Doctor Who Theme Chords & Tabs
Doctor Who Theme
By Rob Grainer and Delia Derbyshire*, 1963
Arranged for electric guitar by Nigel Eastmond with assistance from Mark Dyson, Peter Ackers,
Deborah Eastmond and Mark McGuigan
This is the William Hartnell era version (i.e. the original)
A video of this version can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF2x5IKxmAQ
Intro
Delay and overdrive
E E G E (i.E. long on the E, short on the G)
E E G E (cool if you increase the number of strokes in the shuffle for this second
set of Es and Bs)
Main melody (with flanger, delay, overdrive, reverb and sustain!)
Equal measures of E and B
E B E B E B E B E B
E |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B |--------------15-----------------------------------------------------------|
G |---17p16br-------17p16br----16---------------------------------------------|
D |14-----------------------------17------------------------------------------|
A |----------------------------------14--17--15-14-14p15-14p15-17p14-14p15----|
E |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Add as many of these little
pull offs as feels right and
sounds sexy
Add a little bit of extra B on the rhythm now with a brief flick to A and back to
create that rumbling
rhythm before the key change.
Key change
Use the intro Tiny pause in rhythm
rhythm here before this C
G D G C G C
E |------------------------------------------12-------------12----------------|
B |12----12------12-----------------------15----15p13-15-------15p13-15-------|
G |---15------12----15-12p11h12--------------------------12-------------------|
D |------------------------------------12-------------------------------------|
A |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Back to bouncing
along on the E and B
G B E B E
E |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B |12--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G |---12/14---12p11-12-------------------16------------------------------------|
D |-----------------------------------------17---------------------------------|
A |--------------------------------------------14--17--15-14-14p15-14p15-17p14-|
E |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Again, add a little bit of extra B now with a brief flick to A and back to create
that rumbling rhythm
before essentially starting the whole tune again.
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/m/misc_television/doctor_who_theme_tab_ver_5.html ]
Equal measures of E and B
E B E B E B E B E B
E |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B |--------------15-----------------------------------------------------------|
G |---17p16br-------17p16br----16---------------------------------------------|
D |14-----------------------------17------------------------------------------|
A |----------------------------------14--17--15-14-14p15-14p15-17p14-14p15----|
E |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
^
|
In the original recording, there is a break
in the melody here. We never play this as it
throws us off, but it goes E G B E G B, if you
fancy adding it back. Sorry, Mr Grainer.
Yet again add a little bit of extra B now with a brief flick to A and back to create that rumbling
rhythm before the second key change.
Second key change (identical to the first)
Use the intro Tiny pause in rhythm
rhythm here before this C
G D G C G C
E |------------------------------------------12-------------12----------------|
B |12----12------12-----------------------------15p13-15-------15p13-15-------|
G |---15------12----15-12p11h12-----------15-------------12-------------------|
D |------------------------------------12-------------------------------------|
A |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Back to bouncing
along on the E and B
G B E B E
E |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B |12--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G |---12/14---12p11-12-------------------16------------------------------------|
D |-----------------------------------------17---------------------------------|
A |--------------------------------------------14--17--15-14-14p15-14p15-17p14-|
E |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Short break on E and B . . .
. . . and then back to the main melody with a bit added on the end:
E B E B E B E B E B
E |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B |--------------15-----------------------------------------------------------|
G |---17p16br-------17p16br----16---------------------------------------------|
D |14-----------------------------17------------------------------------------|
A |----------------------------------14--17--15-14-14p15-14p15-17p14-14p15----|
E |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E B E B E B E B E
E |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B |--------------15---------------------------15------------------------------|
G |---17p16br-------17p16br--------17p16br ------17p16br----------------------|
D |14-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
A |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E |-------------------------------------------------------------0~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
*Derbyshire goes uncredited on the copyright for this tune because BBC rules prevented a member
of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop from breaking anonymity. The truth is that a lot of tape
utting was done by her team to create the tune and Grainer offered her co-composership.
