It starts with those two notes. A chiming, clean guitar riff that basically birthed an entire genre of sensitive kids crying in their bedrooms. If you've ever picked up a Telecaster and tried to find the Never Meant tab American Football fans have been obsessing over since 1999, you know the immediate frustration. It sounds so simple. It’s just math rock, right? Wrong.
It’s a nightmare of tuning and finger stretching.
Most people think they can just pull up a standard tab, tune to E Standard, and make it work. They can't. You can’t play this song in standard tuning. It’s physically impossible to get those specific internal resonances and open-string drones without messily re-tuning your entire rig. Mike Kinsella and Steve Holmes weren't just playing chords; they were exploiting the physics of the guitar in a way that most indie bands in the late 90s hadn't even considered.
The Tuning Trap: FACGCE or Bust
Let's be real: the biggest hurdle to learning the Never Meant tab American Football community members share is the tuning. It’s written in FACGCE.
That’s not a typo.
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You’re taking your low E string and bumping it up to an F. You’re dropping your D down to a C. The G stays, but the B goes up to a C and the high E stays an E. This creates a massive C major 9 chord when you strum it open. It feels loose. It feels like the guitar is about to snap or the strings are going to turn into spaghetti. But this specific tension—or lack thereof—is exactly why the song sounds "sparkly."
If you try to play the "Never Meant" riff in E Standard, you lose the "ring." In FACGCE, the open strings act as drones. When you're playing the main riff’s sliding melody, those open high strings are vibrating in sympathy. It creates a natural reverb that no pedal can truly replicate. If you aren't in this tuning, you aren't playing "Never Meant." You're playing a cover that sounds like a demo version.
Why Your Fingers Hurt
The stretches are the second problem. Because of the way the guitar is tuned, the intervals are all shifted. You’ll find yourself reaching across four or five frets while trying to keep the high strings open. Most beginner tabs don't emphasize the importance of "letting ring." In math rock, the silence and the sustain are just as important as the notes you're hitting.
Mike Kinsella has mentioned in various interviews that they didn't really know what they were doing—they were just finding sounds that felt right. That’s the irony. Thousands of guitarists now spend hours analyzing the Never Meant tab American Football pioneered, trying to decode a "mistake" that became a masterpiece.
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Reading the Riff: It’s All About the 6/4 and 7/4 Split
Rhythmically, this song is a brain-melter. You can't just count 1-2-3-4.
The intro is famously in 6/4 time. Then it shifts. Then it breathes. The drums, played by Kinsella on the record, are doing something entirely different from the guitars. While the guitar is playing that iconic descending pattern, the drums are accenting the off-beats. This is why the song feels like it’s "tumbling" forward. It’s unstable.
When you're looking at a Never Meant tab American Football chart, pay attention to the bar lines. If the tab you're looking at is written in 4/4, close the tab. It’s wrong. It won't help you. You need to feel the pulse in six.
Common Mistakes in Modern Tabs
- Ignoring the slides: A lot of digital tabs use "hammer-ons" where the original recording clearly uses slides. The "slop" of the finger moving across the fretboard is part of the emo aesthetic.
- The Bridge Section: Most people give up at the bridge. The chords get dense here. You're moving from those sparkly leads into a more rhythmic, percussive strumming pattern that requires a very light touch. If you hit the strings too hard in FACGCE, they go sharp.
- The Ending: The fade-out isn't just a repeat. There are tiny variations in the picking pattern that Steve Holmes adds to keep the texture moving.
The Gear Matters (A Little)
You don’t need a boutique setup. But a humbucker-heavy Les Paul is going to sound muddy. The Never Meant tab American Football aficionados swear by single-coil pickups. Specifically, a Telecaster.
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The "twang" of a Telecaster bridge pickup cut through the mid-range of the bass and the brassy cymbals. You want a clean tone. Maybe a tiny bit of compression to level out the tapping parts, but stay away from the distortion pedal. If it’s crunchy, you’ve gone too far.
Think "crystalline."
How to Actually Master the Never Meant Tab
Stop trying to play it at full speed. Seriously.
- Tune to FACGCE. Use a chromatic tuner. Your guitar's intonation will probably be slightly off because this isn't what the neck was designed for. Just roll with it.
- Isolate the "Spider" Stretch. Practice the movement between the 5th and 9th frets on the lower strings without buzzing.
- The "Open String" Rule. If you accidentally mute the high C or E strings with your palm, the riff dies. Arch your fingers high.
- Listen to the Trumpet. It sounds weird, but listen to the trumpet lines in the song. They often follow the root notes of what the guitar is doing during the verses. If you get lost in the tab, listen to the brass. It’s your map.
Honestly, the Never Meant tab American Football created is more of a suggestion than a rigid script. The band themselves plays it slightly differently live every time they reunite. It’s about the vibe. It’s about that feeling of 1999 suburban Illinois—quiet, a little bit sad, and incredibly complex under the surface.
Practical Steps for Your Next Practice Session
- Check your string gauge. If you're using "10s," that F string (the low E tuned up) is going to feel very tight. Consider a custom set if you plan on leaving your guitar in this tuning.
- Record yourself. Play along to the track. If your "ring" doesn't match their "ring," you're likely muting strings with your fretting hand.
- Study the Poly-rhythms. Spend ten minutes just clapping the drum beat while humming the guitar line. If you can't do both, you don't truly have the timing down yet.
Mastering this song isn't just a rite of passage for emo fans; it’s a genuine lesson in unconventional guitar composition. Once you get the hang of FACGCE, a whole new world of songwriting opens up. You'll stop thinking in boxes and start thinking in textures. That is the real legacy of American Football.