Richie Havens – Freedom
Learn how to play Richie Havens – Freedom note-for-note on guitar.
Difficulty level: Intermediate. The chord shapes are easy but the strum pattern is in fast 16thnotes. Note that the main lesson teaches the song in standard tuning which isn’t how Richie Havens plays it, but a separate video shows his (much more difficult) approach.
Barre chords: Yes (partial barre)
Thumb over chords: No
Playing Style: Strummed
Tuning: Standard
The full lesson contains 3 video lessons. The first is the main lesson, in standard tuning using ‘normal’ chord shapes. The second is a lesson on the technique for the fast strumming required for this song. The third is a short video showing the actual tuning and chord shapes used by Richie Havens for those who want to try them. They’re extremely difficult to form if you’re a conventionally-taught guitarist, but they’re included here if you want to try it Richie’s way.
The complete file contains 3 lesson videos, a performance play thru video, full tabs, chords and lyrics. You’ll receive a link to download the lesson which will download as a zip file of 218 Mb containing all the lesson content.
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You’ll receive at least two videos per song, one lesson and one performance-standard play-through. You’ll receive the chords/lyrics and guitar tabs as PDF files.
The videos are mp4 format and should play on PC’s, Macs and most mobile devices.
They will download as Zip files. If you don’t have a Zip program on your PC you’ll need to install one to open the file. I use Zipeg which you can get free, here.
If you want to download to an iPad or iPhone you’ll need an app to do so, please read here to know more about it.
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Greg Bowerman says
I’m not a very accomplished player, but it hurts my hand just to watch him play so hard in that fashion. In Japan I think they would designate him a Living National Treasure, “a term for those designated as keepers of important intangible cultural properties” (Wikipedia).
Dave B says
Just watched him on youtube playing Freedom at Woodstock and Here Comes the Sun in later life. Absolutely fantastic, not just with what he’s doing with his left hand, but also the way he is strumming. He doesn’t just vary playing the high or low strings but also moves his hand closer to or further from the bridge to get different sounds. Plus the very fast strumming and very intense performance. Certainly was one of a kind.
Also glad to know there’s some things that even you can’t play ;-)
Dave B says
Only every seen Richie Havens play on the Woodstock film that I last saw over 30 years ago. I remember being pretty impressed by his whole playing style which seemed to use a lot of barre chords played using his thumb to hold the barre.
Jerry says
His style’s completely unique Dave. He only ever tunes to open D major and plays chord shapes by having the thumb barre half the strings and a finger barre the other half. Not a technique I can replicate – hence putting this lesson into standard tuning and normal chords.