How to play 'Overkill' by Colin Hay (Acoustic Version)
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
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An amazing song in Double Drop D Tuning by a master songwriter - Colin Hay!
THANK YOU for not taking an hour for a 10 min lesson! To the point! Great!
Thank you Tim. Cheers, Shane
Colin hay blew through our town 10 years ago and played a small venue of 75 people. I sat front row center not ten feet from Colin as he sang new stuff but also my men at work favourites. I closed my eyes and was transported to the early 80’s never imagining that I would ever see or hear Colin live let alone in such an intimate setting. Of course I bought his cd gathering mercury which he graciously signed. Thank you Colin for an evening I won’t soon forget.
Day after day your videos appear..... Night after night my heartbeat shows the fear (of being able to play all of it perfectly because I want to)......
Remembering all the chords, it only brings exasperation, so many songs not enough hours in the day, Smell the desperation........
I can't get to sleep
I think about the implications
Of diving in too deep
And possibly the complications
Especially at night
So many songs and situations
I know I'll play them right
It's just overkill
Thanks for the great lesson on this incredible song. Keep up the great work, you provide a valuable service to musicians everywhere. You and all the other the other wonderful guitar instructors on UA-cam brighten our day everyday.
Fabulous - a big thank you! Shane
I've got 22 years of teaching behind me. You're very good in how you present and reinforce info.
Kudos
Thank you Rook - I really appreciate that. Glad to have you here with us and Happy New Year!
Shane
This song is one of the all time greats , I don’t know why but it always brings a tear to my eye, its very emotional for some reason, and this lesson is second to none, an excellent tutorial you are the man Shane. Thank you.
This is a sad song about a person who suffers from anxiety (Overkill)
It seems to be a poignant song and very apt in the current climate it’s like it was written with this covid 19 virus crap on everyone’s mind, anxiety abounds, cracking tutorial again Shane. 👍🏼👍🏼
@@bobpovey4957 You're right, I did not hear the song at the level of COVID-19 global anxiety.
Fabulous for sure. Cheers, Shane
I heard the song on Scrubs again. And I must say it has very beautiful chords. Can't wait to try it. ^^
ditto, came back to this after watching it on scrubs yest
Another great one, I wish I would have known somebody like you when I started doing this 50 years ago
Thanks for that! Always fun. Happy to have you here with us. Cheers, Shane
You know another good thing about these lessons is that some of these chord progressions are pretty cool and you can use them for a lot of different things like writing your own songs with just minor changes so thanks again for all the good info
For sure - thanks for that. We can always reuse this stuff in other situations. Best to you, Shane
Dude seriously? I’ve been playing for many years and I struggle to spread my fingers apart even though I have big hands. Then after you said to drop that thumb down to get the length of fingers in play, I was cured. Seems so damn obvious now but hey whatever. You just so helped and improved my playing moving forward. Cause I already know there is so many other times in different areas that’s going to make the difference.
Thank you Alundrahs - Sometimes the smallest tweak means the most. I really appreciate your comment and am very happy to have you here with us! Happy New Year to you!
Shane
I can't wait to get home and try this trick. I watched Colin's video first, and I've been struggling so hard with this stretch. I hope this works for me.
Great lesson..I've always loved the acoustic version of this song...keep p the great work. Checking out your other lessons too!! Fantastic!! Your detail and work on expression really helps me ALOT!! Thanks much!! Jim
Great lesson
Love the teaching presentation I feel like I'm watching an aerobics show. Motivating!
Thanks Isaac - glad to have you here - Happy New Year!
Shane
hey Shane, me again I have been playing for over 50 years, and the way you put it across is just soo good for young people, hey keep it up, and thanks to you indeed.
Thank you Peter - much appreciated!
Shane
Good lesson & spot on, it filled in a gap on what I already learned from Col !!
wow thank you so much my friend , excellent teaching at an absorbing pace . Long live Men aT wORK AND YOUR excellent teaching . Tom from England
Nice Touch! I like the enthusiasm and attention to detail. Thank you.
Thanks for that - my best to you, Shane
Great lesson, great teacher, thank you so much. Love Colin Hay
Thank you Ran - I really appreciate your encouragement - glad to have you with us. I too love Colin Hay!
Shane
At first a could not hold up the speed of you explanation, but trying it a seccond time i was very glad with the speed of your lesson, thank you very much...Arnold from Holland.
This is absolutely the best instructional guitar video I have ever viewed! Bravo!
Thank you Herman - much appreciated and very glad to have you here with us!
Shane
Teaching is a gift and you are blessed with that ability. An absolutely wonderful lesson and I am now a subscriber!
Excellent work on a great song Shane! Your teaching style is motivating, fresh and accurate. This one will be appreciated at this summers campfire.
Guitar at work /Men at work 😊
Awesome lesson from an awesome teacher. Can't tell you how long I've wanted to play this song in full.
Great teaching style too dude; love the enthusiasm and clarity, really motivates me to grab the guitar and play.
Thank you Guitar Person - really great to hear that from you - happy to have you with us!
Shane
I watched this video a couple of years ago and said, “Wow, I wish I could do all that!” I’ve now been playing quite a bit and think it’s my next “impressive “ project. What a great guitar player Collin is! And you’re teaching is something I can follow. Thank you so much! 🙏
Thank you Kirsten - very glad to hear that - my best to you! Shane
Damn, you are an amazing teacher - and an amazing musician. Thanks so much / so clear, so accessible and sounds great. Thank you!!
Amazing lesson, you're an excellent teacher! Greetings from Brazil.
Thank you Mauricio - so great to receive a comment like that. Much appreciated - greetings from Canada and happy to have you with us here!
Shane
Love teaching style. Thanks so much for tutorial. Guitar sounds beautiful
Thank you Warren - really appreciate the feedback and glad you enjoyed it!
Shane
Great lesson! Thank you. I watched Colin’s lesson first. This helped make it a lot clearer.
You keep saying stop the tape. What’s tape? Kidding. I just remembered this song is on my playlist. I heard, I came, I listened, now I will learn. Great break down of this wonderful song. Thank you!
Thank you Mark - guess I'm old school. Hope you're having fun with it. Cheers! Shane
enjoyed this , very methodical to follow , well done , and thanks for your commitment to a classic from mr. hay
Very concise and brilliantly executed. Your enthusiasm and knowledge is awesome :)
A big thank you Nathan - really appreciate that. My very best to you!
Shane
Hello from France ! Thank you very much for these detailed tutorial. I'm amazed by the fact that even if you speak quite fast it's still perfectly understandable by a French like me !!
For Overkill I'm glad that I've recently discovered this beautifull song ! I wonder why I haven't heard it before. Like many people, I think about it when I have some trouble to sleep. I feel less lonely :- ) ! Anyway, thanks again for this tutorial ! Thomas
Thank you Thomas - very glad you enjoyed it - happy to have you with us here!
Shane
Such a clear concise and cool lesson man! Love it! And the song? Well, Mr Hay is a LEGEND and this song one of my all time favourites. New subscriber from Ireland.
Givingitashot. A bi thank you for that. Got to play with Colin in Australia many years ago. He is simply fabulous. Glad to have you here with us!
Shane
@@GuitarAtWork Wow! You actually got to play with the legendary Mr Hay?? That makes you a legend too Mr!😎 Thanks for the reply Shane, I cover a lot of songs but always learning! Stop by for a cuppa. Thanks for the reply.
Ryan
OMG it is amazing how clear you are with how you explain things. You explain every single detail in a way people can understand. I play a lot of acoustic guitar you definitely shine above the others in teaching ability! Your UA-cam channel is great!Cheers from a fellow Canadian from Montreal!
Thank you Marc - Really great to hear that and I appreciate your encouraging words. Greetings from Ottawa and have a great New Year!
Shane
Love this song... and Colin Hay. Thanks Shane!
Thanks Greg - it's a great song indeed - hope you enjoy it!
Shane
This comments well overdue, thank you for a clear description, I keep coming back to it. 🤝
Thanks so much for taking the time to slow it all down. Such a great song.
Many thanks Shane! So easy to learn from you. It's fast but you never get too far ahead. Really appreciate the info from your site, too.
Thank you Mark - really great to hear that - much appreciated!
Shane
This was very helpful. Thank you for showing us this.
Thank you Kevin! Shane
Great tutorial. Very well explained. I find keeping it in regular tuning also works if you're practicing it
wow.....some day.....some day.....I'll get to play this....great job explaining.......Gracias mister!!!!
Wow your teaching is so easy to understand even for complete beginners like me. Thank you sir.
Thank you AdityA - I really appreciate your comment and I'm very happy to have you with us!
Shane
😊 what a nice lesson!
Thanks! Shane
Felicitaciones, quisiera tocar la guitarra tan bien como vos. Muy bien explicado!!!
great video! Thank you for posting! Excellent presentation
Thanks Mike - Glad you enjoyed!
Shane
Great to see you doing some great Aussie Rock. Thanks Shane.
Thanks Russ - I love Colin Hay!
Shane
You are amazing. Thanks for the lesson!
Thank you Agustin. I really appreciate that. My best to you and very glad to have you here with us. Cheers, Shane
Wonderful, Maestro.
Thanks for that - hope it's fun for you and Happy New Year to you!
Shane
How awesome. Thanks so much!
great teacher!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed. Cheers, Shane
Great way of explain ing this song
Your guitar sounds great!
Thank you Brian - much appreciated! Shane
Great lesson for a great tune
Thank you Carlyle - hope you have fun with it!
Shane
Best Overkill acoustic cover at all. Great job, Shane! You deserve more subs and views. I wonder how anyone can dislike this.
Colin Hay and Men at Work is/were awesome.
By the way, "Guitar At Work" reminds me of something. ;)
Thank you Charlie - really appreciate that. I love Colin Hay! What does 'Guitar At Work' remind you of?
Shane
Guitar At Work reminds me of course of Men At Work. :D
And indeed, I have watched loads of tons of turorials on YT for Overkill in the acoustic version and some of them were pretty good, but yours is the best. Even better then colin Hay's own tutorial. :D
For me he is one of the best singer in the world and an outstanding guitarist, but his tutorial was a little bit confusing - I hope he won't read this one day. ;)
I do love the original version in the key of E, I am a Men At Work fan since th early eighties, and all their songs are great, especially the albums "business as usual" and "cargo".
Then after thousand years, when Colin launchend this acoustic version, I fell in love again with this song.
Sorry for my babbling here. Keep on your work, yoo're doing a great job!
Greetings from a Croat living in Germany ;)
A big thank you Charlie! I totally love Colin Hay - I was lucky enough to share a stage with him in Australia about 12 years ago....loved it!
Shane
Shane, are you serious? You shared a stage with Colin Hay?! You lucky one!!! How comes?
Look, in the eigties I DID NOT see Men At Work on stage although I have been to several gigs, how could I know, that they would split off already in 1985? Damn.
Aproppos "Shane", luckily I had the opportunity to be on a Pogues concert in Bochum/Germany in 1986 where I watched Shane MacGowan and his Pogues, lousy drunken bastards but a brilliant band. I guess you have an idea of whom I'm talking. :)
If I had a time machine, I would go to a Men At Work, a Sisters of Mercy, a Siouxsie and the Banshees and to a Beatles concert.;)
In case of meeting Colin Hay again, tell him that he has still fans like me who love him who almost worship him. And oh yes...I was very sorry when I heared that Greg Ham passed away. :(
Greetings to Down Under where momen glow and men chunder
Wonderful lesson Shane! Thank you
Thank you Paul - I really appreciate the feedback - keep rockin!
Shane
Excellent tutorial ! Very understandable!! Thank you and cheers !
Thank you leogsar - I really appreciate the encouraging words and I'm very happy to have you with us!
Shane
Great tutorial! Direct and to-the-point. Thanks!!
Thanks Tim - much appreciated!
Shane
Great playing too! Love that Taylor sound. Thanks, Shane!!
Thanks again Tim - that Taylor guitar is plugged straight into the recorder - really great pickup on it.
Cheers!
Shane
Timothy Charles Ellis i
Great lesson, thank you !!
Excellent video ! Thanks
Very good! TKS!
Thank you Eduardo - such a great song! Shane
Well presented ... easy to follow ... Nice job !
Thank you caperguy - much appreciated!
Shane
Quality lesson so easily understood,thankyou 👍
Thanks Chris - really appreciate that. Happy to have you here - Cheers!
Shane
Thankyou .
Thank you Neil - hope you are doing well with it. Good to have you here with us. Cheers,
Shane
Sure we can all learn these chords ... sort of. But good luck to those who'll attempt to sing the second verse the way Colin does it. The guy's range is INSANE.
One heck of a singer that’s for sure. 👍
This is great! Thank you!
The drop D with the Dadd4 - anyone else hearing Nick Drake ?
Another Legend! Nice ear man😎
Awesom luv that song. You think I could break down the solo ? The acoustic version
Thanx mate
Glad you enjoyed - cheers! Shane
great melody..easy lesson
Thank you David - hope you had fun with it,
Shane
Great guitar teacher
Thank you Mo - really great to hear that. Happy to have you with us here.
Shane
"Colin Hay does a great tutorial on it as well.." LMAO!!! Yours is easier to follow though, thanks!
Thanks Tony - I enjoyed watching Colin talk about this song. He’s amazing. Cheers, Shane
Thank you. .. great video!!!
Thanks Roger - glad to have you with us!
Shane
great just great, thank you
Thank you Peter - very happy to hear from you and glad to have you with us!
Shane
Hi ya , from the uk and have watched a million tutorials literally! Your a good guy and a superb tutor , love this song , you must get so many request for tutorials! But ....( sorry!) any chance of maybe tomorrow by Stereophonics 💪🏻..I really struggle with the strum patern . But in the main good stuff sonny jim👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you Heffboy - much appreciated - glad to have you with us and great song suggestion!
Shane
That was great. Thanks, mate.
Thank you Frank - really appreciate the feedback!
Shane
Great tutorial thanks.
Thank you Windy - happy to hear from you and hope you have fun with it.
Shane
You have to do "It's a Mistake" now that you've delved into Men at Work. That would be a great beginner song & no one is better at teaching guitar than you :-) Please consider and great lesson here.
Thank you Cap - great song suggestion - always appreciated!
Shane
Thanks so much great explanation
Thank you Shark - much appreciated and glad to have you with us!
Shane
Better than Colin's tutorial, (desole' Colin! Thanks).
I've got trouble with the voice not the stretches! :)
Thank you. Can you make more videos of colin hay songs?
Thank you TheBatterie - I really love Colin Hay! I have some on the list for sure.
Shane
Got it, thx, great
Excellent Robert - hope you enjoy!
Shane
Really like ypur style of teaching. But do wish you would teach at a more steady pase and what I mean by that is he seems to get more and more excited and progressively speeds up through the lesson. But great lesson all in all. Thank you this is such a great song.
I love the sound of your taylor, can you tell me the model number? Thanks!
Thanks Andy - it's a Taylor 814CE. Cheers! Shane
What is the name of the song of the first chords of the intro of the video?
Asolutly nice Tutorial.........do you think Down by the sea is also possible in Double Drop D?
Thanks Thomas - really appreciate that. Great song suggestion too,
Shane
Coups you imagine, to make also a lesson for „Down by the Sea“? Thank you very much👍🏻😊🍀🎸
Colin has a good video on how to play it too on his channel.
Hey Shane, first of I want to thank you for the awesome lesson. I do have a question though. There's a video on here, where Colin plays this on the BOB & TOM show, and I've been trying to learn how to play the song the way he plays it on there. He seemingly plays everything moved up two frets, but I assume this is because his guitar isn't tuned to the double drop D tuning. I don't mean to make you do my work for me, but I'm having some real issues figuring out what he's doing during the chorus. Can you maybe shed some light on what he's doing differently there? If even just in a little reply, I'd greatly appreciate it :) keep up the great work!
HI yarr - happy to help and a big thank you for that! Can you point me toward the video - maybe send a link and I'll have a look?
Cheers!
Shane
Guitar At Work thanks for the quick reply! You can find the video I’m talking about here: ua-cam.com/video/6XUeB3eO9qU/v-deo.html
I agree. The version he plays on the Bob and Tom show is incredible but there are a couple of parts that I can’t figure out. Anyone have some helpful suggestions on this version?
This is a few months later but how about a tutorial from Colin himself?
ua-cam.com/video/yWbjnuWU4iQ/v-deo.html
When C Hay teaches this he doesn't use any drop D. And when I watched him play it I don't think it's in drop D.
Definitely in Drop D. Cheers
Incredible! Curious, what style Taylor is that. I want one. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Jay - it's a Taylor 814CE - Cheers!
Shane
Colin already made a complete video on how actually to play this
Colin gets a bit mumbly at times ... this really clears things up
colin hay has a song waiting in the rain i would love to know how to play . he plays it on a 12 string can it be played on 6 ???
Hi Leeroy - a great song indeed - it can definitely be played on a 6 string although it won't sound as lush as the 12. I'll add that song to the list for sure.
Cheers! Shane
Can I know which Taylor guitar model are you using? by the way, great lesson! :)
Thanks Nicholas! It's a Taylor 814CE, I really love it. Cheers!
Shane
Colin Hay teaches this song on Yotube
Dear Shane, I've just uploaded a cover of Overkill ! If you have a few minutes, I'd be honoured if you'd check. You'll see that I didn't completely followed your advice about the drop D tuning. I used an Open G with a drop D. That makes it a little bit easier for my first finger. The 3rd verse is not so easy to sing ! Hello from France and thanks again for your excellent tutorials ! Thomas
Firstly, thanks a bunch for the tutorial. Curious...is the guitar plugged straight into amp or through some other equipment. My 816ce sounds muffled and squeeky through an amp
Hi jazz2959 - My guitar is plugged straight into a mixer and that is going straight into the recorder. There is a little bit of compression and reverb added and that's it. Great pickup system on the 814CE. It's the Expression System2. Cheers!
Shane
How is this level of a tutorial free?
Glad you enjoyed. Cheers! Shane
I downloaded all of your sheets...usless...
Not useless - just keep at it - you'll learn the language.
Shane
Hi, the domain with the tabs is unreachable.
Hi Robert - should work - try again?
Shane
Enjoy your teaching style.... very "refreshing". Specifically, like the camera technique of moving in close on chord hand to visually illustrate the voicing. Easy to see on your hands because of slinger long fingers..... just luck of the draw on that, but very effective and easy to see placement. The fatter the digits,... the harder to see voicing.
Impossible for me to play these chords. My fingers will not stretch far enough to play the second chord, dropping my first finger down 1 fret. No matter what I do this song is completely out of reach for me to play and that really sucks 'cause I really like this song. So....on to some other video that maybe I can play. This song is a no go for me.