https://guitarnoise.forum/easy-songs/del-amitri-nothing-ever-happens/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:36:41 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/easy-songs/del-amitri-nothing-ever-happens/#post-102428 Sat, 14 May 2005 21:33:18 +0000 Easy Songs Slydog https://guitarnoise.forum/easy-songs/del-amitri-nothing-ever-happens/#post-102428 https://guitarnoise.forum/easy-songs/del-amitri-nothing-ever-happens/#post-9027 Fri, 13 May 2005 16:57:12 +0000
This was a hit for Del Amitri a few years ago, nice song, nice depressing lyrics (don't you love ‘em!)..

The important thing here is timing, its vital you play this in 6/8 time – don't panic beginners, this just means you try and get this sound

ONE (two and three and) FOUR (five and six and)

And its MUCH easier than it sounds, I promise. On the ONE and FOUR you do a downstroke, on the (two and three and) you just do a down / up / down /up mainly on the treble strings. A tab of the C part would look something like this C Chord e-0--0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0) b-1--1-1-1-1-1--1-1-1-1) g-0--0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0) d-2--2-2-2-2-2--2-2-2-2) a-3----------3---------) e-x----------x---------) 1 2 + 3 + 4 5 + 6 + You need to stay nice and relaxed for this. Practice it just on the C chord until you get a feel for it. Because some of the lines are quite long this pattern tends to repeat once like this. Oh and one more thing, you'll need a capo on fret 5!

C C Am7 Am7
Post office clerks put up signs saying positions closed

So for this tab, if you see more than one chord of the same letter, like the C above, you need to hold it for 2 bars of 6 beats, not just one – hope that's clear. Otherwise hold each chord for one count of six.

Ways of making this more interesting
Alternate your strumming a bit – for instance instead of doing a full C chord on the first and fourth beats, try playing just the fretted 5th string as a bass. On the Am7 play the open 5th string or the 5th string alternating with the 4th string. There is all sorts you can do here.

Anyway here's the chords
C x32010
Am7 x02010 (C chord with your finger removed from A string)
F full barre 133211 or use xx3211 if you can't barre.
G 320001
Am x02210
G/b x2000x (just leave one finger on the second fret 5th string)
C/e 032010 (so normal C but hit open low E string as well)
Dm xx0231
D xx0232
D/f# 2x0232 (use thumb to fret open E at 2nd fret while holding “normal D”
C/g 332010 normal C with pinky fretting the low E 3rd fret
Csus4 x33010 normal C but fret 4th string 3rd fret with pinky

And here's the song. You can substitute most of the “easy” chord shapes into those places where you can't manage the alternatives – for instance if you struggle with C/g just play a C, you'll get away with it. CAPO ON 5TH FRET Intro – C twice C C Am7 Am7 Post office clerks put up signs saying position closed C C Am7 Am7 And secretaries turn off typewriters and put on their coats F C And Janitors padlock the gates G F For security guards to patrol F C And bachelors phone up their friends for a drink G F F While the married ones turn on a chat show C F C C And they'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow C C Am7 Am7 Gentlemen time please, you know we can't serve anymore C C Am7 Am7 Now the traffic lights change to stop, when there's nothing to go F C And by five o'clock everything's dead G F And every third car is a cab F C And ignorant people sleep in their beds G F F Like the doped white mice in the college lab C F C F and Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all Am F The needle returns to the start of the song G F And we all sing along like before C F C C And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow C C G/b Am7 The Telephone exchanges click while there's nobody there C C Am7 Am7 The martians could land in the carpark and no one would care F C Close-circuit cameras in department stores shoot the G F same movie every day F C And the stars of these films neither die nor get killed G F C/e Dm G/b Just survive constant action replay C F C F and Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all Am F The needle returns to the start of the song G F And we all sing along like before C F C C And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow Bridge Section D / Am7 / D / Am7 (hold each for count of 6) C D / C/e D/f# / C/g (hold for 3 beats on first chords) C C Am7 Am7 And Bill hoardings advertise products that nobody needs C C While angry from manchester writes to complain about Am7 Am7 All the repeats on t.v. F C And computer terminals report some gains G F On the values of copper and tin F C While american businessmen snap up van goghs G F C/e Dm G/b For the price of a hospital wing C F C F and Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all Am F The needle returns to the start of the song G F And we all sing along like before C F C F No nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all Am F They'll burn down the synagogues at six o'clock G F And we'll all go along like before C Csus4 C And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow ]]> Easy Songs mattguitar https://guitarnoise.forum/easy-songs/del-amitri-nothing-ever-happens/#post-9027