Neil Young Acoustic 10-Pack Volume 1

Lessons

• Lesson 1: Down By The River Guitar Lesson - Neil Young

  Down By The River was one of the first jamming tunes from Neil Young. Others in the same vein would include Cowgirl In The Sand, Southern Man, Like A Hurricane, etc. Neil frequently plays an acoustic version, sometimes as part of a medley that includes Cinnamon Girl and The Loner. He uses a Double Dropped D tuning (DADGBD) for this, which slightly changes some of the chord fingerings. The song is in common (4/4) time and revolves around the chords Em7 and A, making it in the key of D major. However, the tonic note is E, putting this in the Dorian mode. The lead can be played using the E minor pentatonic scale.

• Lesson 2: The Needle And The Damage Done Guitar Lesson - Neil Young

  As Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were headed down their Four-Way Street, Neil put together a group of country musicians that he called the Stray Gators and recorded songs in Nashville with guests like James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. The Needle And The Damage Done is a pretty simple folk song in 4/4 time that uses an 8-measure progression. It is played with a pick in a chord-melody style where melody notes are individually picked out in the middle of strumming.

• Lesson 3: My My Hey Hey Guitar Lesson - Neil Young

  My My Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue) was written by Neil Young around 1977 when he was playing with the Ducks, a Northern California club band. We have a simple set of chords in the key of A minor- Am7, Am, G, Fmaj7, F, C, and Em7. The use of minor 7 and major 7 chords helps give the song a soft, almost jazzy feel.

• Lesson 4: 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 5: Harvest Moon Guitar Lesson - Neil Young

  Harvest Moon is a great example of Neil Young’s gentle swing style. Done in Dropped D Tuning, it features some very nice fills between many of the changes.

• Lesson 6: Old Man - Guitar Lesson

  From Neil Young's Harvest album, Old Man can be played with a pick or in Neil's frailing sytle, using the right hand fingers to strum and pick out melody notes.

• Lesson 7: The Loner Guitar Lesson - Neil Young

  From Neil Young’s first solo album, The Loner is one of many tunes Neil does in Double Dropped D Tuning, along with Cinnamon Girl, Down By The River, and Don’t Let It Bring You Down, to name a few. The chords in this tuning are unusual but not particularly difficult.

• Lesson 8: Harvest Guitar Lesson - Neil Young

  Description coming soon

• Lesson 9: Heart Of Gold Guitar Lesson

  This is a short, basic look at Neil Young's Heart Of Gold, The chart and  tab should make it clear enough to most students.

• Lesson 10: Comes A Time Guitar Lesson - Neil Young

  Neil Young is a musician with many hats. Comes A Time was part of his late 1970s country/folk sound. It is a fairly basic strumming pattern done over chords in the key of G (including the barre chord Bm).