NEIL YOUNG HEART OF GOLD – How To Play On Guitar and Harmonica

Neil Young Heart Of Gold MP3 Downloads

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Heart of Gold History, Sheet Music, Chords, Lyrics, Harmonica Tabs, Gear and Setup

A Bit of History

Undoubtedly, Neil Young is one of my favourite singer songwriters. I think what really draws me to his music is that it has such honesty and emotion that is really rare to find in popular music today.

Neil Young was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Nov 12, 1945.

Heart Of Gold first appeared on Neil’s 1972 album, Harvest and went on to become his only US #1 single. Heart Of Gold also appears on the Decade compilation where Young writes in the liner notes about the song,”This song put me in the middle of the road. Travelling there became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there”.

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Neil Young – Greatest Hits Sheet Music

If you are looking for the sheet music, there are a couple of different versions that I’ve found available that includes Heart Of Gold.
The first one is for piano, vocal and guitar:
Neil Young – Greatest Hits by Neil Young. Piano/Vocal/Guitar Artist Songbook. Softcover. 88 pages. Published by Hal Leonard
The second is for easy guitar:
Neil Young – Greatest Hits Easy Guitar with Notes and Tab. By Neil Young. Easy Guitar (Simplified arrangements for guitar). Softcover. Guitar tablature. Published by Hal Leonard.

You can check out all of Neil Young’s endeavours. In Canada, check out my Neil Young Canada Site.

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Musical Instruments and Recording Setup

I made my first harmonica holder out of an old wire coat hanger. It wasn’t beautiful but it worked and put me on the road to earning my McGyver certificate at an early age.
For me now, a comfortable and properly fitting harmonica holder is a must for hands free harmonica playing. This
Hohner Harmonica Neck Holder works great for me.
Another harmonica holder that you may want to try that has gotten great reviews is the
Lee Oskar Harmonica Holder. You can also check out other harmonica holders on my George’s Harp Shop page.

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Neil Young Heart Of Gold – Chords and Lyrics and Harmonica Tabs

Below are the harmonica tabs along with the lyrics and chords. I hope this helps anyone trying to learn this awesome song. If you enjoyed the video, please tell others.
Heart Of Gold music and lyrics are property and copyright of their owners and provided for educational purposes and personal use only.
The following is my transcription of my version of this awesome song. If you want how the author intended, check out the links above.
Em D Em
Em D Em

First Harmonica Solo

Em C D G
4 5 6 -5 5 -5 5 4
Em C D G
6 7 -6 6 -6 6 5
Em C D G
4 4 4 6 6 6 6 6 -5 5 4
Em D Em

First Verse
Em C D G
I wanna live I wanna give
4 4 4 -6 6 6 -4 5

Em C D G
I’ve been a miner for a Heart Of Gold
4 4 4 -6-6 -6 -6 6 -4 5

Em C D G
It’s these expressions I never give
4 4 4 -6 -6 6 6 -4 5

CHORUS
Em G
That keeps me searchin for a Heart Of Gold
-4 5 -4 5 -4 4 -4 5 -6 6 5

C C Bm Am G
And I’m gettin old
4 4 4 4 4

Em G
Keeps me searchin for a Heart Of Gold
5 -4 5 -4 4 -4 5 -6 6 5
C C Bm Am G
And I’m gettin old
4 4 4 4 4

Second Harmonica Solo
Em C D G
4 6 -5 5 -5 5 4
Em C D G
6 7 -6 6 -6 6 -6 6 5
Em C D G
7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 4 4 -4 4 -4 5 5 -4 4
Em D Em

Second Verse
Em G C D
I’ve been to Hollywood, I’ve been to Redwood
4 4 4 -6 -6 -6 6 6 -4 5 5

Em G C D
I’ve crossed the ocean for a Heart Of Gold
4 4 4 -6-6 -6 -6 6 -4 5

Em G C D
I’ve been in my mind, it’s such a fine line
4 4 4 -6 -6 6 6 -4 5 5

CHORUS
Em G
That keeps me searchin for a Heart Of Gold
-4 5 -4 5 -4 4 -4 5 -6 6 5

C C Bm Am G
And I’m gettin old
4 4 4 4 4

Em G
Keeps me searchin for a Heart Of Gold
5 -4 5 -4 4 -4 5 -6 6 5
C C Bm Am G
And I’m gettin old
4 4 4 4 4

Third Harmonica Solo
Em C D G
6 6 7 -6 6 7 -6 6 -6 -6 6 5
Em C D G
5 5 5 -5 5 -4 4 -4 4 -4 5 5
Em C D G
6 6 7 -6 6 7 -6 6 -6 -6 6 5
Em D Em

Ending
Em D Em
Keep me searchin for a Heart Of Gold
8 8 8 8 8 8 -8 6 -6
Em D Em
You keep me searchin and I’m growin old
-6 8 8 8 8 8 8 -8 6 -6
Em D Em
Keep me searchin for a Heart Of Gold
8 8 8 8 8 8 -8 6 -6
Em G C Bm Am G
I’ve been a miner for a Heart Of Gold
5 5 5 5 5 -4 4 5 -6 6 5 4

Video Transcription
Hi, George here.

Welcome to this video where I show you how I play Neil Young’s Heart Of Gold on guitar and harmonica.
Ok, Heart Of Gold, in the key of G, moderately slow and I use a G harmonica for this. If we’re in the key of G, it’s not blues it’s just G major so I use a G Hohner Special 20. Key of G is what you need.
The song starts off with the opening riff. The signature riff which everybody’s heard. Now I’m just going to show you an easy way to do this. It is basically using the E minor chord. So it’s E minor and it is basically hammering on the chord. So, this being E minor – 5th string, second fret and 4th string, second fret and it basically takes each note and hammers it on. So it starts with the string open. In this case it’s going to be the 5th string open which is A and then it’s going to hammer on to the second fret of the 5th string which is B. A to B. Then it does the same thing on the 4th string which is D. D is the 4th string open, and it hammers onto D. So put it together, it’s the E minor hammer-on. And then it plays the E, which is the 6th string open. Go to D and then back again to E minor.

The riff starts on the ‘and’ of 3 the way this is played. So it’s 1, 2, 3, and a 4 and 1. It comes back to the E minor on the and of 2. That’s the whole intro riff. It’ll do it twice and then go into the first harmonica solo. There are 3 harmonica solos in the song and they all follow this chord progression which is very similar to the verse chord progression but let’s do the harmonica progression first. So it starts off in E minor, goes to C, goes to D, and then G. Then it does that again. Then it does it again. Then it goes to E minor, to D, then back to Em.

Now, we’re into the verse. So each verse follows the same chords. There’s 2 verses and each verse follows the same progression very similar to what we just did with harmonica. So it’s E minor, C, D, G. Then do it again. Em, C, D, G. One more time. Em, C, D, G. Then for the chorus it goes to E minor, and then it goes to G, then C. For beginners, you can hold onto the C and then go directly to G. I play the chords, so it goes C, B minor, A minor, G. You can also pick it down if you like. That would be C, B, A, G. C being 5th string, 3rd fret, B – 5th string, 2nd fret, A – 5th string open, and G – 6th string, 3rd fret.

Ok, so that’s the verse. We’ve done the intro, the harmonica, the verse and chorus. The only thing that’s a little different here is the exit or outro or ending chords. So after you come out of the final harmonica solo it will go into this section which is E minor, D, E minor. Do it again. And do it again. Now it goes to G, C, B minor, A minor, G.
Ok, that’s the whole structure of the song, so we’ll put it together, throw some harmonica on it. The harmonica tabs are at the bottom, down below the video here. I’m not going to go through every note – blow, draw, blow (unless you request it). But I will tab it out for you below.

More Music = More Peace. So here’s to more music. Cheers. Have a great day.

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