Theme From a Movie That Never Happened

Eric Clapton’s Theme From a Movie That Never Happened is a B-Side rarity that was first released in 1998. There’s not much info about this piece — so I believe that it’s actually ‘a theme from a movie that never happened’. I’ve only done short-films in the independent space, but I’ve written countless things for films that were shelved. It’s very conceivable that Eric Clapton was commissioned for a film that never made it past pre-production.

This phantom film must have been a serious conception for Clapton to write the theme. By all accounts, the piece was written and recorded in the mid-90’s — so it could’ve starred any A-listers at that time (Pacino, Depp, Pitt, Ford)

who knows. The song has a real Bond theme feel to it. I’m imagining international espionage, and a love interest that could only be played by Catherine Zeta Jones.

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How to play Theme From a Movie That Never Happened | fingerstyle guitar

The guitar tab for this piece is beautifully written across 3 pages. I love this playing this song, and it’s very doable for intermediate guitar players. The only tricky part for some guitar players will be using your thumb to fret the D/F# chord at 2:29 of the video. I’ve marked that in the guitar tab with a “T” underneath the section.

Enjoy the guitar tab is available below:

My song structure looks like this, in accordance with the guitar tab:

Intro, Verse, Verse

Bridge, Verse, End

**Eric Clapton: Theme From a Movie That Never Happened | fingerstyle guitar

This piece is played in standard tuning.