Song: When all you got is a hammer (Live acoustic)
Artist: Gretchen Peters
Composer: Gretchen Peters
Album: Blackbirds
Tabbed by DJ
31st Nov 2015
This tab is based more on Gretchen's live acoustic version which actually
has no instrumental verse, but I do include the chord progression for
those who want to play along with the album version *. The bass guitar plays
additional little runs on the album, which I haven't included here.
CAPO: 5th fret (Sounds in the key of Am)
Chord names and fret positions are relative to the capo:
Em = 022000 C = 332010 G/F# = 2x0003 Emadd9 = 022002
Em/A = x02000 B7 = x21202 D = xx0232
G = 320003 B7/F# = 2x1202 Am = x02210
Live video of this song at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76J3Dq7UN5s
*******************************************************************************
[Intro]
Em Em/A
||: / / / / | / / / / :|| [x2]
[Verse 1]
Em G
There’s a bible on the table, there’s a bottle on the shelf,
C Em B7 B7/F# B7 B7/F#
There’s a woman in the kitchen crying quietly to her - self,
Em G
Down the hallway, in the bedroom, he can hear his children wail,
C Em B7 B7/F# Em
When all you got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail!
[Verse 2]
Em G
Well, he came home, from the desert, with a medal on his chest,
C Em B7 B7/F# B7 B7/F#
Like a hero, like a champion, but he felt more like a guest,
Em G
Now he sleeps with one eye open, and he wakes up scared as hell,
C Em B7 B7/F# Em
And all he’s got is a hammer, and everything looks like a nail!
[Verse 3]
G/F# G D
They show you how to shoot, and they show you how to kill,
Am B7 B7/F# B7 B7/F#
But they don’t show you what to do with this hole that you can’t fill,
B7 B7/F# Em
So you dwell in the darkness of your soul,
G
Like Jonah in the belly of a whale,
C Em B7 B7/F# Em
And all you got is a hammer, and everything looks like a nail!
* [Instrumental Verse - on album version]
Em G
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
C Em B7 B7/F# B7 B7/F#
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
Em G
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
C Em B7 B7/F# Em
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
Em
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
[Verse 4]
Em G
When a good man, in a bad dream, can’t make it on his own,
C Em B7 B7/F# B7 B7/F#
When he can’t feed his own damn children on the money that he brings home,
Em G
And the deck is stacked against him, and he knows he’s bound to fail,
C Em B7 B7/F# Em
And all he’s got is a hammer, and everything looks like a nail!
[Verse 5]
G/F# G D
Well, they show you how to shoot, and they show you how to kill,
Am B7 B7/F# B7 B7/F#
But they don’t show you what to do with this hole that you can’t fill,
B7 B7/F# Em
So you dwell in the darkness of your soul,
G
Like Jonah in the belly of a whale,
C Em B7 B7/F# Em
And all you've got is a hammer, and everything looks like a nail!
C Em B7 Em
Yeah, all you got is a hammer, and everything looks like a nail!
| / / / / |
[Coda]
Em/A Em Em/A
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
Em Em/A Em Emadd9
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / ||