Chords for Summer Rain - Johnny Rivers - Guitar Lesson

_ _ _ _ _ Welcome to Vanderbilt.com. This is in response to a request for Summer Rain by Johnny Rivers.
_ _ It was a single for him in 1967 _ and it actually reached number 14 on the US charts.
_ _ _ But this particular request was for a live version that he played last year on the Marty Stewart Show.
_ So I'm going to follow that particular version in this.
So let's take a look.
_ _ _ _ [D] _
_ [Am] _ [G#] _ _ [C] _ [A] _ [G#] _ [Am] _
_ _ [C] _ [Em] _ _ [F#] _ _ [Am] _
_ [C] _ _ [Cm] _ [D] _ _ _ [F] _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ [G#] _ _ [C] _
[E] _ [Am] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ [F#] _ [Gm] _ [F] _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ [C] _
_ [Am] _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ [G#] _
_ [C] _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ [G] _ [C] _ _ _ _ [N] _
Okay, this song starts off with an introduction that's sort of a walk down.
You're playing
_ chords that I'm going to show you in diagrams below.
First an A minor, and this is just a piece of an [F] A minor.
[Am] You're going to play _ _ _ _ _ [G#] and then an A minor major 7, which is like this.
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A]
Then an A minor [G] 7.
_ [Am] _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ Then an [A] F7 and an A7.
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
So all [G#] together
_ the rhythm [Am] _ _
is_so_s _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ [N] _ that's the first time. _ Then the next time he plays the [Am] same opening, _ _ [G#] _ _ [C] _ _ [C#] but this time he plays [F#] his F7 and goes down to a D7. _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _
_ _ [N] _ _ And then the third time he does what he [Am] did the first time. _ [G#] _ _ [G] _ [A] _ [C] _ _ _ [G] And then he comes down and plays an F chord and you make a full F. He makes it like this, you know, rather than doing it like this. [F] So he _ _ plays_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [N] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ And that's the introduction. Then the verse _ has a version of the same thing. _ Except that instead of playing this_ stuff, you're going to play an E minor 6 chord. So that goes like [Am] this. _ _ [G#] _ _ [C] _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [Am] _
While he's singing, _ [C] he plays this [Am] three times. _ _ _ _ _ [G#] _ _ [C] _ [F#] _
_ _ [A] Then he [F] goes down to this F again. _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ [F] _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Am] And then he's back _ [C] to_ [A] for the next verse. Then there's a bridge after the second verse and that has a slightly different rhythm, but very easy chords. Starts off with an E chord and the rhythm [E] _ is_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] so [E] you play_and _ _ _ _ _ _ then the same thing [Gm] for an A [Am] minor chord and _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] then [D] a D chord. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] And then an F chord and you only play _ half as much of that [F] and it's_ _ _ And then move up to a G, [E] the same way you've made this F, [G] and play_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] and you're back to_ [C] _ _ _ [F#] _ _ [N] _ So that's pretty much the whole song. _ There are a couple of variations. I think that the second time he plays the bridge, he hangs on this F a little bit longer. He has another measure in there. _ _ And then the outro is just playing this [Am] progression. _ [C] _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [F#] _
_ The third time, [G#] _ [C] _ _ [B] _ [C] _ _ [N] play that as you did in the intro, and then he just plays this F here at the_ _ at the [F] eighth fret. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C] And then plays just the C. _ [N] That's the end of the song. All of the lead that's played over it is in A minor [D] pentatonic, _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ which sounds good both over this A minor progression and also over this C _ and_ _ F stuff. So that's pretty much it. _