Dust in the Wind Chords

Dust in the Wind – Guitar Chords:

Dust in the Wind is a great fingerstyle song from the musical group Kansas. Listening the the song, you hear the strong fingerstyle influence throughout the entire piece.

At first glance, this song can appear rather difficult, but upon closer examination you will find that it is really quite easy to play for both the beginner and intermediate fingerstyle guitarist.

The song lays down the basic rhythm and fingerstyle patterns in the song’s intro and that is what we will concentrate on for this lesson. You will find that this pattern continues when the vocals begin as well.

If you are interested in a strong Travis-style fingerpattern of the right hand thumb, index and middle finger, you will find it in this song. Let’s get started with the chord changes for the intro.

Let’s start by looking at the first line of music or the first 2 measures of the intro. This is played basically as a C major chord with just a repositioning of a single finger to create the different chords.

Let’s Look at the First Measure:

To begin form a standard C chord for the first 2 beats of the measure. The last half of the measure or the last 2 beats, just keep your left hand 2nd and 3rd fingers firmly in place and lift up your 1st finger to play the open “B” or open second string.

Next, the 2nd Measure:

Notice that this measure kicks off with a Cadd9 chord. For a chord with such a big name it is really easy to transition to. Again keep your left hand 2nd and 3rd fingers firmly in place. Now place your 4th finger on the 3rd fret of the 2nd string to catch the “D” note.

Now We Will Examine the 3rd and 4th Measures:

This line of music is equally easy for you to play, as you will find out. The standard A minor chord is the one that we will be augmenting for these 2 measures. Although the 3rd measure starts out with an Asus2 chord, you might find it easier to form an A Minor chord and then lift your 1st finger to play the open “B” note ot form the Asus2.

The next chord is the Asus4. In this chord, keep your 2nd and 3rd fingers in place and finger the “D” note on the 3rd fret of the 2nd string. Notice how similar the Asus4 and the Cadd9 are?

In the 4th measure, you continue to keep your 2nd and 3rd fingers of the left hand in place and place your 1st finger on the “C” note on the 1st fret of the 2nd string. This, of course will be the A minor chord.

Lastly, we return back to the Asus2 chord, which was the first chord we formed in the 3rd fret.

Now on the to 5th and 6th Measures:

Before you play these 2 measure, look back at the 1st and 2nd measure. See the common chords? Attempt this one yourself and see if you can form these chords.

Measure 8:

It is in this measure where we make a departure in the standard fingerstyle pattern. The first half of the 8th measure is played in the standard fingerstyle pattern. It is in the last half of the measure, where we depart the pattern with a couple of pinched chords.

You should also play these chords with “staccato”, which is a method whereby to play the chord with a bit more force and then lift your left hand fingers to stop the notes from ringing immediately.

This Lesson in Summary:

• First, be sure to make all of your chord transitions very smoothly.
• Keep your left hand fingers in place as long as you can and don’t lift them until absolutely necessary.
• Be sure to search for common notes between chords to make the chord forms easier to transition to.
• As in most fingerstyle patterns, let the note right through each other as long as you can, unless told to do otherwise.

Dust in the Wind Chords