David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust guitar tab
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Date: 22 Feb 1993 10:03:41 +0200
From: ASHLEY@Uctvax.UCT.AC.ZA
Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
I discovered this site about a week ago and have already ftp'd about 50 songs
off it. So I thought I should try to repay the contributors in some way.
This is my first posting to 'nevada'. As you may be able to guess from the
chords that follow, I am a real amateur guitar player. I have a cheap accoustic
and I know only the basic chords. The way I worked this out, was to try all the
chords I knew, until something sounded OK.
The recording I used was the demo version on the 1990 re-release of the Ziggy
StaRdust album. This re-release has the demo version (totally accoustic) as a
bonus track.
Please send me corrections to chords.
Things I'm not sure about...
- the D on 'Mars' in the first line (and at similiar places)
- the D on 'break up the band' & 'crush his sweet hand'
Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
==============================
[power section] number above chord shows # beats to hold chord
2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 2 3 1 3 1 3 1
4 G G | D D* D D* D | F F | C C | D D
4 (play four times)
G Bm
Ziggy played guitar, jamming good
C D
with Wierd and Gilly and the Spiders from Mars.
G Bm
He played it left hand, but made it too far
C D
became the special man, and we were Ziggy's band.
G Bm
Ziggy really sang, with screwed up eyes and
C D
screwed down hairdo like some cat from Japan.
G Bm
He could lick 'em by smiling, he could leave 'em to hang.
C D
He came on so loaded man, well hung and snow-white tan.
A G F F* F F* F F* F G
But where were the spiders,
A G F F* F F* F F* F G
while the fly tried to break our balls.
A G F F* F F* F F* F
Just the beer light to guide us.
G D
And so we bitched about his fans and should we crush his sweet hands.
[power section]X2
G Bm
Ziggy played for time, jiving us that
C D
we were voodoo and the kids was just crass.
G Bm
He was the nazz with God-given ass.
C D
He took it all too far but boy could he play guitar.
A G F F* F F* F F* F G
Making love with his ego,
A G F F* F F* F F* F G
Ziggy sucked up into his mind
A G F F* F F* F F* F G
Like a leper messiah.
G D
When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band.
[power section repeated to fade]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chords used: G Bm C D D* A F F*
e | 3 2 0 2 3 5 1 0
b | 3 3 1 3 3 5 1 0
g | 4 4 0 2 2 6 2 2
d | 5 4 2 0 0 7 3 3
a | 5 2 3 x x 7 3 3
e | 3 2 3 x x 5 1 0
NOTES: on D* and F*
D* is used in the [power] section. I play a normal D and used my 'pinky'
on the 3rd fret on alternate strums to acheive the (D D* D D* etc) sound on
the record. I think D* is actually Dsus but I'm not sure.
F* is used in the chorus. I pay the F chord as a barre chord (see tab above)
and lift my first (barre) finger on alternate strums.
I guess you really have to listen to the record to get the [chorus] and
[power] sections timed/played correctly.
Anyway, there it is. By no means an expert opinion, but it seems to impress my
flat-mate.
From SCoatney@aol.com Sun Feb 18 05:16:22 1996
From: SCoatney@aol.com
Date: Sun, 18 Feb 1996 00:14:21 -0500
Message-ID:
To: guitar@nevada.edu
Subject: TAB: Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie
Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie.
Transcribed by Steve Coatney (scoatney@aol.com) - Feb 17, 1996.
Thanks to Johnny Birchett and Richard Ashley for their postings, which
inspired me to dig further.. Richard's lyrics are nearly perfect, and
Johnny's tab and chords are right on the mark. I've borrowed heavily
from Johnny, but made a few modifications (note the A / A7 in place
of Am).
I've verified the lyrics against the version included on the jacket of the
recent AU 20 remaster of the Ziggy Stardust CD. The recorded version adds
a few words, which I've marked with parentheses.
For a great unplugged version of Ziggy, check out Bowie's original
acoustic 12-string demo included as a bonus track on this CD. The lyrics
are identical to those written on the jacket.
I've included two tabs for the Intro, the first is similar to the Mick
Ronson electric version, and the second is Bowie's acoustic demo version.
Intro (Ronson)
--------------
Ronson does some hammering on during the intro, so play around with this
if you want to imitate him more closely. He also plays it a little
differently on the Santa Monica live album (he picks more individual
notes).
|--3-----2--3--2--3--2--------------------------------------------------
|--3-----3--3--3--3--3--3--------3-----3--------3-----3--------3-----3--
|--0-----2-----------2--2--------0--0--0--------0--0--0--------0-----0--
|--0-----0-----------0--0-----2-----2--2-----0-----2--2-----0-----0-----
|--x--------------------------3--------------2--------------0-----0-----
|--3--------------------------------------------------------------------
* H * * H * *
* = hold an extra half-beat
H = hammer on from open strings
Intro (Bowie)
-------------
Bowie's original intro is pretty simple, but very nice on 12-string.
|--3-----2--3--2--3--2--3-----0--------------0--------------0-----------
|--3-----3-----3-----3--3-----3--------3-----3--------3-----1-----0-----
|--4-----2-----2-----2--2-----0--------0-----0--------0-----2-----0-----
|--5-----0-----------0--0-----2--------2-----0--------0-----2-----0-----
|--x--------------------------3--------------2--------------0-----------
|--3--------------------------------------------------------------------
H H *
* = hold an extra half-beat
H = hammer on from second to third fret
Transition
----------
The transition between C and D during "the Spiders from Mars" and
subsequent verses goes something like this:
C D
|------------------------------------
|------------------------------------
|------------------------------------
|-----2-----2-----0-----2------------
|-----3-----3-----2-----3-----4------
|------------------------------------
the Spi ders from Mars
Chorus
------
Repeat 3 times:
A G F G
|--5-5-5-5-5-----3-3-3-3-3-------1-1-1-1-1-1-1-3---
|--5-5-5-5-5-----3-3-3-3-3-------1-1-1-1-1-1-1-3---
|--6-6-6-6-6-----4-4-4-4-4-------2-2-2-2-2-2-2-4---
|--7-7-7-7-7-----5-5-5-5-5-------3-3-3-3-3-3-3-5---
|--7-7-7-7-7-----5-5-5-5-5-------3-3-3-3-3-3-3-5---
|--5-5-5-5-5-----3-3-3-3-3-------1-0-1-0-1-0-1-3---
then:
D E
|--5---x-5---x-5----------7---7-7-7-7-7-----
|--7---x-7---x-7----------9---9-9-9-9-9-----
|--7---x-7---x-7----------9---9-9-9-9-9-----
|--7---x-7---x-7----------9---9-9-9-9-9-----
|--5---x-5---x-5----------7---7-7-7-7-7-----
|--5---x-5---x-5----------7---7-7-7-7-7-----
* * ** * **
* = hold an extra half-beat
** = hold until the end of the next measure
This is one suggested pattern, but it varies, so improvise.
(My personal preference is to play the D and E in open position.)
On the acoustic and live versions, Bowie and Ronson continue
strumming on the D and E chords. Bowie also sometimes noodles
around with his pinky on the B string on the D and E chords.
On electric, emphasize the lower (thicker) strings, especially
to get the right sound during the F chord. The acoustic version
tends to emphasize the upper (thinner) strings.
Lyrics and chords
-----------------
(Intro x 4, or Intro x 2 in acoustic version)
G Bm C
Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Wierd and Gilly,
(trans) D
(and) the Spiders from Mars.
G Em
He played it left hand, but made it too far,
A A7 C
became the special man, then we were Ziggy's band.
G Bm C
Ziggy really sang, screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdo,
(trans) D
like some cat from Japan.
G Em
He could lick 'em by smiling, he could leave 'em to hang;
A A7 C
(they) came on so loaded, man. Well-hung and snow-white tan.
A G F G
So where were the Spiders?
A G F G
While the fly tried to break our balls.
A G F G
Just the beer light to guide us. So we
D E
bitched about his fans and should we crush his sweet hands...
(Intro x 2)
G Bm C
Ziggy played for time, jiving us that we were voodoo,
(trans) D
the kids was just crass,
G Em
He was the nazz, with God given ass,
A A7 C
He took it all too far, but boy could he play guitar.
A G F G
Making love with his ego,
A G F G
Ziggy sucked up into his mind,
A G F G
like a leper messiah, when the
D E
kids had killed the man I had to break up the band.
(Intro x 3) then:
|--3-----2--3--2--3--2--------0--------------------------------3-----
|--3-----3--3--3--3--3--3-----3--------------------------------3-----
|--0-----2-----------2--2-----0--------------------------------0-----
|--0-----0-----------0--0-----2--------------------------------0-----
|--x--------------------------3--------------------------------x-----
|--3-----------------------------------------------------------3-----
Ziggy played ..... guitar.
(In acoustic version, after the second chorus Bowie immediately repeats
the second chorus, then he plays the intro several times and fades out,
without singing "Ziggy played guitar").
