How to play "Horse with No Name" by America
Horse With No Name is from the self-titled debut album by the 1970’s group called America. Released in 1972 it quickly became an international hit song. It was Top 10 in many countries and reached no.1 in the USA and Canada.
Genre : America were synonymous with the smooth FM radio oriented ‘West Coast sound’ ; a 1970’s USA Pop style that features acoustic guitars, well structured melodies and tight harmonies. The playing and studio production create a breezy, flowing style that captures the Californian way of life of that era. Other good examples are their hits Ventura Highway and the 1974 classic Sister Golden Hair.
Chords : Em Dsus/F# (Dsus over an F# bass) F#m7sus Gmaj7
Are those chords right? Its important to note there’s at least two guitars creating the chord accompaniment on the original recording. They are not playing identical chord shapes but, instead are using complimentary versions of the same harmonies to create a more expansive texture than one instrument can produce. The chords shapes suggested here are the best way to represent the overall harmony on one guitar.
Pick/fingers? Steel-strings/nylon ? definitely sounds best with a pick strumming on steel strings.
Rhythm style : the quavers are played with a light Country-swing feel. This means they are not equal half-beats; the downbeat is worth two-thirds of the beat and the upbeat is the last one-third of it. This creates the lightly syncopated bounce you hear on the recording.
What are the cross note-head strums for ? These are called ‘percussive strums’. Relax the chord fingers and lightly palm-mute as you strike the strings to create a muted, percussive sound on these down-strums. This enhances the syncopated effect of the tied up-strum that follows.
Relevant pages in Modern Guitar Chord Styles 1 : If you are unfamiliar with the rhythm slash notation used in this chart, or you’re not sure how to create the swing rhythm style, pages 4, 10, 20, 38 & 39 will help explain these elements.
