Guitar lesson for

Have You Ever Seen the Rain

by Creedence Clearwater Revival • Lesson #269

Video lesson

Get the PDF chord sheet (1 page)

Support me on Patreon.com to get access to this and 200+ other PDF chord sheets I've made, plus new PDFs I make going forward (1-2 added each week).
The cost is $3/month (one month minimum, cancel anytime). Here's a free sample if you're on the fence. Thanks for supporting me & this project!

After clicking the button and logging in to Patreon, look for the PDF attached to the bottom of the post.

Editor’s notes

Hello my friends! In this lesson I’ll be showing you how to play “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. This is one of the first songs I played at open mic nights back when I was getting confidence with my guitar skills - and it’s been a blast to pick it back up again. I’ll teach you the basics, as well as plenty of intermediate and advanced stuff (double strumming, percussive strum pattern, chorus walkdown, etc). As always, I sincerely hope you find this helpful in learning this fun tune.

Here’s my timestamps for this lesson:

0:00 Lesson overview
1:12 Chords needed
2:18 Strumming (simple)
3:00 Chord progressions
4:55 Chorus walk-down chords
8:07 Strumming (intermediate & advanced)
12:53 Double-strumming in the intro
14:49 Farewell

I hope you enjoy! If you’re hungry for more CCR, I also have lessons for this song:

Lookin’ Out My Backdoor

Play-along cover (#270)

Here’s a video of me playing the the entire song, with chords and lyrics shown for context.

Techniques I reference in this lesson

Percussive “slap” strumming:

Playing the F chord with a wrapped thumb:

The official CCR version

If you want to listen to the CCR album version, here you go:

Of the countless covers of this song, the most recent one I heard that caught my ear was from Callista Clark, who combines an absolutely killer voice with a very authentic (and literal) front porch vibe.

Lyrics w/ chords

Intro
    | Am . . . | F . . . | C . . . | G . . . |
    | C  . . . | G . . . |

Verse
    C
    Someone told me long ago... there’s a calm before the storm
      G                           C
    I know... and its been coming for some time
    C
    ...When its over so they say... it’ll rain a sunny day
        G                       C      C7
    I know... shining down like water

Chorus
        F          G              C    C/B      Am   C/G
        ...I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain
        F          G              C    C/B      Am   C/G
        ...I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain
        F          G             C
        ...Coming down a sunny day

    C
    ...Yesterday and days before... sun is cold and rain is hot
        G                       C
    I know... been that way for all my time
    C
    ‘Till forever on it goes... through the circle fast and slow
        G                         C
    I know... and I can’t stop, I wonder

        F          G              C    C/B      Am   C/G
        ...I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain
        F          G              C    C/B      Am   C/G
        ...I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain
        F          G             C    C7
        ...Coming down a sunny day... ahhhh!

        F          G              C    C/B      Am   C/G
        ...I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain
        F          G              C    C/B      Am   C/G
        ...I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain
        F          G             C          (end on C)
        ...Coming down a sunny day

Enjoy my lessons? Buy me a beer!

If this and my other lessons have proven helpful to you, please consider making a one-time donation to my tip jar. Contributions of any amount help make this project possible (including the many, many hours I put into it).

You can also support me on Patreon. For only $3/month you'll get access to a print-friendly PDF of my notes for each new lesson (view free sample).

Thanks!

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Be sure to never miss a lesson by subscribing on YouTube. I put out 2-3 new videos every week. These include full song lessons, as well as covers, practice tips, behind-the-scenes updates. Thanks!