MARILYN MOORE by Sonic Youth Tab by Chris Lawrence (silvercircle@shaw.ca) TUNINGS ------- Thurston: C C D# D# (see notes) Lee: CCD#GGD Thurston uses the Drifter, a 6-string guitar that had all of its frets removed and was strung with 4 bass strings. They are basically where the low EA and high BE strings of the guitar would go, and are tuned with the low Cs in unison (same as the 3rd fret of a regular A string). The D# strings are tuned an octave apart - one matches the 3rd fret of the C string, one is an octave below that. LAYOUT: A - B - C - D - E A SECTION 00:00-00:19 Thurston does not play during the intro. Lee arpeggiates his open strings over and over: D-------------0--- G-----------0----- G---------0------- D#------0--------- C-----0----------- C---0------------- The "Scream tape" from June 1983 is also heard during the intro. It was previously released on a Tellus compilation and often used on stage to segue between songs. B SECTION 00:19-01:28 Thurston trem picks the C strings while running harmonics up and down: D#--------------- D#--------------- x---------------- x---------------- C---*5*////*1*--- C---*5*////*1*--- rapidly pick harmonics from 5th fret down to 1st fret Lee holds his guitar flat and uses a slide - he repeats the same motif over and over but is not always 100% precise with the timing/intonation. He shakes the slide over the fret while playing it for an vibrato type effect. D-------------------- G---12\\15///12~~~--- G---12\\15///12~~~--- w/ slide D#--12\\15///12~~~--- C---12\\15///12~~~--- C---12\\15///12~~~--- C SECTION 01:28-02:09 Thurston starts this section with the same harmonic picking, then quickly switches to droning the C strings. The guitars start to get stitched together in the mix, but if you listen to live versions he starts playing a four-note progression after the first half of this verse, and continues it through til the D section: D#--0---------7--------- the 3rd note is played only on the LOW D# string D#--0---------/--------- x---/----/----/----/---- x---/----/---------/---- C--------0---------7---- C--------0---------7---- Lee keeps playing a similar motif, but the mix on the album gets a little crossed at this point. During live versions, he'd go up to the 19th fret when Thurston sings "believing in fear": D-------------------- -----------/19~~~--- G---12\15~~~/12~~~--- ---12\15~~~/19~~~--- G---12\15~~~/12~~~--- ---12\15~~~/19~~~--- D#--12\15~~~/12~~~--- ---12\15~~~--------- C---12\15~~~/12~~~--- ---12\15~~~--------- C---12\15~~~/12~~~--- ---12\15~~~--------- He basically goes from the 12th/15th fret up to the 19th, and back down again. It's easier to follow on live versions. D SECTION 02:09-03:03 Thurston drones the higher D# for a bit: D#------ ------- ---------- D#--0--- ------- ---------- x---/--- ------- ---------- x------- ------- ---------- C------- at 2:25: ---0--- then: ---*12*--- trem picking all C------- ---0--- ---*12*--- Then start playing a similar sliding harmonic riff like the first verse: D#--------------- D#--------------- x---------------- x---------------- C---*5*////*1*--- C---*5*////*1*--- rapidly pick harmonics from 5th fret down to 1st fret You can also start from the 12th fret and go back to the 5th and up again. Lee does an aggressive slide up to 19th fret right at 2:09, then goes clean and starts running the slide back down the neck slowly while picking: 2:20 D---19~~-------------- G---19~~~\\\\\\17~~~-- G---19~~~\\\\\\17~~~-- move slide between 17 and 19 while picking D#--19~~~\\\\\\17~~~-- C--------------17~~~-- C--------------------- Then down around the 15th fret at 2:42 D-------- ------------- G---15--- ------------- G---15--- keep rubbing around there, -------14---- pick @ 14, down to 13-ish D#--15--- move to 14th fret around 2:50 ------------- C---15--- ---14-------- C---15--- ------------- Then settle at 12th fret for the next section. E SECTION 03:03-04:04 Thurston keeps doing the sliding harmonic motif at the start of this verse. At 3:15 he settles in on the 7th fret: D#-------- D#-------- x--------- x--------- C---*7*--- trem pick / some open C can bleed in C---*7*--- At 3:28 he plays a new harmonic pattern: D#--*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*------------------------------------------- D#--*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*------------------------------------------- x------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- x------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C-------------------------------------------*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*--- C-------------------------------------------*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*-*12*--- D#--*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*----------------------------------- D#--*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*----------------------------------- x--------------------------------------------------------------------- x--------------------------------------------------------------------- C-----------------------------------*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*--- C-----------------------------------*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*-*7*--- Play whole progression twice. Then at 3:44, he bashes out 5 open C notes: D#------ D#------ x------- x------- C---0--- or 12th fret harmonix C---0--- Lee starts picking out a shaky 2-note motif while rubbing the slide around the 12th fret, before going up to the 19th fret: 3:03 3:17 D----------------19~~------- G---12~~---------19~~------- G---12~~---------19~-------- for the 12th fret, Lee will go up or down slightly while picking D#--12~~-------------------- (13th or 11th fret) C--------------------------- C--------------------------- At 3:27 he ditches the slide and begins arpeggiating the open strings like the intro, and then strumming them a few times towards the very end. Last updated: 06/12/24 ------------------------------------------------ THE SONIC YOUTH GUITAR/BASS TABLATURE ARCHIVE: http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/tab/index.html ------------------------------------------------