Death Cab for Cutie - Tiny Vessels: Guitar Chords

Learn to play "Tiny Vessels" on your guitar with our chord guide. This page provides everything you need to perform this song on the guitar, including lyrics integrated with chords, chord diagrams, and a key transposer to match your vocal range.

For easier playing, use our Simplify Chords feature to remove difficult chords like barre.

F#m          D/E              A
This is the moment that you know
         Bm                D/E               F#m
That you told her that you loved her but you don't.
                D                E
You touch her skin and then you think
            Bm
That she is beautiful but
                         F#m
she don't mean a thing to me.
              D
Yeah, she is beautiful but
                           A
she don't mean a thing to me.

I spent two weeks
In Silver Lake
The California sun cascading down my face
There was a girl
With light brown streaks
And she was beautiful
But she didn't mean a thing to me
Yeah, she was beautiful
But she didn't mean a thing to me

Chorus:
   D                            D#mid7
I wanted to believe in all the words
that I was speaking
       F#m
As we moved together in the dark
              D
And all the friends that I was telling
           D#dim7
And all the playful misspellings
          F#m
And every bite I gave you left a mark
      D
When tiny vessels oozed into your
D#mid7
neck and formed the bruises
         F#m
That you said you didn't want to fade
         Esus4                   E
But they did, and so did I that day

And all I see
Are dark grey clouds
In the distance, moving closer with every hour
So when you ask, "Is something wrong?"
I think, "You're damn right there is
But we can't talk about it now"
No, we can't talk about it now

So one last touch, and then you'll go
And we'll pretend that it meant something
so much more
But it was vile, and it was cheap
And you are beautiful
But you don't mean a thing to me
Yeah, you are beautiful
But you don't mean a thing to me
Yeah, you are beautiful
But you don't mean a thing to me


You can simplify chords by removing barre

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Simplify chords by removing barre

Guitar Chord Diagrams

A

Guitar chord A

D

Guitar chord D

D#m

Guitar chord D#m

D#dim

Guitar chord D#dim

D#dim7

Guitar chord D#dim7

E

Guitar chord E

Esus4

Guitar chord Esus4

F#m

Guitar chord F#m

Bm

Guitar chord Bm

Here you can see detailed diagrams for each guitar chord used in the song. Utilize our key transposer to adjust the chords to a key that better fits your singing range. Simply select the desired key, and the chords throughout this page will update automatically, ensuring you can play and sing comfortably.

If you are also interested in learning how to play "Tiny Vessels" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "Tiny Vessels" by Death Cab for Cutie.

Death Cab for Cutie Song List