Home > Rock & Pop > Dave Matthews Band >
All Along the Watchtower Guitar Tablature
Dave Matthews Band – All Along the Watchtower

/ = slide up/down
h = hammer on string
b = bend 



Intro (guitar I) 

E---------------------1-----------------------
B---------------------1-----------------------
G---------------------2-----------------------
D---------------------3-----------------------
A---------------------3-----------------------
E-5-5-0-3-0-3-3-0-0-1-1---1--1--3--3-/5-------

PLAY OVER AND OVER

Intro II (guitar II)

This guitar just fingerpicks through the chords (Am, G, and F) over the first intro.  So it’s something like this:

    Am              G                   F                  G
E---------------------------------------1---------1---1-----3----------
B-1--------1-------0-----------0--------------1-----1---------------0--
G------2------------------0--------0-------2--------------------0------
D----2-----------------0---------0------4-------4-------------0---0----
A-0------0-------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------3---------3------------------------------3----------
   Am 
E-------------------
B--1-------1--------
G-----2-------------
D----2--------------
A--0----0-----------
E-------------------

Let that play for a while, just play around with your other guitarist, it sounds good. I play this about 15 times (guitar II) and the intro goes about 20 then. If you play it right, it blends very well. Moving on...

Eventually, it picks up into a full fledged jam. Here’s how I do it. 

Guitar I:
     Am           G           F          G      Am
E----------------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------------
A-----7-7---------5-5--------3-3-----3----5------7---------------------
E-----5-5---------3-3--------1-1-----1----3------5---------------------

BEND ‘EM!!!!
Now tear through that. I use heavy distortion on it and rip it up. The Am, G, F, progression is also the end of “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin. So I play it like Jimmy Page would, and not Dave Matthews. 
Play around with that for about 15 measures. Meanwhile, guitar II is doing this...
     Am      G       F              G       Am
E------------3--3----1--1-------1---3--3-------------------------------
B----1--1------------1--1-------1-----------1--------------------------
G----2--2------------2--2-------2-----------2--------------------------
D----2--2------------3--3-------3-----------2--------------------------
A------------2--2----3--3-------3---2--2-------------------------------
E------------3--3----1--1-------1---3--3-------------------------------

Now this is exactly what Dave is playing. Just watch his hands on the “Live at Folesum Field” DVD. That’s what he’s playing. Now if you want to, you can also put some dirt on this, but I don’t use as much on this – it sounds way too heavy. My friend and I jam on that for a while, somewhere around 30 measures of it. In the band’s version, the order of solos is usually violin, sax, maybe piano, then back into the song. Since I only play this song with one other guitarist, here is what we do. 

Guitar II:
   Am      G     F          G      Am 
E--5-5----3-3----1-1---1----3-3-/--5-5---------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------------

I repeat again and again, bending, hammering, I just improvise here. I stick to the main Am, G, F, progression, but cut a little loose. From here on out, just communicate now and then who you are jamming with, so you’re playing together, and play anyone of the riffs above. There are so many different ways to play the song, but if you’re jamming with another guitarist and that only, I believe this is the way to play it
Previous guitar tablature in Dave Matthews Band :: Next guitar tablature in Dave Matthews Band