Neil Young...Guitar Style?

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by Puerto Player

I started playing in '73 because I wanted to play Southern Man. That just seemed like such a cool jam. I still play it too. Needle & The Damage Done, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes, and some others.

Suite: Judy Blue Eyes is Stephen Stills. Young is not on it.

[AgentKooper]

Originally Posted by Pinetreebob

That is true, I read an instructional article on Neil Young's acoustic guitar style in October 2017 Acoustic Guitar magazine. The G chord was discussed and the article demonstrated that he fingered the open G chord with finger 2, 3, and 4 his pinky on the high E string's third fret. He then proceeds to use his index finger to create different chords from that position. Here is the article:
http://acousticguitar.com/video-less...ingular-style/

Thanks for that link. Very interesting. I'm not the right person to weigh in on how technically accomplished Neil is as a guitar player, but absolutely he has a style all his own (like it or not, and I love it), and that's a great compliment to any artist.

[DetroitDave]

I've been listening to and enjoying music forever. Hands down, the artist I've listened to the most has been Neil Young.
I have seen him in concert (alone and with CSNY) a number of times, dating back to 1974.
It's his songs (and style) that is ingrained in my head, and I still smile when I hear one of his performances or play a part of one of his songs on my guitar.
I learned early on to disassociate the musician from the person, especially after reading a bunch of rock star autobiographies or hearing their views on world affairs.
Keep on rockin' in the free world!

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Pinetreebob

That is true, I read an instructional article on Neil Young's acoustic guitar style in October 2017 Acoustic Guitar magazine. The G chord was discussed and the article demonstrated that he fingered the open G chord with finger 2, 3, and 4 his pinky on the high E string's third fret. He then proceeds to use his index finger to create different chords from that position. Here is the article:
http://acousticguitar.com/video-less...ingular-style/

The Acoustic Guitar Magazine presenter proceeds to demo Neil Young's style but uses a Waterloo small body guitar and not a Martin D-28 or any Martin dreadnought--HelloOOooo ...

[JohnW63]

presenter proceeds to demo Neil Young's style but uses a Waterloo small body guitar and not a Martin D-28 or any Martin dreadnought--HelloOOooo ...

A "style" doesn't require a brand. That's like saying you can't play Claptan without a Strat, or Pete Townsend without a Gibson Jumbo or Lindsey Buckingham without a Turner Model 1.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Neil's electric lead playing is funky and distinct. And his acoustic playing is equally idiosyncratic and catchy.

Great Thread,
Scott

[PTony]

Originally Posted by HudsDad

Also...don't worry too much about having your guitar in tune before you begin.

Hahahaha. Truth! I’m a fan but...tuning isn’t his priority it seems. Listen to “Down By The River” on his live at Massey Hall 1971. He was all around that drop D...but never quite found it.

He is one of my favorites...perfect tuning or not.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by JohnW63

A "style" doesn't require a brand. That's like saying you can't play Claptan without a Strat, or Pete Townsend without a Gibson Jumbo or Lindsey Buckingham without a Turner Model 1.

Of course, it doesn't ... but then again ...

[Steadfastly]

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

Neil's electric lead playing is funky and distinct. And his acoustic playing is equally idiosyncratic and catchy.

Great Thread,
Scott

Neil and Stephen Stills argued about each other's playing a few times. Stephen is one who must play technically sound and Neil plays.....................well. like Neil. That is what makes him difficult to copy sometimes.

[Bob from Brooklyn]

When the Massey Hall recordings were released a few years ago I was reminded of how much of an influence he was on my acoustic style.

[Mandobart]

Neil Young was a huge musical influence for me. My older brother had all his albums (as of 1978) and played them relentlessly. I learned to play guitar largely by working through the Decade songbook (had all the songs from the triple disc album of the same name). He has always been willing to experiment - from Harvest to Trans to Neil and the Shocking Pinks and beyond. Like any successful artist, some of his stuff has been covered to death (Old Man, Needle, Heart of Gold.....) but some of the less covered stuff will always show up in one of my sets - Pocahontas, Captain Kennedy, Powderfinger....

He is an interesting person. He's into sailing, model railroads, pursuing a full size electric drive Lincoln and a different digital music format. Of course I may be more interesting too if I had the same commercial success (but his work is his art - I don't think he is following a formula or algorithm to generate songs just for commercial appeal). I read his autobiography Waging Heavy Peace a few years back. I'd recommend it to anyone who is a fan.

[Pura Vida]

Similar to Mandobart just above me, I grew up with Neil Young, and he's had a significant influence on me. I learned to play guitar with my "Neil Young - Easy Guitar" book, and my 13yo daughter used the same book to learn the chords on some of his songs. I absolutely love his restless spirit, which comes across in his songwriting, his constantly changing musical projects, and his inability to remain content and sit still. I've had the same issue throughout my life, so for me, it's actually an inspiration to always want to push the limits of what's possible.

[Riverwolf]

Originally Posted by Sloplay

For example, "Hey Hey My My", one of my favs, is relatively easy to emulate. But to actually REPLICATE all the little shifts in volume and the way he can make individual notes sustain longer than others is no simple task.

Pretty sure that I have watched every youtube version, cover and lesson on this song.
While folks that I play it for seem to like it, I know I just don't sound like Neil...

[Sloplay]

Originally Posted by Riverwolf

Pretty sure that I have watched every youtube version, cover and lesson on this song.
While folks that I play it for seem to like it, I know I just don't sound like Neil...

I know, right? Same here, I can play a pretty decent cover of it that people seem to really like, but I KNOW it doesn't have that "something" which only Neil seems to be able to bring with it.

[Pnewsom]

Originally Posted by harmonics101

Is it on the Massey recordings where Neil is always fiddling with tuning his guitar ?

To my ears, sometimes when he is playing in dropped tunings, it sounds like he is just a tad off.

But just being that tad bit off is classical Neil in my opinion.

Harmonics101

They didn't have guitar tuners in those days, tuning forks or perhaps a strobo tuner which need about four hours to warm up.

I wonder who can tune their guitar these day without electronics.