Ants Marching Chords & Tabs
I'll include the violin/ sax parts in the beginning:
E|---------------------------------------------------|
B|-10-----10-----10-----10--10--10--10---------------|
G|-10h11--10h11--10h11--12--12--12--10h11------------|
D|---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------|
Sometimes in live shows where they have the snare intro, Dave and Stefan open up with this:
E|-------------------|
B|-------------------|
G|-------------------|
D|-12-10-9-7-5-4-2-0-|
A|-------------------|
E|-------------------|
Then, during Le Roi's (or I guess Jeff's now.....) solo, Dave plays a riff-type thing
you can play in two ways:
E|-------------------| E|-----------------|
B|-------------------| B|-----------------|
G|-10-11/------------| OR G|-4-5/------------|
D|-x--x--------------| D|-4-5/------------|
A|-11-12/------------| A|-6-7/------------|
E|-9--10/------------| E|-----------------|
Both sound good. That goes on live until it goes back to just snare and sax/violin, and
the actual song starts (This is also the riff during the verse and solos):
E|-2-xxx------------3-xxx------------------------|
B|-3-xxx------------3-xxx------------------------|
G|-2-xxx------------0-xxx------------------------|
D|-0-xxx-----4---4--0-xxx-----5-5/7--------------|
A|--------4/5-4/5-0-2-xxx--4/5-5-----------------|
E|------------------3-xxx------------------------|
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/d/dave_matthews_band/ants_marching_tab_ver_4.html ]
Then if your band has two guitarists, and your lead wants to follow the bass and
part at the end of solos/the intro, it's this:
E|------------------------------------------------|
B|------------------------------------------------|
G|------------------------------------------------|
D|-2h4/5-4h5/7-5h7/9-7h9/11-9h11/12---------------|
A|------------------------------------------------|
E|------------------------------------------------|
The chorus riff goes something like this:
E|----2--3-----0-----------------------------|
B|----3--3-----2-----------------------------|
G|-4--2--0--4--2-----------------------------|
D|-4--0--0--4--2-----------------------------|x2
A|-2-----2--2--0-----------------------------|
E|-------3-----------------------------------|
Then, during the breakdown ("When all the little ants are marching..."), Dave plays this:
E|-------------------------|
B|-------------------------|
G|--4-44-4-44-4-444-444-44-|
D|--x-xx-x-xx-x-xxx-xxx-xx-|x4
A|--2-22-2-22-2-222-222-22-|
E|--3-33-2-22--------------|
Then he goes back to the verse riff, and then the chorus. During Boyd's solo, they
between a D and a G chord in that order. Then, they play the breakdown riff and then the
riff, if you cant hear the change, it's:
Breakdown x4
Chorus x2
Then they play the verse and then end on a D chord. The changes are:
Guitar/Bass intro: x12
Jeff Solo: x4
Verse: x18
Chorus: x2
Verse: x8
Chorus: x4
Verse: x4
Breakdown: x4
Verse: x3
Chorus: x4
Verse: x4
Switch between D and G: as many times as you want, but the original recording was 4.
Breakdown: x4
Chorus: x2
Verse: x4
Then end on a D chord.
Hope this helped!