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Cortez The Killer by Neil Young

All Tunings: D, A, D, G, B, D

Part I

Since this is a rather lengthy song and not very easy, let’s focus on the first 34 lines shown below:

Here’s the full score for Part I:

Acoustic (or Electric)

The acoustic (or electric) begins on line 4 below to learn the theme.

Line 35 isn’t played on the audio below because we are starting over with the theme.

Here’s the acoustic part:

Electric

For the lead theme, we begin on line 4 as well. NOTE – Lines 17 and 18 are organ lines and not playable on guitar, so omit those lines.

Here’s the electric lead part:

Part II

This part is where we end the song. Since the solo SHOULD be played rather loosely, as most versions are, you can experiment with different techniques here. I mostly followed the tablature, but there are a few little twists in there that still follow the same theme.

Here’s the acoustic backing track for you to play around with:

Here’s the full outro score:

Acoustic:

Electric:

Tab

Complete Transcription To “Cortez The Killer” (PDF)

Complete Transcription To “Cortez The Killer” (Guitar Pro)