Neil Young

Neil Young - Rockin In The Free World guitar chord

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>From: VETTERS@VAX1.ELON.EDU (Steve Vetter )

>Subject: CRD: Rockin' in the Free World - Neil Young (repost)

You can skip the instructions right into the lyrics/chords but note

that Neil plays Em7 (add your pinky on the D on the second string) in

the verses instead of the Em at the beginning of each line, and that he

plays C and Cadd9 in the chorus instead the C here. Enjoy, ameen.

This is the acoustic version of "Rockin' In The Free World" from

Neil Young's "Freedom Album", 1989.

This is a great song, (and the second one I ever learned), not difficult to

play and a great strumming exercise for beginners (information is included

about nearly every beat of the measure).

INTRO and VERSES:

-----------------

For the verses you basically need: Em, D and C

but the strumming pattern and fretting actually

involve a G. Here's how to strum the Em measure

(intro and verse alike):

Em

|

(1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +)

DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP

B - $ $ - $ $ $

Meaning it is an Em chord for the whole measure,

play only the bass note (the E string) on the first

beat (indicated by the 'B' -from Bass- above), the '-' means don't

strum on the strings and a '$' means play the chord indicated

above (Em in this case).

The D and C measure is strummed as follows:

D N C N

| | | |

DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP

$ $ $ $ - $ $ $

Meaning play a D chord for the first beat then on the

down stroke of the second beat hit the strings without

any fretting (indicated by 'N' above), this would actually

sound as a G (especially that you're most likely to hit only

the D, G, B and E strings). Then directly play a C chord on

the up-stroke of the second beat (in fact you'd ready your fingers

for the C chord while hitting the "G chord"). The same trick is

done at the last up-stroke of the 4th beat where you, again, play the

open strings just before hitting the bass of the Em chord of the

following measure (as indicated in the Em measure).

CHORUS:

--------

As for the chorus: it is G, D, C and Em which is easy to play:

The 3 measures of G D and C are the same:

G/D/C

|

DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP

$ - ($) $ - $ $ $

The ($) means optional. In fact you'd interleave all kinds of strumming

patterns here.

The last measure (4th) of each line in the chorus goes like this:

C Em

| |

DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP

$ $ $ $ - $ $ $

Here you'd notice that in fact you'd naturally hammer on

the Em on the upstroke of the 2nd beat.

Between chorus and verses:

---------------------------------

Basically 4 measures of A (interleaved with A7) anyways if you want

to get a flavor of how it is played (read I play it ;-):

1) 2)

A A7 A7 A A7

| | | | |

DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP

$ - $ - $ $ $ $ - $ $ $ $ $ $ $

3) 4)

A7 A A7 A7 A

| | | | |

DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP DN UP

- $ $ $ $ $ $ $ - $ $ - $ - $ -

The second time the bridge is played a different pattern is used

but who cares (I'm tired of typing ;-).

VERSION and NOTES:

------------------

1) BTW I have 3 versions of the song, 2 electric (from Freedom and Weld)

and one acoustic, this is the acoustic version from Neil Young's "Freedom"

album.

2) Note though that he plays it by tuning all the strings one WHOLE NOTE

down: (E A D G B E -> D G C F A D). Except this, he seems to add

a D note on the second string when playing the Em making it an Em7

(or actually, in his tuning, a C note when playing Dm) but that's a minor

detail and it sounds just beautiful with the Em.

3) The acoustic version has only 2 verses while the "plugged" ;-) ones

contain one additional verse. I have included it here too.

Sounds complicated? not really.

ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD

Neil Young - Freedom

Intro: Em D C (4 times in total)

Verse1:

Em D C

Colours on the street

Em D C

Red white and blue

Em D C

People shufflin' their feet

Em D C

People sleepin' in their shoes

Em D C

But there's a warnin' sign on the road ahead

Em D C

There's a lot of people sayin' we'd be better off dead

Em D C

Don't feel like Satan but I'm to them

Em D C

so I try to forget it anyway I can

CHORUS:

-------

G D C C Em

KEEP ON ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD

G D C C Em

KEEP ON ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD

G D C C Em

KEEP ON ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD

G D C C Em

KEEP ON ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD

A(7) x4 (interleave A with A7)

Em D C x4 (just like in the intro)

Verse2:

I see a girl in the night

With a baby in her hand

Under an old street light

Near a garbage can

Now she puts the kid away and she's gone to get a hit

She hates her life and what she's done to it

That's one more kid that will never go to school

Never get to fall in love never get to be cool

KEEP ON ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD x 4 times

A(7) x4 (interleave A with A7)

Em D C x4

Verse3 (not included in the acoustic version):

We got a thousand points of light

For the homeless man

We got a kinder gentler machine gun hand

--->(Here add an additional Em, D and C without lyrics)

We got department stores and toilet paper

Got styrophone boxes for the ozone layer

Got a man of the people says keep hope alive

Got fuel to burn got roads to drive

KEEP ON ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD x 4 times

A(7) x4 (interleave A with A7)

Em D C x4

From: dawsob@cii3112-11.its.rpi.edu (b-b-b-b-b-Brian Dawson)

Subject: Re: Help:Young - Keep on Rockin'

Rockin' In the Free World - Neil Young

Figured out by Brian Dawson (dawsob@rpi.edu)

Progression:

Intro: E5 (0799xxx) D (x577xx) C (x355xx)

Verses: Em D C (standard position)

Em D C

There's colors on the street.

Red white and blue.

People shufflin' their feet.

People sleepin' in thier shoes

Em7 D C

There's a warning sign on the road ahead.

There's a lot of people sayin' we'd be better off dead.

Don't feel like satan but I am to them,

So I try to forget it any way that I can

*****

G D C C+9 Em G

Keep on Rockin' in the free world

X 4

*****

A ... (INTRO) X 4 ...

Em D C

There's a woman in the night

With a baby in her hand.

There's an old street light.

Near a garbage can.

Em D C

Now she puts the kid away and she's gone to get a hit

She hates her life and what she's done to it

THERE'S ONE MORE KID THAT WILL NEVER GO TO SCHOOL

NEVER GET TO FALL IN LOVE NEVER GET TO BE COOL

****

G D C C+9 Em G

Keep on rockin' in the free world

X 4

****

We got a thousand points of light

For the homeless man.

We got a kinder gentler machine gun hand.

Em D C

We got de-partment stores and toilet paper.

Got styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer.

Got a man of the people, says keep hope alive.

Got fuel to burn, we got roads to drive.

****

G D C C+9 Em G

Keep on rockin' in the free world

From: PePPeRs01@aol.com

Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995 21:46:52 -0400

Subject: neil young-btab-keep on rockin in the free world

Keep On Rockin In The Free World by Neil Young

all i know for this is the basic bass rif

g---------------------------------------

d---------------------------------------

a---------------------5---3------------

e-0-0-0-0-0-0-0--------------------

its not a lot but it helps.

if u know any more or have any coments write me

PePPeRs 01@aol.com

Get this song at:  amazon.com sheetmusicplus.com

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