How to Play Led Zeppelin’s Fool In The Rain

Led Zeppelin released “Fool In The Rain” on the “In Through The Outdoor” album in 1979.

You can hear the song here

The song also showcases John Bonham’s brilliance.
Here’s the isolated drum track. Magical. Solid. Strong. Powerful.
I’ve always been a huge John Bonham fan, for obvious reasons.

The song consists of 2 song sections

A verse
A Latin Brazilian flavored bridge

Both song sections have their own unique challenges.

The part in the verse that most students have a hard time with is the quick transitioning between the chord shapes.
That part of the song is a dexterity and chord switching exercise.

The bridge doesn’t have a rhythm guitar part. Jimmy appears to be playing some single-note rhythm stuff there that is buried in the mix and hence really hard to hear.

Not to have to stop playing there, I always teach my students a rhythm guitar part for the bridge.
Due to this fast tempo at which that rhythm needs to be performed, it offers a great rhythm exercise that for most students is quite challenging at that speed.

You can of course also just double the piano/marimba part in that song section on guitar. More about that later.

The Fool In The Rain Chords

Jimmy Page plays triads for the most part.

Supposedly this is how Jimmy plays the verse.

You can also play those triads on the top 3 strings.
This is how I usually play it, and also how I teach it.

This is how that looks like. (notice that it is only the first 3 chords, C, Dm and Em, that are different between my way and Jimmy’s way of playing it.

As mentioned before: There is guitar in the bridge.
However: It sounds like Jimmy is playing rhythmic single-note stuff rather than strumming chords. Whatever he is doing there: it is buried in the mix.

Because of that: I always teach my students a strum pattern for the bridge, so they can play rhythm there (instead of having to stop playing till the verse comes in again)

You can see how I play the bridge, on the above page with chord diagrams. (2nd half of the page)

If you instead prefer to double the piano part on guitar: this is how you would do it.

You probably will learn all the above more easily if you see me play it all in a video.
So here’s a video where you can learn how to play all the above guitar parts.

The Lyrics to “Fool In The Rain”

In case you like to sing, here are the lyrics. I ever tried to sing and play this guitar part together.
Trying to play that guitar part and sing Robert’s vocal lines at the same time, is an interesting coordination exercise that will challenge (and grow) your brain. 🙂

Oh, baby
Well there’s a light in your eye that keeps shining
Like a star that can’t wait for night
I hate to think I been blinded baby
Why can’t I see you tonight?
And the warmth of your smile starts a burning
And the thrill of your touch give me fright
And I’m shaking so much, really yearning
Why don’t you show up and make it alright, yeah?
It’s alright right
And if you promised you’d love so completely
And you said you would always be true
You swore that you never would leave me baby
Whatever happened to you?
And you thought it was only in movies
As you wish all your dreams would come true, hey
It ain’t the first time believe me baby
I’m standing here feeling blue, blue ha!
Yes I’m blue
Oh, babe
Now I will stand in the rain on the corner
I watch the people go shuffling downtown
Another ten minutes no longer
And then I’m turning around, ’round
And the clock on the wall’s moving slower
Oh, my heart it sinks to the ground
And the storm that I thought would blow over
Clouds the light of the love that I found, found
Light of the love that I found
Light of the love that I found
Oh, that I found
Hey, babe, ooh
Hand that ticks on the clock
Just don’t seem to stop
When I’m thinking it over
Oh, tired of the light
I just don’t seem to find
Have you wait, yeah played
Whoa, I see it in my dreams
But I just don’t seem to be with you, you
I gotta get it all, gotta get it all, gotta get it all
I’ve got to get all
Ooh now my body is starting to quiver
And the palms of my hands getting wet, oh
I got no reason to doubt you baby
It’s all a terrible mess
And I’ll run in the rain till I’m breathless
When I’m breathless I’ll run ’til I drop, hey!
And the thoughts of a fool’s kind of careless
I’m just a fool waiting on the wrong block, oh yeah
Hey, now, oh, oh, oh
Light of the love that I found
Light of the love that I found
Light of the love that I
Light of the love that I found
Light of the hey, now light of the hey, now
Light of the love that I found
Light of the love that I found

Conclusion

Hit me up anytime at vreny@zotzinmusic.com if you have any questions, or if you would like to book a lesson.

These free lessons are cool, but you will never experience the progress, joy, and results that my students experience in lessons when you’re learning by yourself from blogs and videos.

That is why people take lessons: way better results and progress, much more complete information, exposed to way more creative ideas than you can get from a blog or YouTube video.
There is only so much that self-study can accomplish.

If you want to see amazing results and progress in your guitar playing, buy your first lesson here and get started ASAP.