Neil Young's lead guitar playing...

Neil Young contracted polio at the age of six. It primarily affected the left side of his body. He has attributed his unique approach to guitar to this event. It would help explain his so called lack of technical prowess.

 

I had no idea.

I love Neil's guitar playing. Always have.

 

Yeah, I think it plays a big part. He’s mentioned (written?) how there are times when his left and right sides are kind of at odds with each other? That it gives him a unique perspective by performing with an idiosyncratic physical tick, as it were.

I’ve always thought some of his staccato, whammy bar shakey solos were informed by his epileptic seizures, something he used to have to deal with around the time of Buffalo Springfield. I think he’s got that firmly under control these days.

Neil is about as unique a rock star legend as they come.

 

His guitar playing, I think, is at its best when the song has a great melody. His solos decorate, elaborate, and extend the melody, like a great sauce on a perfectly cooked meal. But when there’s a lesser melody, like “Love to Burn” and “Love and Only Love” from Ragged Glory, the solos have no foundation - it’s all sauce, and I get lost and bored pretty quickly. (And now I’m hungry.)

 

Neil's guitar playing is very Jekyll and Hyde, his acoustic stuff can be very sweet and peaceful and his electric is pretty aggressive and full of tension that he often doesn't resolve or release, kinda like rust I guess.

 

I pretty much agree with this though I’ll point out that the LAOL solo on Weld is “to the moon and back” fantastic.

But yes, my favorite NY solos are usually not the minor pentatonic blues scales. He excels in the major and Mixolydian, where the pretty melodies sometimes get bent into angry notes and vice versa. His best solos have that yin and yang. Beauty and anger.

 

Fantastic acoustic playing, his little fills between chord changes are great and he makes it seem effortless. On electric he is simply amazing in both feel and delivery. Never understood any disdain for his lead work, he really says a lot through his choice of notes and tone, and find complexity in his simplicity.

 

I don’t if it’s been mentioned here but anyone wanting to hear Neil just as he started getting into his more effects laden sound, Neil Mach II as it were, should check out the Crazy Moon album by Crazy Horse. He goes pretty crazy on some of those tracks, like Zuma with echo, reverb, you name it. Good album too from 1978.

 

So cool how this one opens with a solo. Like the best Neil solos, the ones here have that ability to capture the feeling of the lyric. Best example of that has to be "Powderfinger".

 

Big fan of Neil's guitar playing. Especially the studio version of Cortez. How does he make bum notes sound so right?

 

I didn't know about the polio. Damn shame. He's no virtuoso, but his notes bleed and that's more than enough for me.

 

Read in a NY album review: "Bucket full of eels lead guitar"

Crank this one up, close your eyes, and experience the teradactyl's attack. No matter what, this is just badass lead guitar.

 

You may be having fun at my expense, but it’s really only to cover the fact that you have no idea what you’re talking about. Seriously. To think that the clear majority of Neil’s popular work are ballads is nonsense. Your thread title and post contends that we should all be impressed with Neil Young as a guitar player begs this question: Where have you been for the past 50 years?

Embarrassing, to say the least.

 

There were times in the late 1960s where his guitar was like Miles Davis's trumpet......doing a lot with a little.....timing and space and emotion.
Cowgirl in the Sand and Down By the River never let me down.

 

“Cinnamon Girl” too. That “D” gets picked up, down and sideways

 

I've only seen them twice. The first show, in Manhattan at a theater was good but not the transcendent experience I'd hoped for.

Then I saw them at Barclay's Center in Brooklyn and their jams sounded like a new universe was being born.

 

Well, now I know where Jack Black got most of his goofy moves from in a School of Rock. Lol.

 

Dear clueless, thread crapping is trolling. This thread was doing fine until you snarked in...Move on to a topic you might know something about . If your trolling puts an to this benign topic it's on you...giddyup

 

Neil Young's lead guitar take you through a visceral journey that's hard to explain . He understands what it takes in his songs to move the emotional meter to crescendo.

 

"I have melodies, and I have a sense of rhythm and drive. But it’s not about me, anyway—it’s about the whole band. It’s about everybody being there at once. When I play I’m listening for everything, trying to drive it all with my guitar. My guitar is the whole f*cking band." Guitar World interview, 2009 Neil Young: Gold Rush

Anyone who can say THAT about his guitar playing is my favorite.

 

True. They sound so right that I didn't even know there were bum notes on it.

 

Took a long walk on the beach today and listened to this one. It was perfect.

 

Listening to the new Way Down In The Rust Bucket release right now and in awe of Neil's 1990 playing. I know nothing of technical virtuosity, but every note he plays is right. I never mistake his playing for someone else, and I love this Ragged Glory period.

 

amen.

i just cranked "love and only love" .... from rust bucket

a real journey. magnificent soloing!

 

Before I split hairs, gotta say I enjoyed your wording
I like his playing on Powderfinger just fine, including the solo. BTW I'm not the least bit of a Dream Theatre fan. I don't buy the Albert King comparison out side the fact that both capture emotion. King differs in that he played defined licks when he solo'd as an improviser. King could for sure have off nights.. I usually don't like Neil when he improvises, though sometime he does some good stuff. His more structured and thought out stuff is his best. Powderfinger is a somewhat structured solo, you can tell he spent a little time with it and knew what worked. In CSNY I vastly prefer Stills playing.