FLOWER tuning: G G D D Eb Eb tab by chris lawrence there honestly isn't a whole lot to tab for this song... check out a live video of them playing this and it's all pretty much improvised. a few tips, however... lee wedges a screwdriver behind the 5th fret, and detunes the D and Eb strings constantly (you can fake this by just bending the strings behind the screwdriver, if you want). thurston just strums behind the bridge in various places and does quiet drone type shit (on the original recording -- subsequent live versions were infinitely more intense, w/ steve's tribal beat propelling the song, both thurston and lee's guitars spewing forth a distorted swamp of atonal fury). if you ever wanna see a nice shiny new jaguar fretboard get destroyed in about half a second as lee runs a screwdriver up the neck under the strings, track down a live video of "flower" from any given 1991 show... --------------------------------------------------------------------- By Raj Paden Thurston: GGDDD#D# Lee: GGDDD#D# (screwdriver in 5th fret) Kim: EADG As Chris has said in the "tabs" he wrote, there really isn't much specific, but I noticed a couple of changes they did live. First would be when Steve joined the band. If you look into performances with Steve on the kit, the song can be distinguished to 2 sections. For Steve era performances, I'll timestamp the sections using the Smart Bar Chicago performance ------------------------------------- Lee early 1985: Lee has the screwdriver on the 5th fret. He detunes the D and D# strings and bends the strings from behind the screwdriver. Lee 1985 - 1986: These directions are based off the Blood On Brighton Beach version of Flower Section A: 0:00 - 1:35 Lee does the same thing, except he doesn't detune the strings Section B: 1:35 - 1:49 Lee I assume is open strumming while bending from behind the screwdriver Section A: 1:49 - 2:15 Lee starts getting aggresive with the strings Section B: 2:15 - 2:22 Lee's still aggressive with the strings Section A: 2:24 - 2:30 Section B: 2:30 - 2:36 Lee 1990 - 1993: Section A: This section hasn't changed as much since 1986 Section B: Lee runs the screwdriver up on the fretboard while strumming ferociously Lee 2011: In 2011, Lee switched to D#D#C#C#GG (they brought back I Love Her All The Time aswell, but that was only played it once in 2011) and screwdriver is on the 9th fret (like I Love Her All The Time). He plays it with the same sentiment as the 1990-1993 performances, but as mentioned, screwdriver on 9th fret and more strumming behind the bridge on section A. ------------------------------------- Thurston early 1985: Thurston just fucks around with the drumstick on the 12 fret (at least in the Gila Monster Jamboree version) Thurston 1985 - 2011: Section A: Thurston starts spurting out random noises with his guitar and then palm mutes Section B: He frets high on the fretboard while strumming 8th notes with his tremolo arm. Last updated: 12/22/22 ------------------------------------------------ THE SONIC YOUTH GUITAR/BASS TABLATURE ARCHIVE: http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/tab/index.html ------------------------------------------------