Old Man by Mark

[mark]

Here's my go at Neil Youngs Old Man

As anybody who has tried this song knows, the hardest part of this song is getting the feel of it.
I think I am part way towards this.
I would welcome any suggestions on how to improve this.



The noise after about a minute is one of my cats coming in through the cat flap.
Funny, he normally goes the other way when I start playing the guitar.

[Music Junkie]

Mark:

Sweet job man! It sounded great to me. I took a peek at that one last week, and did have a hard time with the timing on it like you said (the feel). I noticed your thumb is high and mighty there too. Mine is always there as well! I have been trying to be more disciplined about that, but it is coming slow for me.

Keep up the good work, you did a great job.

MJ

[Lavallee]

Mark, you play very well. If anything I would suggest to put more emphasis on the string muting, maybe a little more percusive.

great job

Marc

[suziko]

I wish I had some suggestions, but all I can say is "well done!" It sounded really nice and has a great, steady rhythm. Great job!

[regisalumni]

Sounded awesome to me Mark, but I couldn't hear the vocals!!!

I've been working on My,My,Hey,Hey....but Old Man is definitely on my list to learn soon.

Regards,

Jim H.

[tovo]

It's too good for me to offer suggestions mate but I still wanted to say I really enjoyed it...plus the sound of the cat running in to enjoy the tune!

[jayswett]

Beautiful. The only thing I might recommend would be this: When playing the song as an instrumental, during the verse, vary a bit the use of your hammer-ons so there is some variation with each measure. For example, when playing your C chord, you might hammer-on the first time through, but not the second, but then hammer-on again the third time through. Something like that. Very nicely done.

[goldleaf]

I'm also working on this song. I think you sound great ... as usual. Great rhythm, and your picking is really clean. The clear picking is something I struggle with. In particular, for some reason I have hard time with the bass walk up at the end of the verse before the chorus from G up to A ... I always botch it. You nailed it all.

The only thing I'd recommend is to look at some of the vids of Neil Young playing on YouTube: the one live at Massey in 1971 is great. The reason is that it really shows how Neil puts the song together -- e.g., when he moves from chorus to verse vs. chorus to intro -- his rhythm, how he accents certain passages, when he does the full melody picking, etc. He ends the song really nicely in that vid as well.

Anyway, thanks for sharing, you are rockin' it.

[neverfoundthetime]

That sound very well practised Mark! Great job. I'm not the best to give technical comments as you're doing better than I am! Keep 'em coming! Chris

[AndyT]

Mark,
Keeping your thumb down is great but if you don't rotate the wrist it doesn't help at all. Try getting your wrist forward a bit. Your hand looks really cramped on the neck.

The strumming might need to be syncopated to get the feel of the song down right. Mute all your strings with a soft cloth and listen to Neil play it and strum along. When you get the right strum you will hear it and know it right away. Then you can take the cloth off and go for it.

Really good job my friend. Keep practicing.