for their 1970 album Deja Vu bringing many of these songs.

  The band added their magic to Country Girl, a medley consisting of Neil's tunes Whiskey Boot Hill, Down, Down, Down and added a short closing section which became the title.

  This lesson looks at how he performed it solo during the 4-Way Street tour at the time. The chords are an interesting combination of progressions used in many of his songs, some just 3 strings moving up the neck.

• Lesson 16: On The Way Home - Guitar Lesson

  On The Way Home is one of Neil Young’s most popular (and most requested here at TG) songs. It is from his early days, pre-dating the Buffalo Springfield, and still remains on his concert set lists to this day. This lesson looks at the way he typically plays it acoustically, in the key of D. We also talk about transposing it down to the key of C.

• Lesson 17: The Lee Shore - CSNY - Guitar Lesson

  This David Crosby song has been requested and suggested for so long that I finally had to get to it. There are many versions available out there and this lesson follows mostly the one from Four Way Street, although some of David’s variations and attempted variations from other performances are worked in. There are only a few chord shapes but the picking includes a slightly unusual pattern. The lesson starts with a ‘Watch & Listen’ segment for you to decipher as much as you can before going into the specific details and techniques.

• Lesson 18: Cowgirl In The Sand - Guitar Lesson

  Cowgirl In The Sand is a song of Neil Young’s that he presents in a few different settings, some acoustic and some electric. This lesson covers the acoustic techniques he used on albums like Four Way Street, the live, break-up album by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young from their 1970 tour. The main technique addressed is the palm muting that creates a very percussive sound.

• Lesson 19: Don't Let It Bring You Down Guitar Lesson

  Neil Young uses Double Dropped D Tuning for many songs. This acoustic guitar lesson is one of our most requested at TotallyGuitars: *Don’t Let It Bring You Down*. It first appeared on his 1970 album After The Goldrush, and was performed extensively during Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s tour that year that was released as the farewell album Four Way Street. Neil usually played this one step lower in those days and now tunes the guitar even lower for his voice, bringing the 6^th string all he way down to Bb. The tuning creates some new chord shapes but most of them are not too difficult and you really just have to work on keeping a steady strumming pattern going to make the song sound pretty good.

• Lesson 20: Find The Cost Of Freedom - Guitar Lesson

  Find The Cost Of Freedom is a Stephen Stills song that is a staple at concerts by almost all incarnations of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The song is played in Double Dropped D Tuning and the rhythm part is really only eight measures long. This lesson goes over the basics but also goes into playing leads over the progression using different modes. It also includes a long, improvised Abstract by Neil that started out as a Play Through for the lesson.

• Lesson 21: Ohio Guitar Lesson

  Neil teaches an acoustic version of this classic Neil Young tune. It is done in Double Dropped D tuning.

• Lesson 22: Daylight Again

  Daylight Again is a Stephen Stills tune from the 1982 album of the same name. It features Stills noodling around with melody notes in the key of D Minor and lightly strumming a droning D power chord, meaning just roots and fifths, no third. The strumming is a form of frailing, using the fingers to strum as well as pick out melody notes.

  Stills plays this with a lot of variations and improvising in live performances, but this lesson goes into great detail about the way it was done in the studio. There is a short look at some of the additions found in live versions.

• Lesson 23: Just A Song Before I Go - Guitar Lesson

  This short lesson on Just A Song Before I Go by Graham Nash will show you everything you need to strum through this beautiful song.

• Lesson 24: Cinnamon Girl Guitar Lesson - Neil Young

  Cinnamon Girl appeared on Neil Young’s second solo album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. The arrangement featured heavily distorted guitars that now can probably be looked at as the roots of the grunge movement. Neil frequently performs an acoustic version of Cinnamon Girl with the guitar tuned to Double Dropped D (DADGBD). This makes for a lot of easy-to-play chords that are done with partial bars, sometimes across just the higher strings and sometimes just across the lower strings.

• Lesson 25: Long May You Run - Guitar Lesson

  Long May You Run is song that Neil Young wrote in early 1974 about his 1948 Buick Roadmaster (really designed as a hearse), which provided him ample transportation for many years until it broke down in Blind River, Canada in 1962 (or 1963, or 1965, depending on the authority). In any case, it was the inspiration for a song that was performed in 1974, documented with a CSNY show in Oakland that summer. This lesson goes a bit into the early version but mostly covers the official release in 1976 on the only album by the Stills-Young Band. A few unusual chords are analyzed as well.