Fortunate Son - CCR

Fortunate Son - CCR

I've been working on this song for a while - there was a discussion about it a while back, I
think the thread was called "What CCR songs do you play?" in the "Opinions and Polls" forum.
I think - after a lot of hit-and-miss attempts - I've finally sussed it! Although the song's
in the key of G, there's a short bridge where there's a descending run on two strings while
there's a droning G note played ON THE A STRING! So what Fogerty's actually done to get the
sound he wanted was tuned the whole guitar down a whole tone to D G C F A D.

So bearing that in mind, if you want to play this along with the CD, you'll have to tune
down to D G C F A D......unless.....well bear with me, we'll get to that later! So if, like
yours truly, you can't be bothered tuning your guitar down, for one song, scroll down to the
second row of stars.............

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First of all, the "official" version - guitar tuned down.

Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival

TUNING - D G C F A D

Intro.....this is a little tricky to get the hang of, but once you've got past this it's
plain sailing. Well, at least to the bridge!

The way I do this is; I put a mini-barre across the 2nd 3rd & 4th strings at the 9th fret;
for the first two "chords" in the intro, I add an Am7 shape ABOVE that mini-barre, ie 3rd
finger on the fourth string two frets higher than the mini-barre, and middle finger on the
second string one fret higher.
D |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
A |------10-----8-----7-----5-------|------10-----8-----7-----5-------|
F |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
C |-9h11----7h9---5h7---5h7---------|-9h11----7h9---5h7---5h7---------|
G |-0-------0-----0-----0-----2b3p0-|-0-------0-----0-----0-----2b3p0-|
D |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|

OK, and into the song proper, these are the chords you'll need:
G F C D
D |-0--3--2--0--| (Note - although you're playing an A chord shape, you'll actually be
A |-2--0--3--0--| sounding a G chord; playing a G chord will be F; playing a D chord
F |-2--0--2--1--| will give C; and playing an E chord will actually sound a D chord!)
C |-2--0--0--2--|
G |-0--2--x--2--|
E |-x--3--x--0--|

G F
Some folks are born, made to wave the flag,
C G
Ooh, they're red white and blue,
F
And when the band plays, "Hail To The Chief!"
C G
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord.
D C G
But it ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son,
D C G
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no.

G F
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
C G
Lord, don't they help themselves, y'all,
F
But when the taxman comes to the door,
C G
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yeah,
D C G
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no.
D C G
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no.

Here's the instrumental break:
D |-----------------------|-----------------------|
A |-----------------------|-----------------------|
F |-12---11---11s7---7s9--|-12---11---11s7---7s9--|index finger
C |-14---13---13s9---9s11-|-14---13---13s9---9s11-|middle finger
G |--0----0----0-0---0----|--0----0----0-0---0----|
D |-----------------------|-----------------------|

Hit or pluck the G C and F strings simultaneously (0, 14 and 12; let them ring for one bar
then hit all three (0, 13 and 11) again, ringing for a full bar as before; then hit all
three (0,13 and 11) on the first beat of the next bar, quickly slide your index and
middle fingers down and pluck all three strings again; then hit all three strings (0, 9
and 7) simultaneously, this time sliding your middle up to the 11th fret and your index up
to the ninth WITHOUT hitting them again. Repeat the process.

On to the last section:
G F
Some folks inherit star-spangled eyes,
C G
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
F
And when you ask them, "how much should we give?"
C G
Ooh, they only answer more, more, more, y'all,
D C G
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no military son, son,
D C G
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one,one,
D C G
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no, no, no,
D C G
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son.

And fade out.........

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BUT - I hear you ask - what if I don't want to tune my guitar down to DGCFAD for one song?

Simple - use the normal G F C and D chord shapes and play the song as above!

For the intro, we'll have to drop the open G (downtuned) string as we're still in standard,
and play this instead:
E |-------------------------------------------|
B |------8-----6-----5-----3------------------|
G |---------------------------------(played---|
D |--7h9---5h7---3h5---3h5------------twice)--|
A |-------------------------------------------|
E |-------------------------5b6r3-------------|

You can get away without the droning G note if you're in a band, or even if you've got two
guitars; the second guitarist can take care of it!

For the middle section, again we'll have to lose the droning G note; this really does
simplify things!
E |---------------------------------------------------|
B |---------------------------------------------------|
G |--10--9---9s5--5s7--(played------------------------|
D |--12-11--11s7--7s9----twice)-----------------------|
A |---------------------------------------------------|
E |---------------------------------------------------|

It's a lot simpler playing it in standard; but it's more satisfying playing it the way JF
did -if I'm right! Sounds pretty close to me, anyway!

And just to further confuse you, I play the first version - with the A, G D and E-shaped chords -
but I don't tune the guitar down! Key of A suits my voice better for this song.....

:D :D :D

Vic