Ziggy Stardust

[MinorSeventhMan]

Hi,

I would love to learn how to play the intro to ziggy stardust on my electric 4 string mandobird. I know I should probably just go learn to play guitar, but go figure. Anyway I have learned the first part G G D Dsus4 D Dsus4 D. After that I don't know. I have seen several different guitar tabs for the last bit and they where all conflicted, and none sounded good, plus I want to know the picking not just the chords. Can anyone help me with it?

Thanks and Kind Regards,
m7 Man

[dave42]

m7man, I'm going to give this a go. I've played guitar for a long time, and I've always liked this song. I started playing mandolin last year, so when I seen your post, I had to pull out the mandolin.

Let's start with the G chord. I would play the first strum either 0023 or 0053, but the rest of the G chords you should play 0053 due to the progression of the intro. Of course, if you prefer, play 0023, but I think you'll see what I mean.

The D chords are 2002 - 2003 - 2002 - 2003 - 2002 - 2052

You need to nail that 5th fret on the A string. You can cheat by playing just the 3 higher strings, and it's a good bit easier to hit that last chord...
x002 - x003 - x002 - x003 - x002 -x052
Accent that A string/ 5th fret with the pick. You'll hear the tune there!

Next is the rest of that intro that you wanted.
After you nail the x052, reach a finger over and play the progression..
505x - 405x - 205x - 0053
Hey, there's that G chord 0053! And you're back to the begining of that chord progression. Play it again and you're through the intro.

1 = 0053
2 = 2002 or x002
3 = 2003 or x003
4 = 2052 or x052
5 = 505x
6 = 405x
7 = 205x

|1 - 1 - |2+3 2+3 2 4|5 - - 6|- - 7 -|1 - 1 - | etc.

As far as the picking, I can show you far better than I can tell you. Listen to the song and you'll hear the picking of the chords 5,6, and 7.

Good Luck, and I hope this helps!
Dave