"Kim's Chords" first appeared on the UK and Japanese editions of the Sonic Nurse CD. It was called "Kim Chords" on those releases, but when it was collected on the band's 2006 b-sides & rarities disc The Destroyed Room, it had been retitled "Kim's Chords". It's a 6-minute instrumental, perhaps most noteworthy for its four-guitar arrangement. Typically either Kim or Jim would play bass when writing new material, but here they chose to both rock six strings. To quote The Destroyed Room liner notes: "A track based around a descending no wave guitar line Kim was jamming on at the time. Fairly complete in concept, we never continued to develop it past this state, which is a fine state to be in nonetheless."
I always assumed it was a Nurse leftover due to its presence as bonus material on that album, but I think "Fire Engine Dream" is the only true outtake from those sessions. Instead, I think "Kim's Chords" dates back to 2001 when the band was working on material for what would become Murray Street. I don't know if it's Noho Furniture Session shit, but I think it was cooked up alongside "The Empty Page" and "Rain on Tin" for one simple reason. In March 2002, they reprinted the breathtaking Sonic Matters, Sonik Kollaborations book (an invaluable source of information for the early version of this website) to accompany the LA installation of the art show, and this version had an additional batch of pages added. They featured xeroxed notes from the band's Murray Street sessions, some of which I've already shared. The most curious inclusion were two pages in Lee and Jim's handwriting, Lee's called "Kim's Chords" and Jim's just "Kim Chords". Lee's featured a new tuning, though it seemed to be his NYC Ghosts tuning with the Fs raised to Gs. I tried it out and played a few of the shapes I could identify in his notes, and there it was! "Kim('s) Chords"!
So, this was pretty cool. A new tuning, a song possibly from a different era than previously assumed, and now chord charts for both Lee and Jim's parts? There's no tuning listed on Jim's page, just "Telecaster Deluxe", but on another sheet for a song titled "Suzanne Laydee", he specifies GGDEGB, which was the tuning he kept that Tele Deluxe in for this era. And by the way, I have no idea what the fuck "Suzanne Laydee" could be, even after trying to decipher his chord charts. Any thoughts? Also by the way, MASSIVE enormous thanks to Johnny for providing me with the 2002 pages in the first place, I'd had no idea they existed!
Lee's notes are somewhat easy to follow - certainly the chords shown in the B section are immediately identifiable. He writes "6" to indicate the 6th fret, and 7-9 indicates that shape is moved from the 7th to 9th fret. It omits the lead line he also plays during this section. In the A section, I think the order of the notes is given by the numbers 1 2 3 etc, though somewhat obscured by the xerox quality. It does make sense when you learn his part. As for the C section, that also makes sense once you learn the riff, but there is more beyond what's written down.
The opposite is true for Jim - I don't think the "E section" exists on the recorded arrangement, which indicates he plays harmonics along with Thurston's chords. Thurston basically spends the last two minutes of the song playing a D note, so this could be another part that was mixed out (you can hear the drums kick back in right at the end of the track). By the way, what Jim calls "D" I have just incorporated into "C". I think his shapes are easy enough to read, he's just drawing the bottom 3 strings in the A section (654 at the top of the first shape explains this). The frets are written next to the chords, and in the last shape he indicates what order to play the notes in. In the B section, he uses one chord and moves it in basically the exact rhythm that he's drawn out. This fingering continues into the C section, and then he switches to the little lick, where he marks each note with a letter from A through E, spelling the riff out this way. The 12/5 on the side means he plays it at the 12th fret position then moves the same figure to the 5th fret, which is also clear when you learn the song.
For getting titular credit, Kim really only plays one chord in each section, plus the four-note riff that drives the opening segment. Having four guitars and no bass made this a bit of a puzzle, as far as figuring out who was doing what. Everyone's tone seems a little off to me, both Lee and Jim have a very warm drive that almost sounds like Kim's guitar at times, and then there's the identifiable Lee leads with delay. Thurston is high on treble, playing an understated part that took a while to click with me. I think I got it. I always wonder what these fleshed out instrumentals would have sounded like with vocals, but it's pretty cool as it is. That's all I've got, hopefully a fun look at how Lee and Jim charted their parts, and next week we'll be moving beyond Murray Street. Please let me know if you have any comments or corrections!
"KIM'S CHORDS"
LAYOUT
INTRO - A - B - A - B - C
KIM
DADABB
CENTER
THURSTON
CGDGCD
LEFT
LEE
DGCDGG
CENTER RIGHT
JIM
GGDEGB
RIGHT
INTRO 00:00-00:04
I don't think Kim plays during the opening chord.
Thurston:
D---0---
C---0---
G---0---
D---0---
G---0---
C---0---
Lee:
G---5---
G---5---
D---0---
C---0---
G---0---
D---0---
Jim:
B-------
G-------
E---8---
D---0---
G---0---
G---0---
(These may not be 100% accurate.)
A SECTION 00:04-00:39
Kim:
B----------------------
B----------------------
A---------------------- x 12 LAST TIME is just first 2 notes then into B
D----------------------
A---5--4---------------
D---------5-5-4--4-4---
Thurston comes in at 0:11 with a soft clean figure:
D---------------------
C---------------------
G----------7-7-------- staccato w/ palm mute
D---------------7-----
G---6\7-7------------- x 7
C---------------------
Lee comes in at 0:15
G---------------------------------------
G---------------------------------------
D---12/11-------------------12/11------- repeat variation
C---------9~------------9----------9~~--
G--------------------11-----------------
D--------------12-12--------------------
Jim comes in at 0:11 playing a rhythm:
B-------------------------------------
G-------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------
D---12-12-12--11-11-9----------------- x 6
G---12-12-11---9--9-7--7--6-7-6-7-0---
G----0--0--0---0--0-0--6--------------
The final time, he changes the end:
B------------------------
G--------------------2---
E------------------------ lead into next section
D---12-12-12--11/-9------
G---12-12-11---9/-7--2---
G----0--0--0---0--0--2---
B SECTION 00:39-01:44
Kim plays this chord the whole time:
B---7---
B---7---
A---0---
D---0---
A---0---
D-------
Thurston strums a series of chords, roughly 16 times each:
D------------------------------------------------------21----------------
C-------------------------------11----------16---------21----------------
G---11----14----16----9----7----11----14----16----9----21----11----14----
D------------------------------------------------------------------------ hold the final chord
G---11----14----16----9----7----11----14----16----9----21----11----14----
C------------------------------------------------------------------------
He plays that last 14th fret chord roughly 64 times.
Lee:
G---7-7-7-7--7-7---9-9-9--9-9-11-11-11-11--- w/ warm tone, very light drive
G---7-7-7-7--7-7---9-9-9--9-9-11-11-11-11---
D---7-7-7-7--7-7---9-9-9--9-9-11-11-11-11--- x 4
C---6-6-6-6--6-6---7-7-7--7-7--9--9--9--9---
G-------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------
G------------------------------
G---11---9---------------------
D------------12---11---9-9----- x 2 once w/ distortion
C--------------------------9---
G------------------------------
D------------------------------
G---7-7-7-7--7-7---9-9-9--9-9-11-11-11-11---
G---7-7-7-7--7-7---9-9-9--9-9-11-11-11-11---
D---7-7-7-7--7-7---9-9-9--9-9-11-11-11-11--- x 3
C---6-6-6-6--6-6---7-7-7--7-7--9--9--9--9---
G-------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------
G--------------------------------------------------------
G---11---9-----------------------7---7---7---7---7-0-----
D------------12---11---9---------7---7---7---7-----------
C--------------------------9-----6-------------------6---
G--------------------------------------------------------
D--------------------------------------------------------
Jim:
B--------------------------------------------------------------
G---2--2--2--2\7--7-7-7-7--7/4--4-4--4\9--9-9-6---\11-11-11/---
E-------------------------------------------------------------- x 4
D--------------------------------------------------------------
G---2--2--2--2\7--7-7-7-7--7/4--4-4--4\9--9-9-6---\11-11-11/---
G---2--2--2--2\7--7-7-7-7--7/4--4-4--4\9--9-9-6---\11-11-11/---
Then at 1:16 just hang on the 11th fret, strumming away:
B--------
G---11---
E--------
D--------
G---11---
G---11---
A SECTION 01:44-02:17
Lee adds a different motif to his first one:
G---------------------------------------
G---------------------------------------
D---12/11-------------------12/11-------
C---------9~------------9----------9~~--
G--------------------11-----------------
D--------------12-12--------------------
At 2:00 he starts playing around the 9-11th frets. I won't tab it note for note but
it's mostly hammer-ons with the notes I've shown:
G----------------------------- ---------------------
G----------------------------- ---------------------
D--------------------9-------- end with: ---------------------
C-------9--9-------9---9------ ---11^9----11^9------
G---11-11-11--9^11-------11--- etc --------11------11---
D----------------------------- ---------------------
B SECTION 02:17-03:21
Lee:
G------------
G---12/11~~--
D------------
C------------
G------------
D------------
G---7-7-7-7--7-7---9-9-9--9-9-11-11-11-11---
G---7-7-7-7--7-7---9-9-9--9-9-11-11-11-11---
D---7-7-7-7--7-7---9-9-9--9-9-11-11-11-11--- x 4
C---6-6-6-6--6-6---7-7-7--7-7--9--9--9--9---
G-------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------
G---11---9-------------------------\11---9-----------------------
D------------12---11---9-9-7/5-7~~-----------12---11---9-9-------
C------------------------------6~~-------------------------9~~---
G----------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------
G---7-7-7-7--7-7---9-9-9--9-9-11-11-11-11---
G---7-7-7-7--7-7---9-9-9--9-9-11-11-11-11---
D---7-7-7-7--7-7---9-9-9--9-9-11-11-11-11--- x 6
C---6-6-6-6--6-6---7-7-7--7-7--9--9--9--9---
G-------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------
C SECTION 03:21-05:58
Kim sticks to one chord:
B-------
B-------
A---3---
D---0---
A---0---
D---0---
Thurston continues strumming this chord from the previous section:
D---14---
C--------
G---14---
D--------
G---14---
C--------
Then at 3:37 he switches to a quickly strummed bluesy thing:
D------------------------------
C------------------------------
G------------------------------
D------------------------------ etc
G---14-14-17--14-14-14-17-17---
C---14-14-14--14-14-14-14-14---
Around 4:17 he drops down an octave and stays there til the end of the song:
D-------
C-------
G-------
D-------
G---2---
C---2---
Lee:
w/ distortion
G--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G---5--3--2-----------\5--3--2---------------5~~--3~-2------------5~~~~--3~--2---------
D-----------3------------------3-----------------------3-----------------------3-------
C-------------2~~----------------2~~------\5-------------2~~---\5----------------2~~---
G--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------------------
G---2~~~w/ bar ---2~~~w/ bar ---5-3-2-----------------
D-------------------------------------3-2~~--2^3------
C------------------------------------------------2~~--
G-----------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------
G-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G---------------------------14~~-----------------12-14--12-14br-12~~~-----------------14^12-14~~--
D----------------17-14---17----------------12\14----------------------------------12--------------
C---12\16-14--14---------------------14\16------------------------------12^14~~-------------------
G-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G--------------------------
G-------14^12~~---17--14---
D---12--------------------- pause from 4:30 til 4:40
C--------------------------
G--------------------------
D--------------------------
clean
G------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G---5--3--2--------\5--3--2---------------5--3--2------------5-3---2-----------
D-----------3---------------3---------------------3------------------3---------
C-------------2~~-------------2~~-------------------2~~----------------2~~-----
G------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D------------------------------------------------------------------------------
w/ palm mute:
G-------------------------------------
G-------------------------------------
D---0-0-3-3-0-0-3-3-0-0-3-3-0-0-3-3--- x 4 slowing down slightly
C---2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2---
G-------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------
For the verrry last repeat (so actually 3 and 3/4 times) he switches back to:
G---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G---5--3--2--------\5--5-3--2---2~----------5-7~--5--3--2---2-2-3-2---------------------15~---
D-----------3-----------------3---------5-7-------------------------3--------------17---------
C-------------2~~-----------------------------------------------------2----2~~ drop w/ bar ---
G---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
w/ palm mute
G----------------------------------------------------------------------
G---5--3--2----------2------2------------------------------------------
D-----------3------3------3---3------------0-0-3-3-0-3---0-0-3-3-0-3--- repeat til fade
C-------------2--2------2-------2---2^0^2--2-2-2-2-2-2---2-2-2-2-2-2---
G----------------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim sticks to one chord for quite a while:
B--------
G---10---
E-------- you'll have to listen for the rhythm
D--------
G---10--- sounds like his tone has kind of a warm fuzz phase going on
G---10---
He drops out at 4:34, and comes back at 4:45 playing this figure:
B--------------------13-------------------
G---------12---12-14----14----------------
E---10\12--------------------------------- repeat variation x 7
D----0----------------------0-0-0-0-0-0---
G-----------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------
Then he moves it down:
B---------------6-----
G-------5---5-7---7---
E---3\5--------------- x 3
D---------------------
G---------------------
G---------------------
B---------13------
G---12-14----14--- play w/ picking variations roughly 8 times til fade
E-----------------
D-----------------
G-----------------
G-----------------
text + tab by Chris Lawrence
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