After The Gold Rush – How To Play on Guitar and Harmonica – Quick Facts
After The Gold Rush was recorded in 1970 and appears on the album of the same name.
You can also find After The Gold Rush on Decade, Greatest Hits and Live Rust.
The flugelhorn solo was played by Bill Peterson.
Sheet Music
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 After The Gold Rush.
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.
Guitar Chords, Lyrics, Harmonica Tabs
After The Gold Rush 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.
Harmonica Tabs – Melody
4 -4 | -4 5 5 5 5 -4 -4 -4 | 4 4 4 4 -4 | -4 5 5 5 -4 4 4 |
4 -4 | 5 5 -5 5 4 | -4 -4 -4 -4 -4 | 5 4 4 5 -4|
6 -6 6 5 | 5 5 5 | -4 4 -4 4 -4 | 5 4 4 -4 | | |
5 5 5 -5 5 5 5 |-4 -4 -4 -4 | 5 4 4 4 4 |
5 5 5 5 -5 5 5 5 | -4 -4 -4 -4 | 5 4 4 4 4
Chords and Lyrics
G D
Well, I dreamed I saw the knights
G
In armor coming,
D G
Sayin’ something about a queen.
D
There were peasants singin’ and
A
Drummers drummin’
G A
And the archer split the tree.
Bm
There was a fanfare blowin’
C
To the sun
G C
That was floating on the breeze.
D A
Look at Mother Nature on the run
C G
In the nineteen seventies.
D A
Look at Mother Nature on the run
C G
In the nineteen seventies.
I was lyin’ in a burned out basement
With the full moon in my eyes.
I was hopin’ for replacement
When the sun burst through the sky.
There was a band playin’ in my head
And I felt like getting high.
I was thinkin’ about what a friend had said
I was hopin’ it was a lie.
Thinkin’ about what a friend had said
I was hopin’ it was a lie.
Well, I dreamed I saw the silver
Space ships flyin’
In the yellow haze of the sun,
There were children cryin’
And colors flyin’
All around the chosen ones.
All in a dream, all in a dream
The loading had begun.
Flying Mother Nature’s
Silver seed to a new home in the sun,
Flying Mother Nature’s
Silver seed to a new home
Musical Instruments and Recording Equipment
Takamine Acoustic-Electric EG Series Guitar
In this video I am playing a Takamine Electric Acoustic EG series guitar similar to the one pictured here.
It has a solid spruce top with nato back and sides and a rosewood fretboard with abalone fret markers.
The built-in Takamine TK-40 preamp features EQ Bypass, Notch Filter, Mid Contour, Bass, Mid, Treble and Gain in addition to a built-in electronic tuner.
This guitar performs great and records great.
Hohner 560 Special 20 Harmonica D
I’m using a Hohner Special 20 in the key of D for After The Gold Rush. The song is in the key of D so I’m playing harmonica in first position.
Hohner Harmonica Neck Holder
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.
Video Transcription
Hi George here. Welcome to this video where I show you a good way to play Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush on guitar and harmonica. So I’ll show you the guitar chords, a couple of easy strumming patterns, I talk about the harmonica and tab out and demonstrate the harmonica played over the melody and then we’ll play through it. Ok? Right on, let’s do it.
So the first part I want to show you is an intro added to the beginning. Let me demonstrate it first.
Ok, nice and simple. Start with a Dadd9. This is a D chord with the second finger lifted off the fretboard. That adds an E to the chord on the first string. That’s the 9th or 2nd degree of the scale.
Strum Dadd9 and then on the upstroke, play D. This is counted ‘1 & & & 4 &’. Then play G which is counted ‘1 2 & & 4 &’. Then we’re into the first verse.
So those are the two strumming patterns we have. When D is played use the first pattern and for all other chords use the second pattern.
Here’s the chords for the verse
Dadd9 D G x2
Dadd9 A G A
Bm C G C
Dadd9 D A C G x2
That is a verse chorus structure. The song is made up of 3 of those.
Looking at the harmonica, we are in the key of D and I’m playing in first position and so am using a D diatonic harmonica. The part I’m going to play here is the melody line. It’s the same part as what the flugelhorn plays in the original recording. So I will play through it and highlight the tabs as I go.
Let’s see if we can put that together slowly with the chords.
That’s the melody for the song. So let’s put it all together.
That was After The Gold Rush by Neil Young. I talked about guitar chords, strumming patterns, harmonica, harmonica tabs, good jam. Hope you had fun. See you in the next video.
Thx!
Thanks, I was having trouble with the strumming. nicely done friend.
You’re the man George! keep it up 🙂
Hey, great lesson, man. I was checking out some RUSH tutorials and ended up
learning how to play this awesome Neil Young tune instead. Makes me wanna
go buy a harmonica now! Thank You for posting this!
Really fantastic video man. High-quality, easily explained, and the end
performance was real solid as well. Cheers dude! 🙂
great lesson, thanks George
What key is the harmonica?
your awesome man!! thanks, so easy . . i played this perfectly for the family for the first time ever last night
You’re welcome. Cheers
Amazing, thanks!
Great:)
I need a harmonica. great lesson I just watched for the bm because I always forget it and the stupid tabs sights don’t have it right ever. good lesson. work on the falsetto though. neil sings higher haha. props though
Wow, great Job!!!!
Thx for quick lesson,, where’s Marty?
Excellent lesson George. 🙂
Good lesson. I really enjoyed the breakdown by instrument and then the play/singalong. I wish more lessons on Youtube were like this
Young’s more settled personal life was reflected in the rest of the Harvest album’s mellow, pastoral tone. After his success with CSNY, Young had been able to purchase a ranch in rural Northern California (where he has lived since), writing the song ” Old Man ” in honor of the land’s longtime caretaker, Louis Avila. On September 8, 1972, the actress Carrie Snodgress , with whom he had been living, gave birth to Neil Young’s first child. (The boy, Zeke, was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy .) Young fell in love with Snodgress after seeing her in a movie, Diary of a Mad Housewife ; Young wrote about this experience in the song ” A Man Needs a Maid “. (Snodgress sued Young in 1983 for child support and was awarded $10,000 per month and $300,000 on a home for mother and child.) Originally, for example in his Massey Hall concert, Young had played a fragment of another new song, “Heart of Gold,” as part of “A Man Needs a Maid,” but eventually, he separated the songs. “Heart of Gold,” now played on guitar and harmonica, was released as the first single from Harvest, became a US number one single and remains the only No. 1 hit in his long career. “Old Man” was also immensely popular.
You’re very welcome. Cheers.
very very nice lesson George !!! thanks !!!!
Right on Gordon. Good to hear.
Cheers, George
Wonderful easy lesson to follow and the harmonica really is an added bonus. In a few days I should have it mastered thanks to you George. Great teacher, thank you again
Thanks Don
Beautiful man…Thanks!
thanks George!
Great!!! Nice lesson! Love that song! Love the way you did it!!!
George you suck!…because you are so dam good! Great teacher, great musician. When I win the lottery, hopefully someday soon, I am going to make the 3200 mile trip to Vancuver Island and take a month’s worth of lessons from you.
Must be a beautiful spot where you live…..Ever see any Killer Whales?