Fire and Rain chords

by James Taylor

Song Key: C Major

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo: 75 bpm


Standard Guitar Tuning: E A D G B e

Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate

Guitar Chords in A Major: A, E, Em7, Em/A, D, D/C#, D/F#, G, Gmaj7, Bm7, Bm7/E

Capo: 3rd fret (to play with the video in C Major)

Arrangement Song Details
Play-Along Video
R-H Chord Charts Chord Chart Legend
A Major E Major Em7 Em/A D Major D/F# D/F#-V2 D/C# G Major Gmaj7 Bm7 Bm7 Bm7/E
L-H Chord Charts Lefties Chord Chart Legend
A Major-LH E Major-LH Em7-LH Em/A-LH D Major-LH D/F#-LH D/F#-V2-LH D/C#-LH G Major-LH Gmaj7-LH Bm7-LH Bm7/E-LH
Speed: x0.1

Fire and Rain

Capo on 3 if playing with the video.
Song Key is highlighted - Transpose to any other key 
  
             A     Em7    D    A       A     E      Gmaj7
Intro: 4/4 | 1+2+  3+4+ | 1+2  +3+4+ | 1+2+  3+4+ | 1+2+3+4+ |
Timing Count

 A                  Em7                  D             A
1. Just yes-ter-day morn-in' they let me know you were gone,
               E                      Gmaj7
   Su-san, the plans they made put an end to you.
 A                   Em7            D               A
   I walked out this morn-in' and I wrote down this song,
                   E              Gmaj7
   I just can't re-mem-ber who to send it to.

      D           Bm7      Bm7/E     A
Chorus: I've seen fire and I've seen rain.
               D      D/C#        Bm7           Bm7/E  A
        I seen sun-ny days that I thought would nev-er end,
               D       D/C#         Bm7       Bm7/E  A
        I seen lone-ly times when I could not find a friend,
              G       D/F#             Em7               Em/A    
        But I al-ways thought that I'd see you  a-gain.|      |  %   |

             A                   Em7                D              A
2. Won't you look down u-pon me, Je-sus, you got to help me make a stand,
                   E                Gmaj7
   You just got to see me through a-no-ther day.
 A            Em7            D          A
   My bo-dy's ach-in' and my time is at hand
               E             Gmaj7
   An' I won't make it a-ny  o - ther way.

        D             Bm7      Bm7/E     A
Chorus: Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain.
               D      D/C#        Bm7           Bm7/E  A
        I seen sun-ny days that I thought would nev-er end,
               D       D/C#         Bm7       Bm7/E  A
        I seen lone-ly times when I could not find a friend,
              G       D/F#             Em7               Em/A
        But I al-ways thought that I'd see you  a-gain.|      |   %  |

        A                      Em7            D                        A
3. Been walk-in' my mind to an ea-sy time, my back turned to-wards the sun.
                       E                     Gmaj7
   Lord knows when the cold wind blows it'll turn your head a-round.
                 A                    Em7                  D                     A
   Well, there's hours of time on the te-le-phone line, to talk a-bout things to come.
                    E                   Gmaj7
   Sweet dreams and fly-ing machines in pie-ces on the ground.

        D             Bm7      Bm7/E     A
Chorus: Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain.
               D      D/C#        Bm7           Bm7/E  A
        I seen sun-ny days that I thought would nev-er end,
               D       D/C#         Bm7       Bm7/E  A
        I seen lone-ly times when I could not find a friend,
              G       D/F#             Em7
        But I al-ways thought that I'd see you ba-by,
    Em/A                             Em/A
        One more time a-gain, now.|        |...


Outro: Thought I'd see you one more time a-gain.

       There's just a few things coming my way this time around, now.

       Thought I'd see you, thought I'd see you, fire and rain, now...

Arrangement Details:

  • Key Signature: C Major - no sharps or flats
  • Piano chords set: C, G, Gm7, Gm/C, F, F/E, F/A, Bb, Bbmaj7, Dm7, Dm7/G
  • Time Signature: 4/4 — Four quarter-note beats per measure
  • Tempo: Moderately
  • Metronome: ♩ = 75
  • Voice Range: G3 - D5

Slash chords such as Em/A, D/C#, D/F#, and Bm7/E, indicate that you play the chord before the slash while leading with the bass note after the slash, i.e.,

  • Em/A indicates an E chord leading with an 'A' bass note.
  • D/C# indicates a D chord leading with a 'C#' bass note etc.

Please note that the Bm7 and Bm7/E look identical. The difference is that Bm7 doesn't include the E bass note, whereas Bm7/E does include the E bass note.

If you can't play D/F# using your thumb (T) for the bass note, simply alter finger positions by playing the D chord with fingers 2,3, and 4 and use the first finger to play the F# bass note.

🎸Beginner Guitarists:
You may look at these chords and think '😕', but if you study the chord charts, you will find they are all fairly easy to play.

D/F# can be a bit of a stretch, so we've included a beginner friendly voicing for this chord in the charts above.

If you find the slash chords difficult to play, they can be played as regular chords without the leading bass notes, with the following guitar chord set:
🔹 A, E, Em7, D, G, Gmaj7, Bm7

Song Details:

Sweet Baby James Album Cover
Album Cover
  • Songwriter: James Taylor
  • Lyrics Begin: Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone.
  • Genre: Folk rock, soft rock
  • Featured Artist: James Taylor
  • Single:
    Recorded: December 1969
    Released: August 30, 1970
    B-side: Anywhere Like Heaven) (US), Sunny Skies (UK)
  • Album: Sweet Baby James
    Recorded: December 1969
    Released: February 1, 1970
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