Heart Of Gold | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: Em7 | D5 Em (A B D E) :||
||: Em C | D5 G :|| x3
| Em7 | D5 Em (A B D E) |
Verse 1
||: Em C | D5 G :||
I want to live, I want to give.
I’ve been a miner for a heart of gold.
It’s these expressions, I never give.
Chorus 1
||: Em | G | C | (C B A) G :||
That keep me searching for a heart of gold and I’m getting old.
Keep me searching for a heart of gold and I’m getting old.
Instrumental 1
||: Em C | D5 G :|| x3
| Em7 | D5 Em (A B D E) |
Verse 2
I’ve been to Hollywood, I’ve been to Redwood.
I crossed the ocean for a heart of gold.
I’ve been in my mind, it’s such a fine line.
Chorus 2
That keeps me searching for a heart of gold and I’m getting old.
Keeps me searching for a heart of gold and I’m getting old.
Instrumental 2
||: Em C | D5 G :|| x3
Outro
||: Em | D5 Em :||
Keep me searching for a heart of gold.
You keep me searching and I’m growing old.
Keep me searching for a heart of gold.
| Em | G | C | (C B A) G |
I’ve been a miner for a heart of gold. Ah-ha mm.
Heart Of Gold Chords: Mastering the Diatonic Simplicity
Heart of Gold by Neil Young showcases brilliant diatonic minimalism that songwriters and guitar players alike could learn a lot from.
The intro introduces the verse chord progression, but adds a clever twist with a riff. Here’s the riff seen as chords, with the bass line in brackets:
||: Em7 (VI) | D5 (V) Em (A B D E) :||
By using an open position Em chord, we simply add the b7, move to a D5, return to Em, hammer on the bass line, and loop it. So simple, yet so effective.
It becomes much easier to understand how this is played by looking at the TAB, which you can access in the other part of this lesson: Heart of Gold – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
The verse chords, which we already heard in the intro and will hear again during the instrumental section, follow the same progression but are played differently:
||: Em (VI) C (IV) | D5 (V) G (I) :||
The chorus is easy to learn, as it uses the same chords we’ve already heard but changes the order slightly:
||: Em (VI) | G (I) | C (IV) | (C B A) G :||
The bass line that takes us down to the G chord is clever. It’s simple, but it feels integral to the song’s chord progression—not borrowed or out of place, despite being a familiar figure.
This is the genius of a songwriter like Neil Young: he focuses on making the song great, with all the guitar parts in service to the song. There’s no fluff; nothing feels “stolen” or showy.
If you think you’ve heard the intro’s hammer-on lick somewhere before, only to realise it’s Wish You Were Here, you’ll find that Heart of Gold was released three years earlier.
Here’s a chord chart I created for you.
Heart Of Gold Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
In this chord chart, I’ve used intervals to describe the bass line, while the chords and lyrics are written as letters.
The primary reason for this approach is that when you use the iReal Pro app to change the key, the intervals will still make sense and remain consistent.
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Heart of Gold chord chart PDF.
This chart was created using iRealPro, and here’s a link to that file: Heart of Gold chord chart iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can easily change the key.
Heart of Gold was Neil Young’s only U.S. #1!
Released as a single from his 1972 album Harvest, Heart of Gold became Neil Young’s best-performing and only #1 single in the U.S.
However, with sales of just 1 million, it pales in comparison to the album, which sold the same number in Italy alone! Worldwide, Harvest sold over 8 million copies.
Widely regarded as Neil Young’s finest work, Harvest also featured two other classics, Old Man and The Needle and the Damage Done. Collectively, these three tracks made it the best-selling album of 1972 in the U.S., a remarkable achievement in one of the best years in the history of popular music.
Three other 1972 classics that immediately come to mind are Nick Drake’s Pink Moon, Lou Reed’s Transformer, and Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book.
Harvest also featured guest vocals from James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, and Neil’s bandmates Crosby, Stills, and Nash, with whom he had just recorded Déjà Vu the year before.
In my opinion, the early ’70s was not just Neil Young’s golden era, but the golden era of popular music!
Heart Of Gold Chords: Continue Learning
Want to master this song? Check out the full TAB lesson here: Heart Of Gold (Neil Young) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy:
- A Horse With No Name
- Knocking On Heaven’s Door
- The One I Love
- One More Cup Of Coffee
- Wish You Were Here