Ain’t No Sunshine | Chords + Lyrics
Verse 1
| N.C | Am7 Em G5 |
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone,
| Am7 | Am7 Em G5 |
it’s not warm when she’s away.
| Am7 | Em7 |
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone, she always gone too long
| Dm7 | Am7 Em G5 |
anytime she goes away.
Verse 2
| Am7 | Am7 Em G5 |
Wonder this time where she’s gone,
| Am7 | Am7 Em G5 |
wonder if she’s gone to stay.
| Am7 | Em7 |
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone, and this house just ain’t no home,
| Dm7 | Am7 Em G5 |
anytime she goes away.
Bridge
||: N.C :||
And I know, I know, I know… (x27)
| N.C |
Hey, I oughta leave the young thing alone,
| N.C | Am7 Em G5 |
but ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone.
Verse 3
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone,
only darkness every day.
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone, this house just ain’t no home,
anytime she goes away.
Outro
||: Am7 | Am7 Em G5 :|| Ammaj9 |
Anytime she goes away, anytime she goes away, anytime she goes away.
Ain’t No Sunshine Chords: Learn the progressions
Starting with chord VI, the home chord of this tune, we are in the key of A minor when we play Ain’t No Sunshine‘s chords.
This Am chord has been extended, without breaking any harmonic rules, to a minor 7 chord.
During a two-bar loop, we quickly move from chord III (an Em chord) to chord V (a G chord) before we go back to Am7.
You could see this as a bass line going down to the 5th, then the b7 of an Am chord. So subtle are these changes.
What Bill Withers has done here is modified an 8-bar minor blues. In its simplest form, this would be the chord progression:
| Am (VI) | Am | Am | Am |
| Em (III) | Dm (II) | Am | Am |
When we play Ain’t No Sunshine on one acoustic guitar, we develop this movement with the chords Em – G5, which looks like this:
| Am7 Em G5 | Am7 | Am7 Em G5 | Am7 |
| Em | Dm7 | Am7 Em G5 | Am7 |
As the 2nd guitar is added we play a full G chord, not just a G5.
When you can play Ain’t No Sunshine and decide to add it to your repertoire, a simple chord chart is all you need, here’s one I made for you:
Ain’t No Sunshine Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Notice how I didn’t write G5 in the chord chart as that only happened when we played Ain’t No Sunshine on one guitar. As mentioned, the 2nd guitar plays a full G.
The final chord, Ammaj9 is (also) what the 2nd guitar plays, check the video in the playlist at the top of this page to see how I fret it.
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Ain’t No Sunshine Chord Chart PDF.
This chart was created using iRealPro, here’s a link to that file: Ain’t No Sunshine iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
In the course, we look at TAB and play along to loops to learn Ain’t No Sunshine in more depth, below is a preview.
Ain’t No Sunshine TAB | Course Preview
In the Acoustic Beginner Course, you’ll learn to play Ain’t No Sunshine finger-style. We’ll achieve this by working on three finger-style practice songs to get the patterns right.
Once we have the basics of fingerstyle playing down, we learn Ain’t No Sunshine as I play it in the video at the top of the page.
By now, we’re at step 4 in the Ain’t No Sunshine lesson series and as you can see in the video above, we practise using loops to learn the various sections.
Here’s the TAB for the first example we practise (play along with the video above to get a feel for how this works).
After a few more loops like this, you’re ready to play the complete song, just like I do in the video at the top of this page.
In the remaining steps of the series, we develop a 2nd guitar part played with a pick (you’ll find a full performance of this in the playlist at the top of this page as well).
Learning this 2nd guitar means that you, me, and the singer can play Ain’t No Sunshine together, like an acoustic trio.
Here’s a link to the 8 step-by-step guitar lessons: Ain’t No Sunshine – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
Ain’t No Sunshine was Bill Withers’s first B-side and hit!
Starting its life as a B-side in 1971 to his first single Harlem, it didn’t take DJs long to flip it over and start playing Ain’t No Sunshine instead. The following year, it won a Grammy for Best Rhythm and Blues Song.
Bill Withers was fortunate to have one of the best producers around at hand, Booker T. Jones who had been around the block a few times and knew the secret to a great recording was having a great band.
His house band for record label Stax, Booker T. & The M.G.’s was hired when recording Ain’t No Sunshine, apart from having Stephen Stills on guitar, rather than Steve Cropper.
Bill’s debut album, Just As I Am (1971), was recorded over just four three-hour sessions, no doubt, this was down to the experience of the producer and his kick-ass band!
Since Bill’s original version hit the airwaves, many other singers have covered the song, so much so it has become a modern standard that you as a musician are expected to know.
First up was Michael Jackson who released it in 1972, enabling the song to chart two years in a row. In 1991 Paul McCartney released his version and two years later Eva Cassidy did the same.
Ain’t No Sunshine has over the years firmly established itself as one of the most memorable songs of all time. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at #280 on their list of Greatest Songs of All Time.
Ain’t No Sunshine Chords | Related Pages
Ain’t No Sunshine | 8 Step-by-step Guitar Lessons + TAB
The final song in the beginner course is played fingerstyle, this means you first have to work your way through three practice songs.
Once you can play them, Ain’t No Sunshine‘s fingerstyle arrangement will be easy. Finally, we develop a 2nd guitar part and play the song together, like a band.
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- Angel Eyes chords by Frank Sinatra
- Call It Stormy Monday chords by T-Bone Walker
- Come Away With Me chords by Norah Jones
- Summertime chords by Billie Holiday
- The Thrill Is Gone chords by B.B. King
Booker T. & The M.G.’s tunes
Led by piano and organ player Booker T. Jones, the Stax Records house band played behind numerous legendary artists.
Hits include Green Onions, Born Under A Bad Sign, Dock Of The Bay, Ain’t No Sunshine, Soul Man, Hold On I’m Comin’, Knock On Wood, and Respect.
Booker T. & The M.G.’s on the web
Bill Withers tunes
Bill Withers was an American singer-songwriter who performed and recorded from the late ‘60s until the mid-‘80s.
His best-known songs include Ain’t No Sunshine, Use Me, Lovely Day, Lean on Me, Grandma’s Hands, and Just The Two Of Us.
Bill Withers on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Ain’t No Sunshine chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
