For What It’s Worth by Stephen Stills/Buffalo Springfield

1966

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
A-telling me, I got to beware

I think it's time we stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right, if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Are getting so much resistance from behind

Time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the streets
Singing songs and a-carrying signs
Mostly say hooray for our side

It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down 

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the man comes and takes you away

We better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down

We better stop

Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down…

NEW 📀 For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield -4K- {Stereo} 1966

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriter: Stephen Stills
For What It's Worth lyrics © Cotillion Music Inc., Springalo Toones, Ten East Music, Richie Furay Music

“The secret of rhythm- like my folk experience-is learning to Travis pick. Getting the rhythm in the thumbs, getting with the bass and getting that push beat to it. If you are using a flat pick, you can go the same way. You learn how to palm. You learn which position is the best to get the most out of a chord because rhythm is basically dividing the chord into two parts. You’ve got the bass and treble and you divide the measure up and play brmmm, chick, brmmm, chick. You’ve got to divide them up and use the damper in between. There are relatively few great rhythm players in rock. Eric Clapton, Joe Walsh is one of the greatest and Jimi Hendrix was actually a great rhythm player.   

“A lot of young kids start out being lead guitar players and consequently turn out to be terrible rhythm guitarists. One thing you must learn is how to be a good, strong effective rhythm player or you are just out of it. You’re useless to anybody else. You can play melodies all day long, but it doesn’t mean a thing if under the singing you’re going RRRRR,RRRRRR,RRRRR...BRRRRRRM..”   

-Stephen Stills- Guitar Player Magazine- January ‘76   

Stephen was highly influenced as a 14-year-old seeing Chet Atkins do a thumb picking and fingerpicking demo at a music store in Tampa, Florida in ‘59. Probably why Stephen was so partial to single-cutaway Gretsch Chet Atkins model guitars, especially the Country Gentleman guitar…

Just in from Lew Di’Tomasso: When Stephen mentions how, in so many words, rhythm players are a hard find, he played with one of the best in the business in one Paul Richard Furay. I've often isolated his parts in both the Springfield and Poco and he's a machine. You couldn't get him off the rhythm with a crane.

-FB