Proud Mary by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Proud Mary is country blues rock song released as a single in 1969, and then on the band's second studio album Bayou Country.

Written by lead singer and guitarist John Fogerty, it tells the tale of a man quitting his job in the city and hitching a ride on a riverboat down the Mississippi, where he discovers an easy-going, generous community of people and a better way to live.

According to music critic Joel Selvin, parts of the song were put together from drafts of other songs, and the main premise was written after Fogerty was discharged from the National Guard. The Proud Mary or Mary Elizabeth was a ship that travelled along the Mississippi from Memphis from 1928-1978.

Black and white image of the Proud Mary ship shown on the river in 1930

Fogerty took inspiration from many sources, the chord change from C to A in the riff was inspired by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, while the harmonies in the chorus were an ode to the gospel harmonies of The Sensational Nightingales and the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi. The song has inspired many covers over the years, notably by Solomon Burke and the iconic reimagining by Tina Turner.

The original recording involves many layers and instruments, we will learn an easy version that captures the rhythm and feel of the song. The song is played with a down up down up down up down up strumming pattern. The hardest part to master is the riff which begins the song. It moves from C to A, but the chord changes come at an interesting times.

The A chord comes in on the upstroke after the second beat, and nothing is played on the third beat, which gives the riff its iconic sound. The chord changes in the third and fourth bars are more complex and we can look at this in the lesson.

The verse starts with 8 bars of D, and the strumming pattern can start to feel monotonous so we can try to add in some percussive strums, for which you relax your fingers on the fretboard to achieve a dead sounding strum. Try this on beats 2 and 4.

It is easy to get lost in a repetitive strumming pattern so you can try counting out loud to get the hang of the rhythm.

Here is a TAB I found on Ultimate Guitar…

Watch the full lesson here...