"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" by Neil Young on Acoustic Guitar

Today we'll learn how to play the beautiful tune Only Love Can Break Your Heart from Neil Young's album After the Gold Rush.

I got a request for this song a couple of weeks ago and immediately decided to make it. I don't need an excuse to make another Neil Young guitar lesson, do I? ;)

Most of the chords are simple, but there are some interesting voicings that change the flavor. Let's start with the tuning. :)

Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Neil Young - Guitar Tuning

You'll need a capo on the second fret if you want to play along with the original recording from After the Gold Rush.

But it seems that Neil plays this song without the capo most of the time in his live concerts. That's what I'll be doing for this lesson - using the same grips that Neil does!

Verse Chords

The intro and verse progression is C, FMaj7, G, G7, with chord changes on beat 3.

I usually go for the four-finger FMaj7 grip, but you can go for any of the voicings we cover in my video F Chord Variations video.

You can hear the vocal singing the note F over G7, then the note E over C. This is harmonically perfect. :) And from the first strums on the G7 Chord, you'll hear that the C is coming. It sounds like the G7 wants to go somewhere, doesn't it? Can you hear it too? That's because G7 is a functioning dominant here. ;)

💡 Functioning Dominants: Sorry if I baffled you with jazz terminology. This is the fancy name we give to 7th chords that come before the parent Major chord and sound like they pull towards it. Check out my lesson on Functioning and Secondary Dominants to learn more.

Pre-Chorus and Chorus Chords

The progression in the pre-chorus is:

CMaj7, FMaj7, CMaj7, |FMaj7 G7 |.

Each chord lasts a full bar except for the final FMaj7 and G7.

For the chorus progression, you'll need two reps of:

FMaj7, Em7, Dm9, |G  G7 |

If you're unsure about those chords, don't worry - they're all open guitar chords, and we cover all the details in the video lesson. :)

Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Neil Young - Rhythm Guitar

Only Love Can Break Your Heart has a lovely 6:8 feel: the count is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Start by playing downstrums on the beats until you're comfortable with the chord changes.

Getting the feeling of the song right is essential when playing Neil Young, and this one is no exception. It's all to do with the dynamics and feel in your rhythm. A great way of nailing the groove is to play along with the original recording with muted strings. Remember - it's a ballad, so it has a unique feel.

🚨 You must, must, keep your hand moving consistently! It needs to feel even and relaxed. This is the key to mimicking Neil's sound right.

Take the time to play it simple, then build it up as you get comfortable. You got that pattern? Let's explore a more complex strumming one. :)

Try this strumming pattern:

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 +
D     u D u D     u D u

It's crucial to note that beats 1 and 4 are played louder, like in most 6:8 rhythms. This pattern works for most of the song, but play all downstrums over the G7 to mimic the original feel.

The Rhythm-Guitar Journey

The authentic Only Love Can Break Your Heart pattern is fairly simple, so you might think that you'll quickly perfect it. But don't be fooled - simple isn't always easy! Sure, it might be easy to begin with. But once you've practiced it a few times, you'll realize that there are technical details that you haven't mastered. Besides, the feel is even more important than the technical part, and it's trickier to get it right. Persist until it sounds perfect. :)

💙 Learn more about 6:8 strumming patterns here and check out my other Neil Young song lessons here! :)