LESSON #627
​Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming...

▶️ Click to watch my free guitar lesson​

In today’s lesson I’ll teach you to play Ohio, the Crosby Stills Nash & Young protest classic from 1970. This one came in by request a few weeks back… and though I’d heard it a hundred times in the prior twenty years, it immediately hooked me this time around.

And so, after learning it the past couple weeks… here’s my latest lesson. I teach you how to play the main riff & strum the chorus, with my usual step-by-step treatment.

For the main riff itself, I’m excited to share 3 different variations in this lesson. They all sound more-or-less the same — but each one has a slightly different feel to it. My hope is these give you some options as you learn the song... I hope you enjoy!

• 0:00 Playthrough
• 1:45 Riff: Chord Shapes
• 3:56 Riff: Hammer-On & Bass Notes
• 6:18 Riff: Drop-D Tuning
• 8:28 Riff: Variation 1 of 3
• 11:40 Riff: Variation 2 of 3
• 12:41 Riff: Variation 3 of 3
• 13:27 Riff: Add’l Tips
• 15:17 Chorus Strumming & Fill
• 21:10 Palm Muting & Farewell

👉 Visit my lesson #627 webpage for my practice guide and zoomed play-along videos.

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​Related & Recommended

First, here’s Neil Young’s live performance from Massey Hall in 1971. Note, his tuning is a bit flat on all six strings. This means you’ll need to adjust the pitch by +45 or so, as I teach in lesson #617 using the Transpose plugin for Google Chrome:

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As for the techniques used in this song, here’s the recommended lessons I’ve made. These tackle things like Drop D tuning, palm muting, and more.

• ​An Introduction to Drop-D tuning​
• ​How to Tune to Drop-D By Ear (Without a Tuner)​
• ​First Steps in Double Drop D Tuning (ft. "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac)​
• ​Palm Muting Basics​

Looking for help with minor keys? Check out my Minor Key Handbook:

Interested in my other Neil Young and CSNY lessons? Here they are!

• ​Our House by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
• ​Old Man by Neil Young
• ​Harvest by Neil Young
• ​Needle and the Damage Done by Neil Young
• ​Heart of Gold by Neil Young
• ​Harvest Moon by Neil Young
• ​Out on the Weekend by Neil Young

These two lessons below are inspired by Neil Young songs in the list above, but drill down into a specific aspect of the song:

• ​How I learned the opening chord to Neil Young's Old Man​
• ​Neil Young-inspired Quick Chord Transition Exercise (G-A-Bm-E)​
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Thanks and Enjoy!

Here's wishing everyone a great weekend ahead. Summer feels like it just started, yet in the next few weeks my kids will be getting back into the routine as fall activities start back up. Hard to believe! Time flies.

Everyone take care and enjoy the ride. Until next time,

David
​Browse all my lessons at songnotes.net​