Dust In The Wind - Greatest Fingerpicking Guitar Exercise ever? (Lyrics included)

The String Theory Guitar Club has spent quite a bit of time on Dust In The Wind - I think we’re all ready to claw our ears off lol but did you know that this isn’t really a song first kind of song? It’s a fingerpicking exercise first, then a song.

Here’s the story:

"Dust in the Wind" by Kansas was famously created from a fingerpicking guitar exercise that guitarist Kerry Livgren was practicing to improve his acoustic technique. 

While at home, Livgren was practicing a fingerpicking pattern to improve his skills, as he was primarily known as an electric guitar player. His wife, Vicci, heard him playing and suggested he turn the exercise into a song.

Livgren initially brushed her off, believing it was just a practice exercise, not a complete song. He was also hesitant to show the rest of the band, thinking they would dislike it because it was a slow ballad, which was very different from their usual progressive rock material.

While working on the music, Livgren was reading a book of Native American poetry and was struck by the line, "For all we are is dust in the wind".

Despite his doubts, he showed the song to the band during recording sessions for the 1977 album Point of Know Return. The band immediately recognized its potential, and it became their only top 10 hit.

The song features a distinct Travis picking pattern, which is often used in guitar lessons to teach fingerpicking. 

Below is my favorite recording of DITW by Kansas to play along with

Lyrics

I close my eyes
Only for a moment and the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes with curiosity

Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind

Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Oh, oh

Now don't hang on
Nothin' lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
And all your money won't another minute buy

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
(All we are is dust in the wind)

Dust in the wind
(Everything is dust in the wind)
Everything is dust in the wind
(In the wind)