Neil Young Acoustic Recommendations

[Pjmsj21]

I am a beginner, who is very self conscious (and rightfully so) of singing while attempting to play.  Heck it's hard enough just to play let along sing.  However I have really begun to enjoy Neil Young's Silver and Gold CD. Most songs are relatively slow and I would guess relatively easy to play.

So for any Neil Young fans my question is what other CD's  should I be listening to the are similar to Silver and Gold?

Thanks

Pat Mc

[shakey]

Harvest
Harvest Moon
Comes A Time
First half of rust never sleeps
American Stars n' bars

[unclrob]

Though not acoustic Zuma,For that matter any an all.Even the rock stuff translates real well to acoustic.To this day I still love playing Cortez the Killer acoustically and again for that matter all his stuff.I even LOVE the Trans album.I've enjoyed his writing since the Springfield days. :)  

[Randy_R]

And nowadays Clancy can't even sing.....

[rounder]

You might want to check out some of his concert DVD's.  That way you would get to see how he plays his stuff.

He has a Silver & Gold DVD.  I got his cd of Greendale.  It came with a DVD of him doing the whole show by himself acoustically.  (Don't confuse this with the DVD of the movie Greendale.)

He also has Rust Never Sleeps as a DVD.  As Shakey points out....the first half of that is acoustic.

Good Luck.

[naboz]

You might still be able to find the Decade songbook in the stores.  It has many both acoustic and electric-that-translate-well to acoustic; and yes, Rob, one of my "standards" is Cortez (the Killer), it sounds great on my LV-BW...
Rob/rounder, I used to do "Last Trip to Tulsa" on my 12--all those old Neil tunes are really fun!  

[unclrob]

Sugar Mountian

[shakey]

and the unplugged album  :D

UnclR.
oh yes. Cortez.
He plays cortez with a 12-string on a bootleg cd I have.
Fantastic!

[unclrob]

Thats the way I've played it for years.

[FNG]

http://hyperrust.org/Music/?Tab

Great Neil tab site.

[orsino]

I LIVED on a diet of Zuma my Junior year of college.
Sugar Mountain still makes me cry (makes other people cry for the wrong reason when I play it too).

After the Gold Rush
Harvest

and my ALL time favorite....Comes a Time

[stevelawsn]

Ditto on Decade. If you could only have one Neil record, this would be it in my opinion. Not a stinker on there anywhere. Neil uses a lot of alternate tunings which give his acoustic work a  unique sound. If only his long awaited box set would finally come out...  :D  

[mazareth]

I play the following Neil songs acoustically:

Heart of Gold
Star of Bethlehem
Like a Hurricaine
Comes a Time
Long May You Run
Cortez the Killer
Helpless

I used to do Four Strong Winds (actually an Ian & Sylvia Tyson song) off Comes a Time.  And yes I do the harmonica holder around the neck thing...  :lol:

A lot of Dylan works well acousticly, as do the following: the Byrds, Grateful Dead, Sun Sessions Elvis. Not to mention my new favorite, Townes van Zandt. In addition to the Decade song book, I would recommend the Dylan songbook 1962-1976 (?). Not sure about the span of years, but it ends with either Desire or Blood on the Tracks. The reason I don't remember is because I lent it to my brother and he never gave it back!  



Mark...

[jcbuggs]

Where would all us acoustic players get material if it were not for people like Neil Young? IMO he is one of the unique artists around today. More and more of the music I grew up with is now a TV commercial. The Beatles, The Stones, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin etc, etc. But not Neil Young. And he has literally written hundreds of songs. Read somewhere it was over 600. A talent I admire from afar! Song writing is something I only dream about.

Anyway I like

Harvest Moon (in dropped D) sounds great on my L-03R.
Heart of Gold - Easy to play and a great strumming song.
Old Man - I used to relate to the song writer, now relate to the topic!
Through My Sails - Great chord changes and easy too.

[naboz]

OK, that does it...now I've got to go get my ol' Neil books out!  :)  

[rounder]

Nobody writes like Neil ....Nobody.

I saw Neil on his Greendale tour get into it with  some hecklers.  One guy was on Neil for a good half-hour from the beginning of the show.  Really annoying,

Finally Neil turned to him and said..."F#@* you..shut up.  The crowd is with me and against you.  I beleive everyone has a right to be heard....and you have had your say......on the other hand I've got a bully pulpit and you don't....so I apologize."

He got out an acoustic guitar to do a solo number.  You could have heard a pin drop, the audience was so still.  He looks up and says.."well...you don't have to be THAT quiet".  Cracked everybody up.

Innaresting!

[BlueWing]

Don't forget "After the Goldrush" - it has a lot of really good and pretty easy to figure out acoustic songs.  

[Pjmsj21]

Thanks for all of the great Neil info.  I have to say that I am developing a whole new and greater aprpeciation for his contributions.  Cant wait to get home and get playing.

Pat

[1dimeblues]

I'll put in a vote for Harvest and Harvest Moon.....  
"the needle and the damage done" is my fav.....
mazareth....  I like Townes VZ also..... " Pancho and Lefty "  (think waylon/willie)....If I needed you(emmylou harris).....  so many songs.....so much talent.... God bless his soul.......