Country & Folk, Intermediate Acoustic, Song Book

The Needle And The Damage Done chords by Neil Young

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The Needle And The Damage Done | Chords + Lyrics

Intro

Verse 1

Verse 2

Instrumental

Verse 3

Verse 4

Outro

The Needle And The Damage Done’s chords and progressions

The Needle And The Damage Done Analysis + TAB

This Neil Young classic is essentially just one 8-bar chord progression on repeat. The intro, instrumental, and outro are the same as the verse, just slightly more elaborate.

This is clever as it leaves more room for the vocal, and maintains the theme.

The chords you see above may look very complex but they are based on a logical pattern that once you have the TAB will make sense.

Here’s the instrumental section with Roman numerals. The first line is in the key of D, the second is in the key of C.

Here’s the verse with Roman numerals, all Neil has done is take stuff out!

Members get TAB for both sections of this classic so it’s obvious exactly what to play. Once you’ve got that down, reading the chords and lyrics above will be easier.

Believe it or not, the complicated chord names will even be helpful!

Here’s a link to the complete lesson (members only): The Needle And The Damage Done chord analysis and TAB.

Become a member today and get unlimited access to all step-by-step guitar courses, TAB for the songbook, the Self-Eliminating Practice Routine, and the eBook Spytunes Method.

Neil Young has inspired countless artists!

Released as a B-side to Old Man, the early ’70s really were Neil’s best years, serving as inspiration for many other artists since. Compare Needle And The Damage Done with Jewel’s You Were Meant For Me for example.

Another more widely known example is the Grunge bands that came up during the ’80s and early ’90s, the punk rock attitude that Neil became known for dubbed him the father of grunge.

Two great examples of this are R.E.M. who clearly listened to My My, Hey Hey and then wrote The One I Love.

The other example is Pearl Jam, a band Neil ended up collaborating with in 1995 on his 21st studio album, Mirror Ball.

This seemingly careless attitude Neil has of leaving mistakes in and refusing to edit is down to his debut solo album being edited and then sounding lifeless.

Ironically, that album bore his name (Neil Young, 1970), he later commented that it was “overdubbed rather than played”.

The Needle And The Damage Done chords | Related pages

Intermediate Acoustic

Most intermediate acoustic tunes can’t be played using just basic open-position chords. We have to move up the fretboard and play CAGED barre chords as well.

We incorporate bass lines, add licks, extend chords, and play vocal melodies. Most importantly, we’ll invent second guitar parts and play these songs together.

Five similar tunes with chords and lyrics

When you can play The Needle and the Damage Done chords, try these five tunes from the song book.

Neil Young

Neil Young started out with Buffalo Springfield, briefly joined Crosby, Stills & Nash, and collaborated with Pearl Jam but is best known for his solo career.

His best tunes include Harvest Moon, Heart Of Gold, Old Man, The Needle And The Damage Done, My My, Hey Hey, and Like A Hurricane.

Neil Young on the web

Country & Folk

In the primarily acoustic genres of Country & Folk, you must acquire what matters the most: A repertoire. Nothing else will give you the gig.

Learn tunes by Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, America, Don McLean, and many more.