Heart of Gold by Neil Young
Song Difficulty
-012345678910Lesson Description
In this lesson we will be learning Neil Young’s Heart of Gold. This tune is fairly simple using just 4 open chords throughout. Heart of Gold chords are Em, G, C, and D. He also uses a variation on Em called Em7 by adding the pinky to the 3rd fret of the B string. There are basically 3 sections to the tune, an intro, verse, and chorus.
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Video Transcript
in this song lesson we're gonna be learning Heart Of Gold by Neil Young . We've gotten a lot of requests for this tune it's a great tune for beginners or intermediate or advanced or people who just love the tune. but it just requires 4 open chords it requires an E Minor, and also a variation of that called an E Minor 7 where you put your pinkie down or your third finger on the third fret of the B String. it sounds like that. we need a C Chord, a D chord and a G chord and that's pretty much it. so basically three parts to the tune. there's an intro a verse and a chorus and a little tag thing at the end it's not that much different. so it sounds like this. and the chorus goes...
that's the three parts. so the intro. starts on an E minor 7, and we're gonna start it's just doing down strokes but it kind of builds and it starts on the lower strings and then really emphasizes the higher strings where you're getting that minor 7.
Then we go to a D, two strokes, back to E Minor, so it sounds like this.. now here we have a little hammer on riff, so open A to second fret A, open D, open D again and hammer on the second fret. then we go back, and at some point, i don't know how many times it does that at the beginning maybe 4 times, and then it goes into a little harmonica solo it's the same exact material as the verse and it goes E minor, So it's E minor, and it's just down down up and C, down down up D, G. now you can change up the strum pattern a little bit. i'm doing down down down down up so its E minor C, I think in the harmonica solo the rhythm is more like this.. So it's down down down down up, down down down down up. kinda vary it up. D, G then before it goes into the first verse it does that intro again. now we're into the verse. so it's down down down up down down down up down down down up down down down up. now you can add an extra downstroke in there at the beginning. instead of.. same chord progression . so when it gets done with the verse you're just following along and he gets to the chorus down down down down up, down down down down up, down down down down up, then we go to C, there's a little stop in there. ok so let's do the whole chorus
so, two down strokes, stop, and then down down down up C, two times, A open to G. a little walk down to G. So, Down down down up it's always that down down down down up. kind of strum pattern and I'm hitting the low notes kinda first to give it some movement. one more time on the chorus nice and slow. I think it does it twice, then we're back to a harmonica solo i think. then probably same thing as the intro now we're to a verse. E minor, C , D, G.. Chorus..
Ok so other than that it's pretty simple other than that at the end it does this tag where it's kind of doing the chorus line over the intro materials. it does it three times and then G, like a chorus then the song ends just like this., And that's pretty much it, so.. E minor, C, D, G major if you notice, sometimes don't get confused I'm playing a G Major It's just habit you could play a G major like this but you can also double up the third fret on the B string if you could see there, my third and fourth finger either on will work so.. it just sounds a little but different. it's not really a different chord i'm just adding the fifth interval twice so okthats it for Heart Of Gold by Neil Young.
that's the three parts. so the intro. starts on an E minor 7, and we're gonna start it's just doing down strokes but it kind of builds and it starts on the lower strings and then really emphasizes the higher strings where you're getting that minor 7.
Then we go to a D, two strokes, back to E Minor, so it sounds like this.. now here we have a little hammer on riff, so open A to second fret A, open D, open D again and hammer on the second fret. then we go back, and at some point, i don't know how many times it does that at the beginning maybe 4 times, and then it goes into a little harmonica solo it's the same exact material as the verse and it goes E minor, So it's E minor, and it's just down down up and C, down down up D, G. now you can change up the strum pattern a little bit. i'm doing down down down down up so its E minor C, I think in the harmonica solo the rhythm is more like this.. So it's down down down down up, down down down down up. kinda vary it up. D, G then before it goes into the first verse it does that intro again. now we're into the verse. so it's down down down up down down down up down down down up down down down up. now you can add an extra downstroke in there at the beginning. instead of.. same chord progression . so when it gets done with the verse you're just following along and he gets to the chorus down down down down up, down down down down up, down down down down up, then we go to C, there's a little stop in there. ok so let's do the whole chorus
so, two down strokes, stop, and then down down down up C, two times, A open to G. a little walk down to G. So, Down down down up it's always that down down down down up. kind of strum pattern and I'm hitting the low notes kinda first to give it some movement. one more time on the chorus nice and slow. I think it does it twice, then we're back to a harmonica solo i think. then probably same thing as the intro now we're to a verse. E minor, C , D, G.. Chorus..
Ok so other than that it's pretty simple other than that at the end it does this tag where it's kind of doing the chorus line over the intro materials. it does it three times and then G, like a chorus then the song ends just like this., And that's pretty much it, so.. E minor, C, D, G major if you notice, sometimes don't get confused I'm playing a G Major It's just habit you could play a G major like this but you can also double up the third fret on the B string if you could see there, my third and fourth finger either on will work so.. it just sounds a little but different. it's not really a different chord i'm just adding the fifth interval twice so okthats it for Heart Of Gold by Neil Young.