Neil Young "Old Man"

[rals75]

I have been learning Old Man by Neil Young for the past couple of weeks and have it pretty much down. I was curious how you all play the opening. I have been going back and forth between picking the notes to a more sloppy upstroke on the E and B. Wanted to get some ideas on how others play the opening?

Next up to learn is "Going To California" by Zeppelin.
Which should be an adventure. Lol!!

Appreciate any feedback!!

[Ed-in-Ohio]

I move a Dsus2 down to the fifth fret (X-X-0-0h5-6-0), individually pick the notes, and then strum it, then slide things up to D. Lots of fun!

[Reasley]

Originally Posted by rals75

I have been learning Old Man by Neil Young for the past couple of weeks and have it pretty much down. I was curious how you all play the opening. I have been going back and forth between picking the notes to a more sloppy upstroke on the E and B. Wanted to get some ideas on how others play the opening?

Next up to learn is "Going To California" by Zeppelin.
Which should be an adventure. Lol!!

Appreciate any feedback!!

Neil, who many call the "Father of Grunge," taught me palm muting by observation, and Old Man is a great example of palm muting.

I'm going to assume you're unfamiliar with it, so humor me if you are. With Neil Young songs, as soon as you strike the note and let it ring out, you kill it.

With the opening, the fingering is a "D" fingering at the 5th fret, but the E string is open. Hammer on the G string at the 5th fret three times (right?), then do the same at the true D chord position.

Corey Huevel is one of ny favorite YouTube young undiscovered artists. He does Old Man in the below video with the right fingering positions but he does not mute the strings the way I like:

https://youtu.be/PkBRTmxZO5k

Check out his version of Jimi's "Voodoo Child" for a GREAT acoustic cover.

Here is Neil himself doing it (one of the first times he ever performed the song) and he does more muting here but not as much as some versions of his. I prefer it VERY pronounced as he has done at other times.

https://youtu.be/An2a1_Do_fc

It will be interesting to see if a new generation "takes a liking" to this song because it is being used heavily in a promo of a new movie and is presumably on its soundtrack . . .

Richard

[rals75]

Originally Posted by Reasley

Neil, who many call the "Father of Grunge," taught me palm muting by observation, and Old Man is a great example of palm muting.

I'm going to assume you're unfamiliar with it, so humor me if you are. With Neil Young songs, as soon as you strike the note and let it ring out, you kill it.

With the opening, the fingering is a "D" fingering at the 5th fret, but the E string is open. Hammer on the G string at the 5th fret three times (right?), then do the same at the true D chord position.

Corey Huevel is one of ny favorite YouTube young undiscovered artists. He does Old Man in the below video with the right fingering positions but he does not mute the strings the way I like:

https://youtu.be/PkBRTmxZO5k

Check out his version of Jimi's "Voodoo Child" for a GREAT acoustic cover.

Here is Neil himself doing it (one of the first times he ever performed the song) and he does more muting here but not as much as some versions of his. I prefer it VERY pronounced as he has done at other times.

https://youtu.be/An2a1_Do_fc

It will be interesting to see if a new generation "takes a liking" to this song because it is being used heavily in a promo of a new movie and is presumably on its soundtrack . . .

Richard

I'm a big fan of Neil and have been listening to him for many years. Even read his biography "Shakey" which I highly recommend!!
I have been playing the song at the 5th fret with the D fingering but wasn't sure if other people picked the individual strings after the hammer or played the B and E strings together. I have watched Neil play it on YouTube and he plays it different every time which is expected.

Thanks for the input and the links they are a great reference.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fender Stratocaster
Epiphone Les Paul
Solid Rock Guitars Acoustic (Great luthier from the Eastern Shore of VA.)

[Tedster]

If anybody should have a hole in the soundboard (ala Willie) it should be Neil Young, he has a distinct "chop" that he does now and then, it's very distinctive.

He also has a metronome like right hand. It never stops. With practice, palm muting, it's possible to get close. With all due respect, if you've got it down in two weeks that's pretty good. I'd like to hear it. Neil Young is hard to emulate, in my opinion. I don't mean technically. Or maybe I do. He's not ... Doc Watson, but he has a distinctive tone.

[Reasley]

Originally Posted by Tedster

If anybody should have a hole in the soundboard (ala Willie) it should be Neil Young, he has a distinct "chop" that he does now and then, it's very distinctive.

He also has a metronome like right hand. It never stops. With practice, palm muting, it's possible to get close. With all due respect, if you've got it down in two weeks that's pretty good. I'd like to hear it. Neil Young is hard to emulate, in my opinion. I don't mean technically. Or maybe I do. He's not ... Doc Watson, but he has a distinctive tone.

I probably "have it down" as good as anyone, having been obsessed with his style since the 70s. However, HOWEVER, I'm having a hard time nailing "More than Words (by Extreme) or Man in the Mirror (covered by Matthew Fearon on YouTube). PLEASE go to the latter one and give me some help. Please? Can someone that is more musical than me explain the difference?

[rals75]

Thanks again for everyone's input and advice. Still working on learning the song and you are correct his right hand is like a metronome, which is incredible.
I will have try and figure out how to attach an audio file to the message board.

I watched a great show on TV last night about "CSNY" with Dan Rather as the interviewer. Highly recommend checking it out. The name of the show is "The Big Interview" I believe.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by rals75

Thanks again for everyone's input and advice. Still working on learning the song and you are correct his right hand is like a metronome, which is incredible.
I will have try and figure out how to attach an audio file to the message board.

I watched a great show on TV last night about "CSNY" with Dan Rather as the interviewer. Highly recommend checking it out. The name of the show is "The Big Interview" I believe.

I've played Old Man on and off since the 70's and always did the intro with the 2nd fret open d chord shape at the 5th fret (f chord).

A good website for uploading audio files is www.soundcloud.com

You can embed the audio player in your posts (I have one in my signature).