Over The Rainbow | Chords + Lyrics (capo 1)
0:00 – Intro 0:15 – Chorus 1 1:05 – Chorus 2 1:54 – Verse 1 2:46 – Solo 3:34 – Verse 2 4:25 – Chorus 3 5:16 – Outro
Intro (0:00)
| Gadd9 | Gadd9/D I Am11 | 6/4 D9sus4/A |
Chorus 1 (0:15)
| Gsus2 /F# | Em /D | Bm7b13 | G7 Amadd4 /B |
Somewhere over the rainbow,
| Cadd9 | Cm6 | Gmaj9 | G9 Amadd4 G/B |
way up high,
| C | Cm7 | Gadd9 G/F# | Em |
there’s a land that I’ve heard of once,
| Am13 | D7sus4 D/F# | Gadd9 | A7omit3 D/F# |
once in a lullaby.
Chorus 2 (1:05)
| Gadd9 /F# | Em | Bm7b13 | G7 Amadd4 /B |
Somewhere over the rainbow,
| C /A | Cm6 | Gmaj9 | G7sus2 Amadd4 G/B |
skies are blue.
| Cadd9 | Cm7 | Gadd9 G/F# | Em |
When the dreams that you dare to dream,
| Am13 | D7sus4 D/F# | Gadd9 | Am7 D/F# |
really do come true.
Verse 1 (1:54)
| Gadd9 | Gadd9 | Am11 | D/F# |
Someday I’ll wish upon a star, and wake up where the clouds are far
| Gmaj9 /F# | Emadd9 | Am7 | D6 D9sus4 |
behind me.
| Gadd9 | Gadd9 | F#7 | F#7 |
Where troubles melt like lemon drops, high above the chimney tops,
| Bm | Bm/Bb | Am7 | 7/4 D7/F# |
that’s where you’ll find me.
Solo (2:46)
| 4/4 G Dadd4 | Cmaj13 | Bm | G9 |
| Cmaj7#11 | Cm13 | G | G7 |
| Cmaj7#11 | Cm13 | G D6add9/F# | Em9 |
| Am13 | 3/4 D7sus4 | 2/4 D6 | 4/4 Gadd9 | Am7 D/F# |
Verse 2 (3:34)
| Gadd9 | Gadd9 | Am11 | D/F# |
Someday I’ll wish upon a star, and wake up where the clouds are far
| Gmaj9 /F# | Emadd9 | Am7 | D6 D9sus4 |
behind me.
| Gadd9 | Gadd9 | F#7 | F#7 |
Where troubles melt like lemon drops, way above the chimney tops,
| Bm | Bm/Bb | Am7 | D7/F# | D7/F# |
that’s where you’ll find me.
Chorus 3 (4:25)
| G /F# | Em7 | Bm7 | G7 Am7add4 G/B |
Somewhere over the rainbow,
| Cadd9 | Cm6 | Gmaj9 | G9 Amadd4 G/B |
skies are blue.
| C | Cm7 | G G/F# | Em7 |
And the dreams that you dared to dream,
| Am13 | D7sus4 D/F# | Gadd9 | Gadd9/D |
they really do come true.
Outro (5:16)
| Gadd9 | Gadd9/D | Am11 | D7sus4 |
If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why,
| D7/F# | D7/F# | Cadd9 | Cadd9 | Ab | Ab | G |
oh why can’t I?
You can learn how to play Over The Rainbow!
Originally featured in the blockbuster movie The Wizard Of Oz and written by Harold Arlen, the gorgeous Over The Rainbow was voted the #1 song of the last century by several prolific organizations.
Performed first by Judy Garland in the film and then recorded by Doris Day, I’ve chosen Eva Cassidy‘s live version, which didn’t become famous until after her death.
In Eva’s version, there is an intricate picking pattern and elaborate chord extensions which gently move the listener from one chord to the next. This creates a similar effect to that of the original orchestral arrangement.
The video above is an exact, note-for-note replica of Eva’s one acoustic guitar live arrangement, her mistakes included! It took me three weeks to transcribe it and was so worth it.
Below, you can start the journey of learning how to play Over The Rainbow by first looking at the chords, the basic melody, the jazz chords, and how Eva makes the song her own.
The third video in the playlists below is about how she plays chorus 1 from that legendary live recording that made her world famous.
Remember, there’s a capo on fret 1, so what you hear is in Ab, enjoy!
Over The Rainbow’s chorus chords, melody, and Eva’s guitar part
Let’s learn how to play Eva Cassidy’s famous live version of Over The Rainbow, note for note!
To understand how she came to put together this incredible arrangement, we must first look at the basic structure of the actual song.
Here’s the super simple kids’ version, using the simplest possible chords.
And here’s the trad jazz version, closer to the original Judy Garland performance, although with fewer chords.
Eva Cassidy, doubles the number of bars and changes the melody drastically, looks like this in TAB.
Now that you have a grasp of how this came to be, let’s focus on Eva’s actual guitar part, here’s chorus 1.
Next time, we learn chorus 2 and 3 as well, she changes how she plays the chorus every time. Only by learning her arrangement note for note can we fully understand how to play and arrange Over The Rainbow’s chords, exactly like Eva did.
Once you got the chorus down, we’ll do the verse and solo as well before we play the complete song with a singer.
Every step is practiced slowly, fast, and at a free tempo with full TAB and practice loops, just like you saw in the playlist above.
It will take you six guitar lessons to achieve this. In the final two lessons, we practice Lydian in all shapes, this relates to the melody of Over The Rainbow. For the complete experience, sign up here.
Over The Rainbow | Related pages
Over The Rainbow – 8 guitar lessons
To play Over The Rainbow by Eva Cassidy, exactly note for note, can only be achieved by breaking each section down, and practicing them as loops.
This takes six lessons to complete, for the final two lessons, we practice Lydian scale exercises.
Go to Over The Rainbow – 8 guitar lessons.
Advanced Acoustic Songs
These songs use big chord extensions and sometimes, unique and complex chords that incorporate open strings.
Study these in-depth and you will gain a complete understanding of the fretboard, including how to build any scale, arpeggio, and chord, anywhere on the guitar.
Go to Advanced Acoustic Songs.
Over The Rainbow – 5 similar tunes
- Close To You chords
- At Last chords
- Can’t Take My Eyes Off You chords
- Dream A Little Dream chords
- You’re All I Need To Get By chords
Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen wrote over four hundred songs. His 1938 song Over The Rainbow was voted the twentieth century’s #1 song by the RIAA.
Nobody has had more songs represented in the Great American Songbook than Harold Arlen.
Go to Harold Arlen.
Harold Arlen on the web
Eva Cassidy
Eva Cassidy was an American guitar player and vocalist who didn’t reach fame until after she passed away on November 2nd ’96.
Four years later, an amateur recording of Eva playing Over The Rainbow in her local pub was played on Top of the Pops 2, a TV show in the U.K.
Go to Eva Cassidy.
Eva Cassidy on the web
