Learn how to play "Out On The Weekend" by Neil Young on Acoustic Guitar!

Let's learn my favorite Neil Young song, Out On The Weekend, on acoustic guitar! This song contains many of his trademark tricks, and some are tricky to master. It's perfect for intermediate players who are getting into barre chords and alternative chord grips.

Some parts are deceptively difficult, especially the rhythm. For instance, he plays the first A chord of the chorus an eighth note earlier than normal. That sounds easy conceptually, but it'll feel strange to play at first. Listening to the BBC live version will really help you master the details. :)

Out On The Weekend: Rhythm Guitar

The original recording is really slow and laid-back - I struggle to stay at his tempo! Sorry folks, I'm trying my best. :(

A crucial part of the rhythm is the little palm-mute strum. It’s different from a normal rock palm mute, so practice with the original recording to nail the sound. We look at a rhythm pattern for the intro and verses, and a separate one for the chorus.

🚨 Keep Your Hand Moving: In all my Neil Young lessons, I encourage people to keep their strumming hand moving. This is one of Neil's trademark techniques and it gives him solid rhythm.

Chords

There are several barre chords in Out On The Weekend. On top of that, he often uses hammer-ons and flick-offs to add flair.

Here’s another tricky part - he tends to play minor chords with his thumb fretting the 5th string! If you can pull this off, great. This will help you immensely when it comes to adding in the ornamental notes over Bm and C#m. :)

💡 Thumb Problems: Unfortunately for me, and it's not for lack of trying, I just can’t get my thumb over well enough to play that Bm chord easily and consistently. This means I have to do the embellishments differently. Ah well, I guess we can't all be Neil Young or John Mayer!

In the chorus we move up the neck, and you'll need to get your thumb involved to copy Neil. :) He uses it to fret the note A on string 6 over several chords. But don't worry - the open A string works well too. These grips are cool, and there are one or two unusual chords here: DMaj7/A and a possible D6/A.

🎵 Dig Neil Young? Learn all his big hits on guitar in my dedicated artist section.