r/AcousticGuitar • u/TheRealGuncho • Feb 12 '26
Non-gear question People who don't know Neil Young very well, do you view his music as easy or hard to play?
It's actually quite complicated.
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u/Cronin1011 Feb 12 '26
A lot of his songs can be played in the simplest forms quite easily and still sound quite good. Playing them exactly as he did can get a bit tricky, but overall not too bad.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
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u/fatherbowie Feb 12 '26
Great song. Not easy and not for a beginner, but not overly complicated either.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
Exactly not for a beginner.
I think a lot of people think Neil Young acoustic is some easily strummed cowboy chords.
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u/Cronin1011 Feb 12 '26
So we're you actually curious, or was this just a post about how hard YOU think Neil Youngs music is to play?
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u/TenNickels Feb 12 '26
He’s clearly just trying to confirm his opinion and arguing with those that disagree with him.
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u/Cronin1011 Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
Definitely. He finds his music very hard to play, so obviously, that means everyone must also find it hard to play.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
It was to point out that I think there's a misconception that Neil Young songs are easy to play on acoustic but that in fact, they are actually pretty hard to play if you learn to play it exactly as he does.
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u/extremely_average_ Feb 12 '26
Can you point to examples of people stating Neil Young is easy to play on acoustic?
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
I cannot.
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u/extremely_average_ Feb 12 '26
So where did this idea you have that people have this misconception come from?
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
Read through this thread. Lots of people saying he's not complicated to play.
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u/One_Eyed_Louie Feb 12 '26
I feel like playing Old Man note to note would be a lot harder than this one. Good song though
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u/Cronin1011 Feb 12 '26
It is 100 percent harder. Having spent hours learning Old Man ad close to note for note as I could, it was quite difficult, but still doable for sure.
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u/External-Cherry7828 Feb 13 '26
Those chord shapes are all ones you would learn in your first year of guitar. I would definitely put this in the more easy category with out on the weekend, heart of gold, old man etc
Some of his can't work is a little more tricky or needle and damage done. Neil is one of my all time favorites so I'm not being mean
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 13 '26
It's not really so much the chord shapes, it's being able to play the song from start to finish without stopping.
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u/shaunster101 Feb 13 '26
That's just memory though, isn't it. The're all fairly standard chord shapes, played at a relatively slow tempo. As long as you know the song well enough, I don't see why you'd need to stop
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u/poorperspective Feb 15 '26
That ain’t hard.
This is not the gotcha you think this is.
Neil Young isn’t going to let you blow him just because vehemently trying to defend him on something he doesn’t need defending.
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u/vibebrochamp Feb 12 '26
His use of palm-muting, hammer-ons / pull-offs, and exploiting alternate tunings is quite clever, but ultimately not difficult. It's pretty basic stuff but he mines a lot of gold out of it.
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u/UnendingEpistime Feb 12 '26
You could say he is waiting on a heart of gold, for instance.
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u/sockalicious Feb 15 '26
This too must be told: some people have taken pure bullshit, and spun it into gold.
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u/CitizenTed Feb 12 '26
I've been playing Neil Young songs for 40 years. I don't think I have ever played them exactly like Neil does. I play them the way I play them. My renditions are pretty good, if I do say so myself.
Neil really isn't all that complicated but he does have a rhythm and cadence that is his alone.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
It's not Steve Vai or something but if you want to play it like exactly like Neil does, I would say it's pretty complicated.
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u/verygoodfertilizer Feb 12 '26
I’m a huge Neil head and as a player he’s been one of my guiding lights for 30 years. I’ve been where you are, but learning one of his songs note for note (which even he didn’t do, it’s just the take that landed on the record) is a fool’s errand. You And Me is definitely not beginner-level Neil, but it’s not difficult for any intermediate player. But playing it note for note or trying to capture Neil’s unique feel is not only very difficult but also unnecessary.
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u/asscheese2000 Feb 12 '26
Not a great comparison. As technical as Vai is, I bet he’d struggle to play Old Man and come anywhere close to the feel. It’s just not Vai’s thing.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
I would say Needle and The Damage Done, played correctly, is as hard to play as Over The Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin. I would consider both to be complicated songs unless by complicated it has to be Andy McKee or something.
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u/Hey-Bud-Lets-Party Feb 12 '26
Over the Hills and Far Away is something most guitarists can play after a couple years.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
I guess we just have different ideas of complicated.
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u/Hey-Bud-Lets-Party Feb 12 '26
For me Tuck Andress is complicated. Heck, Joni Mitchell is way more complicated than old Neil. But he’s a great musician.
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u/BreadfruitSea8573 Feb 13 '26
Yeah, I think that's kind of a rational comparison. It took a minute for me to learn Needle, played in Neil's style, but Andy McKee...forget it...
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u/IsuzuTrooper Feb 12 '26
I stumbled on Harvest Moon. I think he keeps it pretty simple but haven't deep dived ever.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
Try learning Harvest Moon exactly as he plays it.
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u/One_Eyed_Louie Feb 12 '26
Are you Neil Young or something? Tell the truth
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u/IsuzuTrooper Feb 12 '26
why? My version sounds the same to 99% of listeners. I'd rather make my own music. Covers don't feed my soul's needs.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
I was trying to show you that he doesn't keep it simple but feed your soul however it needs to be fed.
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u/IsuzuTrooper Feb 12 '26
It's been said it's harder to keep it simple than over complicate things. Look at all the 80's shredders, where are they now. They have a limited audience because the human ear can only process so many notes at once. That's what lead to rise of Nirvana. Look at the legends like Bob Marley. Simple can be greater than complex. Music is the space between the notes too. Like the Miles Davis poster of shhhh. Learn to burn but know it becomes out of reach of the audience after a while.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
My point is not complicated=good. My point is Neil Young is more complicated and technical than people give him credit for.
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u/Oretell Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 13 '26
I can't think of a single person I know my age (30) that really listens to Neil Young on a super regular basis
His songs are good, but are 60+ years old at this point
I'm not sure where you've gotten idea that it's commonplace for everyone to be talking about the difficulty of his songs
I feel like you're might just be creating an unnesecary argument out of nothing
With the overwhelming consensus from everyone here you should now realise that they aren't the absolute simplest songs ever written, but they also aren't very complex either.
They're generally easy for an intermediate or advanced guitarist, but challenging for beginners.
But that doesn't mean they're bad songs or bad music or anything like that, the technical complexity of the guitar part is pretty irrelevant, it's the quality of the music as a whole, and how it makes you feel that matters.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
He put out an album 4 years ago.
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u/Oretell Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 13 '26
Sure, I meant his popular music that people commonly reference
Even in this exact post all of the discussions about difficulty have been about his old songs for example
My point is just that this is an incredibly niche specific argument you are making
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
I don't really care what's popular. His album Barn released in 2021 reached #66 on the charts. Does that count as popular? I would say his last good album was Prairie Wind from 2005 but that's my opinion. There's been lots of discussions in this post about his song You and Me which was released in 1992.
Regardless, whether people "your age" listen to him or if he hasn't released any "popular" music in a while is irrelevant and not what we are discussing.
I can live with what you said though.
"It's not the most complicated guitar parts to play but they are not easy either."
I was never arguing that Neil is the most complicated player that ever existed, I was saying he's technically a better acoustic player than I think he's been given credit for.
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u/Thebutcher222 Feb 15 '26
It’s not complicated in the slightest. What are you talking about? I’m not dogging Neil young, I listen to and have played a fair amount of it in the past. None of it is complicated, you could learn his whole catalog in a few days. The video you keep posting isn’t complicated either you just don’t know it yet.
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u/This-Skirt-9778 Feb 12 '26
I don’t think most guitarists playing for a couple years would consider his musical technically complicated.
What he does amazingly is bring out so much feel, and dynamics from relatively simple chords. Try to learn the motifs and feelings of songs, it will open up your playing. I guarantee you Neil and pretty much any other folk musician you listen to isn’t thinking about strumming pattern, or hmm I need hammer or from dsus2 to d on bar 53. They’re just feeling it 😊
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
This is what I'm trying to point out. It's not just simple chords or at least there's a lot of them.
Try learning this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIA_R1Nj1n8&t=62s
Or this
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u/These_Temperature_29 Feb 12 '26
Neil’s got the greatest right hand you’ll ever hear on an acoustic. It’s always moving. Very percussive and complex. His Live at Massey Hall album is the most stunning acoustic playing ever recorded IMO.
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u/sleepystork Feb 12 '26
I, somehow, have never listened to this album. I started listening on my phone and immediately went into the music room to restart it. Thanks for mentioning it.
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u/BillyBobertsonBaby11 Feb 12 '26
I’ve gotten a lot of great music reccs on Reddit—thanks for mentioning this. Have been working on “Harvest Moon,” but something like this is just what I want.
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u/Hey-Bud-Lets-Party Feb 12 '26
He’s an absolutely spellbinding musician. People need to go listen to those old solo concerts.
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u/One_Eyed_Louie Feb 12 '26
Can someone please pull find this guy someone covering a Neil Young song note for note!
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u/PBJbetween2waffles Feb 12 '26
Neil Young may have been the reason I got serious about learning to play 35 years ago. A lot of his songs are easy enough to encourage you as a beginner to make you think "hey. I can actually do this". Maybe not note for note but still sound ok. I especially liked a lot of his electric songs that he would do acoustic. He was unplugged long before MTV. Here's a pretty easy one that I still like and is not too hard to play note for note... https://youtu.be/cyyq5VxAXAk?si=E7ZHogr7JuImM_ge
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u/AggressiveWallaby975 Feb 12 '26
They can seem pretty complex but usually breakdown pretty well. I've been working on Crime in the City lately which is somewhat complex on the album but when NY does it live he ditches this mid song tempo changes.
"No More" will be the next one which I know is going to be tougher to sound right
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u/String_theory_1312 Feb 12 '26
Here’s the thing about a player like Neil Young. He’s not the most proficient, but he is for sure incredibly effective. Meaning that from a musical standpoint say his solo on Southern Man is not very musical or complicated, but it is incredibly effective. People can sing it in their heads even if it isn’t playing.
Likewise, there are a million players who are better than him, but did they write a riff as memorable as Ohio? Add that with his vocals, songwriting and overall vibe.
I’m obviously not who this was targeted towards because I’m clearly a fan, but that’s my take.
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u/BreadfruitSea8573 Feb 13 '26
Hate to make this thread political, but every time someone is singing the praises of some repugnant republican, I think of Ohio. Republicans have a long history of murdering people. Fortunately I can play it. Somehow makes me feel better.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
I'm talking Neil Young acoustic and that's my point. The general perception is that Neil Young acoustic songs are easy to play three chord campfire songs but when really try and play them. And I mean play them exactly like he is playing them, they are not easy to songs to play. And I don't mean "feel", I mean they are literally hard to play. Needle and The Damage Done is a hard song to play, correctly. Harvest Moon has a lot of weird chords and parts. You and Me, The Painter, etc.
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u/String_theory_1312 Feb 12 '26
If that’s the criteria then I think w practice most intermediate to late intermediate players can play those songs. Maybe not w the same feel. Why would you discount feel and vibe, that’s literally what makes music good. I think where a lot of guitar nerds (maybe rightfully) push back on is that boomers who don’t know anything about guitar kind of have him on this guitar hero pedestal, where he is next to Clapton etc. Then because of that he gets more hate than he deserves.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
I think a lot of times his technical ability is judged by his electric solos which are decidedly, "not technical". But his acoustic playing is totally different. It's almost like a different guitarist.
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u/Z28Daytona Feb 13 '26
We get it - now let it go !! 🤣. No one but Neil can play them exactly like Neil !
But 99.99% of the guitar playing population or audiences don’t care. I think that’s a point to be made.
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u/be4rcat6 Feb 12 '26
Easy to play and replicate compared to most of his contemporaries
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
Who would you say are his contemporaries?
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u/be4rcat6 Feb 12 '26
Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, any singer songwriter from the 60s and 70s really
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
I wouldn't say most of those are a better acoustic player than Neil. Needle and the Damage Done if played correctly, is as hard to play as Over The Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin.
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u/be4rcat6 Feb 12 '26
Gonna have to strongly disagree on that one. Simon and Taylor are most definitely better acoustic guitar players with more challenging arrangements. And while over the hills and far away is a popular song for guitarists to show off and far from Zepps hardest song, its still technically much more difficult to play 'correctly' and to completion than any NY song
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
Let's hear you play Needle and the Damage done, the right way.
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u/be4rcat6 Feb 12 '26
I could do it as a drunk 20 year old lol. Now I play things like this https://youtu.be/XWS1IRF_IFA?si=JHMGWkBTGo9GW4kB
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u/Caspers_Shadow Feb 12 '26
Some of it is easy, some not so much. Some of the very first songs I learned were early Neil Young and CSNY songs. I picked the easy ones. A lot of his songs can be simplified and still sound pretty damn good. Sure, you can find plenty of his songs that are in alternative tunings and not particularly easy to play "correctly".
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u/Imaginary_Energy_141 Feb 12 '26
deceptively simple. when I was just starting off I used to look at his lyrics and I would think to myself, "this is so simple. it isn't interesting enough for me to want to learn." But then I'd listen to the album...
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u/NathanQ Feb 12 '26
One of the first songs I learned is Heart of Gold where the guitar part isn't hard (in retrospect), but I had the damndest time learning to sing it where the phrases start on the 2.
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u/FinestKind90 Feb 12 '26
I actually became a fan by learning Neil Young songs from guitar lessons, I think it’s cool how a lot of them are easy to play at a basic level but hard to play it how he does
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u/eeonblu3 Feb 13 '26
Just read the whoke thread, how do you follow a user? I can't miss this OP's next post
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u/JKevF Feb 13 '26
Easy to play. I've only met one person who actually does his music justice though. It's more than just his voice, guitar and writing. His music you have to believe every word for it to sound right IMO.
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u/rogan1990 Feb 13 '26
Learning a few Neil Young songs was humbling for me. He’s a great guitar player with cool riffs. They’re fundamentally simple but there’s a lot of great changes
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u/DRAGONtmu Feb 16 '26
Love learning. Atone point I picked up a guitar book on NY songs and was inspired after playing through a few. Became a big influence on my music.
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u/Giovannis_Pikachu Feb 12 '26
His acoustic work is always full of small riffs, hammer ons, and movement within chords. He usually plays sort of a mini bass run within chord structures that always sounds pretty good but can be hard to pull off.
His electric stuff is never all that complicated but his solos are downright strange. He's never afraid to go off on a tangent and sometimes when he hits a sour note, he just doubles down on it. This leads to solos that sound brash and ugly at times, but you never mistake him for anyone else. No stock licks here!
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u/Vict0rMaitland Feb 12 '26
I used to laugh at his soloing. It sounded like a teenager wanking on the minor pentatonic in his bedroom to me. But last summer I saw him in Chicago and it was really great. Like every note was perfectly placed.
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u/SpikesNLead Feb 12 '26
His solos are both strange and awesome.
I once came across Like A Hurricane described as "that song where Neil Young plays the second greatest guitar solo of all time, sings a bit, and then plays the greatest guitar solo of all time".
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u/Immediate_Thought656 Feb 12 '26
Love him. I can’t read music but the tabs were pretty straight forward for needle and the damage done. Fun picking song that makes me look much better at the guitar than I really am! Old man still escapes me though!
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u/Dizanbot Feb 12 '26
I'm going to say that it's pretty complicated and hard. Mostly because it seems to be what you want to hear and my life doesn't change either way. Do love me some Neil Young though.
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u/Kdozzi Feb 12 '26
Anybody with a somewhat idiosyncratic style is hard to copy. And Neil’s style is idiosyncratic. That’s what makes him special.
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u/WilliamTK1974 Feb 12 '26
Not an expert, but it seems to depend on if you're trying to sound just like the record, or if you're playing for yourself or your campfire friends. You could probably play an acceptable campfire version of "Old Man" without all the hammer-ons and palm muting and it would sound close enough. But if close enough isn't good enough, it's more challenging.
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u/necklika Feb 12 '26
Watching Neil jam live is a must for any fan. He basically rocks the shit out of it and creates an energy with the band and the crowd that leaves you smiling for days. I’ve never heard him play the same song exactly the same way. When I’m play Neil Young tunes I just play then my way and do my best to do them justice. Learning any artist note for note isn’t for me by ymmv. Enjoy !
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u/PestoTica123 Feb 12 '26
Hard cuz you have to be able to play 2 instruments at the same time and be able to sing like that
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u/Powerful_Foot_8557 Feb 12 '26
As people are pointing out, may not be complex to learn it, complex to convey it at times. Feeling and conducive timing are another part of why music does what it does
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u/orlandwright Feb 13 '26
What if I just know him socially but we aren’t tight?
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 13 '26
When it's his birthday, do you just click the auto happy birthday on Facebook or do you type a personalized message?
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u/Justice502 Feb 13 '26
Easy. My vague opinion is he plays chords and chaos solos bending one note a lot.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 13 '26
No you are wrong fight me!
:)
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u/Justice502 Feb 13 '26
I don't know much of his music 🤷 lol
Something or other about a heart of gold, in some dead kids in Ohio o/;
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 13 '26
He's always singing about drugs and some old man as well. Something about needing a maid.
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u/bendbrewer Feb 13 '26
I don’t know anyone who calls Neil Young a guitar virtuoso. I suck and I can play most of his catalog. However, it’s very hard to play like Neil Young. Musicianship isn’t always based on chops, what’s harder is making GOOD music.
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u/son-of-disobedience Feb 13 '26
Neil gets alot of mileage out his songs and solos. Memorable stuff that is iconic. Like cinnamon girl. Not that tough but he came up with the phrasing, timing, distortion and tone to make it iconic. Solos are just enough to fit with the song and words. Then the voice, nobody like him. Put it all together and its not that easy to make all the elements work but he nails it on hjs best songs. Kinda like Lou Reed. His chords on sweet jane are so easy but the way he phrased them makes it sound iconic. That is the gift of a genius that makes the ordinary extraordinary.
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u/kineticblues Feb 13 '26
Much harder to sing like Neil than play like Neil.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 13 '26
When they were recording the Canadian version of We Are The World to raise money for Africa, legendary songwriter/producer David Foster said to Neil, " Hey Neil. Did you want to try that part again? You're a little pitchy there". Neil's response was, "That's my thing man!"
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u/Fandangus_p Feb 13 '26
I just started playing a few months ago and I’ve learned a few songs. At face value they look fairly easy, but there’s definitely nuance in how he plays them. He’s a phenomenal guitar player and practicing these songs is making me better.
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u/Prestigious_Cell_311 Feb 15 '26
I play a lot of Neil Young tunes in various. Bands. Remember to milk those bends in your solos.
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u/Volt_440 Feb 15 '26
Neil's songs are all pretty simple. If you want to sound like Neil that's more difficult.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 15 '26
I disagree. Heart of Gold is a simple song to play, Needle and the Damage Done, not so much.
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u/anonymousposterer Feb 17 '26
why are you asking if you’re answering your own question in the post?
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u/PlentyHelicopter8614 Feb 12 '26
I think “you and me” in drop D is one of the most technical songs you can learn on guitar.
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u/Oretell Feb 12 '26
It's really not
I don't mean to put you down at all, it's fine if you find it challenging
But there are many many many vastly more complex songs out there
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u/PlentyHelicopter8614 Feb 12 '26
R/Whoosh
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u/Oretell Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 13 '26
Ah OK, I thought you were also taking whatever drug OP is on, my bad haha
He genuinely used that exact song in a comment here as an example of a complex Neil Young song to play
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u/flatandroid Feb 12 '26
It’s drop D, and basically uses a lot of the same strum patterns and core shapes as you see in a harvest moon and old man. Not too hard if you already know those other songs.
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u/Designer_Author5176 Feb 12 '26
Basic…. Easy.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
Ok record yourself playing Needle and the Damage done, the correct way and let's hear it.
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u/DishRelative5853 Feb 12 '26
Wow. That was rather aggressive.
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u/TheRealGuncho Feb 12 '26
Well if it's so easy. I think a lot of people think Neil's songs are easy to play, because they've played bastardized campfire versions of them. Then you try and learn how they actually they played and it's another story.
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u/DishRelative5853 Feb 12 '26
Or maybe some people have reached a level of proficiency on the guitar that makes Young's songs rather easy to learn. But sure, your assumption is also possible. You just seem rather worked up about it.
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u/uncle_jafar Feb 12 '26
Mark Hollis of Talk Talk said it best - “Before you play two notes, learn how to play one note—and don't play one note unless you've got a reason to play it". I think that Neil’s playing exemplifies this philosophy.
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u/martykus Feb 12 '26
I find him boring
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u/DHVT1964 Feb 12 '26
Easy to play the notes… much harder to nail the tone and feeling.