GRAY DAVID - "babylon" Tablature

Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 13:50:15 -0500
From: Ben Hollis <ben_hollis@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 00:00:47 -0400
From: "Michael Aarons" <michael_aarons@bigfoot.com>
Subject: g/gray_david/babylon.crd

David Gray - Babylon
Track 2: White Ladder

Transcribed by Ben Hollis
Additional notes by Michael Aarons

Comments and corrections
are most welcome.

The riff you can hear is
2 bars long and is based
around an open D shape,
it's easy to play but
you have to pay attention
to the hammer ons and
pull offs to get the
right feel, some notes
are not picked with the
right hand, just hammered
on or pulled off with the
left:

D G

E----------------------
B-2h3p2---h3-------3p2-
G-------2--------4-----

Play this riff keeping
your index finger barred
across these three
strings at the second
fret.

Here are the chords and
song structure, after
the first verse there’s
a 2 bar break (Em):

Em

D-------2
A-------2
E-3-2-0-0

Just let the Em chord
Ring on for 2 bars

Intro (8 bars/4 riffs)
D G D G D G D G

Verse (16 bars/8 riffs)
D G D G D G D G (x2)

Break (2 bars)
Em Em

Verse (16 bars/8 riffs)
D G D G D G D G (x2)

Chorus (strum chords)
D A Em A D A Em G
D A Em A D A Em A A

Break (8 bars/4 riffs)
D G D G D G D G

Verse (16 bars/8 riffs)
D G D G D G D G (x2)

Chorus (strum chords)
D A Em A D A Em G
D A Em A D A Em A (x3)
D A Em A D A Em A A

Break (10 bars/5 riffs)
D G D G D G D G D G

Outro

D D

E-------------------
B-2h3p2---h3-2h3p2--
G-------2----------2

Wait for 1 bar (NC),
then end on a
strummed D chord.

Corrections…

OK everyone there were
a few minor problems
with my original
submission so I’ve tacked
this little bit onto the
bottom.

I forgot to say that you
need to put a CAPO on the
FIRST FRET to play this
song. Otherwise the guitar
is tuned normally.

One of the A chords in the
chorus may be an F#m - I
prefer to play A - whatever
you like.

The riff may start with an
F# on the low E string, but
this makes the song harder to
play.

There are several David Gray
websites with more tab on them,
but My Oh My is probably in
DADGBD tuning.

There’s bound to be a tab book
published soon.

As for playing it live exactly
how you choose to play it will
depend on what equipment you
have – hammer-ons are not all
that loud on an acoustic

SEVERAL HUNDRED people have
contacted me regarding this
song, thanks for all the
comments but please stop
writing, you keep filling up
my mailbox. Paste any
further corrections into this
file. Cheers.
#-----------------------------PLEASE NOTE-------------------------------------#
#This OLGA file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation #
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Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2001 05:43:49 -0500
From: James Dodd <jjd198@soton.ac.uk>
Subject: g/gray_david/babylon.crd

Babylon - David Gray, White Ladder
Tab By James Dodd. James_theburgler_Dodd@hotmail.com

This is quite a bit different from the other version
which is tabbed on the OLGA. I play it this way and
I think it sounds good.
> wat I can see at a glance it seems to be a bit more
difficult than the other tab here. But I do think that this
is the correct way.
e-mail me if you like

Intro & verse

E-----x-------x-----x--------------------------------------------
B-----x-5h6p5-x-----x-6------------------------------------------
G-----x-5-----x-7---x-5------------------------------------------
D-----x-------x-----x--------------------------------------------
A-----x-------x-----x--------------------------------------------
E--*5-x-------x---6-x--------------------------------------------

* for this A it is best to use your thum wraped over the top of
the fret board

Chorus
F C Gm C
E-------1-------0-------3-------0--------------------------------
B-------1-------1-------3-------1--------------------------------
G-------2-------0-------3-------0--------------------------------
D-------3-------2-------5-------2--------------------------------
A-------3-------3-------5-------3--------------------------------
E-------1-------3-------3-------0--------------------------------

At the end of the chorus the secon of the C chords is replaced
with a B flat.

E--1-
B--3-
G--3-
D--3-
A--1-
E--x-

when leaving the chorus to come back into the next verse there is
a minor adjustmet to the verse riff where you replace the a that
you play with your thum wrapped over with an F on the first fret
of the bottom E-string, small point but I think it's nice.

I'd love to here from you regarding this Tab especially the guy who
produced the other one. I'll try yours later and tell you what I
think.. James

Babylon - David Gray, White Ladder
Tab By Michael Aarons, maarons@mail.alum.rpi.edu

I figured this song out a little differently.

As it was implied in earlier posts, the song is in E-flat. However, I find it helpful to tune the
guitar *down* a whole step and play the verse riff as shown below.

Ebmaj7 Ab

D --0h1p0----1-----1-
A --1-----1----------
F --2-------2----3---
C --3----------------
G -------------------
D -------------------

The verse riff repeats as described in the earlier posts. Let your ear be your guide.

David Gray does something clever in the construction of the chorus by making the first three
chords in each line the same, but by having the last chord in each line ascend in the key. I think you'll find
it sounds truer to the recording if you play it like this:

First line of chorus:

Eb Bb Fm Gm

D -1---0---3---5---
A -1---1---3---5---
F -2---0---3---5---
C -3---2---5---7---
G -3---3---5---7---
D -1-------3---5---

Second line of chorus:

Eb Bb Fm Ab

D -1---0---3---1---
A -1---1---3---3---
F -2---0---3---3---
C -3---2---5---3---
G -3---3---5---1---
D -1-------3---x---

Last two lines of chorus:

Eb Bb Fm Bb

D -1---0---3---3---
A -1---1---3---5---
F -2---0---3---5---
C -3---2---5---5---
G -3---3---5---3---
D -1-------3---x---