12/08/12 -- added tabs for entire "BETWEEN THE TIMES AND THE TIDES" LP.
09/03/10 -- added complete tabs for "PSYCHIC HEARTS" LP + b-sides, "TREES OUTSIDE THE ACADEMY" minus 'NEVER DAY'/'TITLE TRACK' (plus 'MARIKA'!), the main guitar for 'LEE #2', Lee's solo piece 'HERE', and all guitar/bass parts for "THE ETERNAL".
06/21/09 -- added thurston's parts for: 'SACRED TRICKSTER' 'ANTI-ORGASM' 'LEAKY LIFEBOAT' 'ANTENNA' 'WHAT WE KNOW' 'CALMING THE SNAKE' 'POISON ARROW' 'MALIBU GAS STATION' 'THUNDERCLAP' & 'NO WAY'. added lee's parts for: 'SACRED TRICKSTER' 'LEAKY LIFEBOAT' 'ANTENNA' 'WHAT WE KNOW' 'CALMING THE SNAKE' & 'MALIBU GAS STATION'. for thurston's new tuning, D's are low like lee's DDA, and A's are an octave apart. just remember: any part that's mostly chords, i just write the chord once and you should be able to listen and tell when they change. feel free to write if you need any clarification! (oh, lee is in the left speaker and thurston is in the right, for the entire album)
06/16/07 -- added 'DIRTY BOOTS' 'TUNIC' 'MY FRIEND GOO' 'MILDRED PIERCE' 'SWIMSUIT ISSUE' 'THERESA's SOUNDWORLD' 'YOUTH AGAINST FASCISM' 'SYMPATHY FOR THE STRAWBERRY' courtesy of FDSwayze. Full guitar & bass! -- FDSwayze continues to provide us all with stellar full guitar/bass (and, in one instance, organ!) maps for some of SY's most complicated compositions. Today's offerings, some classics from GOO & DIRTY, and MURRAY STREET's epic 'SYMPATHY FOR THE STRAWBERRY'. In some cases, it's the first time these tabs have been updated in 9 or 10 years! Hopefully these intricate tablature maps provide a satisfying 'final word' on many of these songs.
06/04/07 -- added 'RADICAL ADULTS' 'DISCONNECTION NOTICE' 'PLASTIC SUN' 'SUGAR KANE' 'GENETIC' 'ON THE STRIP' 'NIC FIT' 'CHAPEL HILL' 'PURR' & 'ORANGE ROLLS, ANGEL'S SPIT' FULL GUITAR AND BASS TABS! THANKS FDSwayze! I was also able to confirm all of the Daydream Nation tunings thru the band now that they've had to relearn all the songs (all but 'Rain King' were accurate, check the notes for that one!)
05/14/07 -- added 'helen lundeberg' and 'eyeliner'. updated 'rats'.
05/02/07 -- all of 'rather ripped' gtr/bass added! thanks FDSwayze!
october 06 -- most of 'rather ripped' is up. updated the tunings txt file [should probably overhaul the whole structure of that document though..] .. ..stay (de)tuned...
07/10/06 -- added template for 'rather ripped' tabs (so far only 'incinerate' + 'pink steam' available, keep em coming, folks!), fixed up nurse section, fine-tuned the tuning section, etc...
2004 -- most of nurse tabbed, still missing 'mariah' + 'paper cup' + bass...
01/02/03 -- small update, but people have been asking for it: lee's part for "no queen blues" in full.
9/5/02 -- fixed all murray st tunings.
6/19/02 -- added some murray st tabs // sorry no "rain.on.tin" yet but soon soon... no strawberry/godhead or "bass" yet either.
6/14/02 -- this is significant enough not to go in the right column where the usual updates are.... i recently got ahold of a special sonic document w some detailed tuning/gtr info fer 92-99 or so...... the gtr info is now incorporated into the gear guide and the new tuning info is HERE:
Turns out Kim plays guitar, not bass, on "Wish Fulfillment" in addition to "Swimsuit" "Strip" & "Creme". And her tuning is now confirmed: D E G D B B
This is a variation on a later Kim tuning: B E G D B B -- look familiar? Well, it's the "Kitten" tuning only now it's RIGHT -- the BEDDBB tuning printed in Guitar Player July '94 was incorrect. And, to add insult to injury, it turns out this is the tuning Kim used on "Washing Machine", not CGGDDD as later thought (those who've followed this site since it's creation might recall that all of Kim's songs on Washing Machine used to be tabbed in BEDDBB).
Though I was determined I'd nailed it in GABDEG, it's now confirmed that the "Silver Rocket" tunings are used for "On The Strip". Still think there's a G in the intro...
Turns out Lee's AF#EF#EB tuning so prominent on "Washing Machine" actually dates back to "Shoot", and is also used on "My Arena". It was his preferred tuning for "100%" in 1995, but he still had a guitar for F#F#F#F#EB, used on "Bone" and "Waist".
Big news on the "Junkie's Promise" front: turns out I had Lee's tuning backwards (it is, from low to high, DAADDA), Kim's tuning is revealed above, and Thurston's tuning actually is DADABB like I'd suspected (he used to play the Eterna guitar on this song, which Kim now uses in the same tuning on most of Murray Street and several NYCG&F trax).
Though Thurston used a 5-string Jazzmaster in a non-specific tuning on "Burning Spear" and "I Love Her All The Time" in 1992, Lee retained the latter song's original tuning for his part (the tuning for "I Love Her..." listed in the Bad Moon liners is D#D#C#C#GG, but he may have used D#C#G# on the Dirty tour). The D#C#G# tuning was also used for "Nic Fit", at least live. Thurston uses GGDDEbEb for Nic Fit.
Lee supposedly uses GGDDGG instead of GGDDEbEb for "Orange Rolls" and "Total Trash".
Thurston uses GGDDEbEb on "Androgynous Mind" (btw, despite having always appeared in guitar magazines as GDEb, Sonic Youth refer to the tuning as GGDDD#D#... but this is my site!).
Drifter tuning for Thurston's part on Eric's Trip is confirmed: B B x x F# F# (no strings in middle).
Lee's tuning for "French Tickler" is confirmed: C C G D G D
...and nope, no Murray Street tabs yet! =P
04/13/02 -- the entire sonic youth "original folk blues" hyperstation is now being hosted @ SY's official corner of the web: sonicyouth.com // this is rockin' great news and i thank everybody involved in making this move possible! of course, it doesn't make any of the tabs contained on this site "official"... but hopefully the content is up to par, and if you've been checking often you'll see that the page has been its busiest in 4 years! keep on rockin' everybody //// below is the original introduction written when i launched this version of the site 3 months back:
Well, it's been a long time coming, and it's finally happened: this page has relocated. After nearly 5 years at http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Stage/1993/tabs.html, this site can now be found here, alongside the Concert Chronology, Song Database, and Illustrated Equipment Guide, 3 other Sonic Youth resources. As you can see, the page has a completely new look and layout -- I hope the site is easier to navigate now (for instance, you can use the links in the left frame to skip over my thoroughly informative rant below!).
I'd like to briefly discuss the history of this site. I first put it online in May 1997, using tabs found at evol.org as a foundation (the same ones that got me into alternate tunings + figuring out sonic youth songs when i first got online the previous summer), as well as a slew of new tabs I'd worked out. evol.org was not getting updated very often and I knew there were many people out there, generally teenage dudes from all across the world who had the time to bang around with detuned guitars and decipher the atonal riffage of years past. Honestly, I've never been as good at it as some of the largest contributors to this site, and I thank everybody who's ever helped me out. Sadly, updates to this page began to cease in late 1998 -- I'm not really sure why, but submissions just stopped coming in, and I lost interest in it (though updating sporadically and still maintaining the Concert Chronology). I began working on a new layout for the page in late 1999, and in the next 2 years I'd occasionally direct my efforts towards the site again, working out most of the missing bass tabs and updating some of the guitar tabs as well, but honestly I focused more on the new layout, format, tuning guide, etc. Preparing this launch in early 2002, I went back and sifted thru every tab on this page to see if there were things I needed to weed out -- and truth be told, nearly every tab pinched from evol.org was disposable. Which is good, in a way, though I must admit I miss seeing those old, familiar yet flawed tabs on this site.
Which brings me to my plea -- I know there must still be musicians out there, teenage dudes or not, who are bored w/ standard tuning and are interested in figuring out Sonic Youth's music. It's a great way to challenge your musical ear, if anything. It's probably partly my fault for updating so rarely in the past few years, but I'd really like to see people submitting SY tabs again. So I've made a task list, running down the right next to the existing tabs -- this is a list of songs that need to be submitted, fixed, updated, whatever. Pick one and make sure you have the correct tuning from the tuning page and give it a try... or maybe it'll be another 3 years 'til the next update!
...
4/10/02 -- bunch of updates:
shaking hell
PCH
marilyn moore
cross the breeze
eliminator jr
my friend goo
swimsuit issue
on the strip
becuz
junkies promise
washing machine
no queen blues
panty lies
skip tracer
sunday
female mechanic
hoarfrost
french tickler
karen koltrane
snare, girl
heather angel
free city rhymes
renegade princess
nevermind
small flowers crack concrete
streamxsonik subway
nyc ghosts & flowers
TUNING GUIDE UPDATED!
3/30/02 -- filling some holes, added:
she's in a bad mood
protect me you
ghost bitch
i'm insane
satan is boring
3/29/02 -- NOTE ON TABS FOR NEW LP: in past years i've had tabs online for A THOUSAND LEAVES and NYC GHOSTS & FLOWERS long before the records were released, and w/ a new album just around the corner and live versions of all the songs readily available, you may be expecting to see the new tabs now... well, don't. while i know the tunings, and actually have worked out skeletal versions of some songs, until the album is released i won't put them on this site. there's no major reason for this, i'm just extremely excited about the new material and rather than sour myself on it w/ over-analyzation i prefer to just dig it as it is, for a while. hope this makes sense! but of course, if you've done any that you'd like to submit, feel free to send them to me!
3/11/02 -- launched a new site, the sonic gear guide -- check it out!
3/8/02 -- fixed up a bunch of old tabs, added some brand new ones:
brave men run
society is a hole
death valley 69
halloween
shadow of a doubt
starpower
death to our friends
catholic block
pipeline
mary christ
kool thing
mildred pierce
100%
shoot
waist
screaming skull
bone
tokyo eye
kill yr idols
brother james
early american
flower
green light
bull in the heather
starfield road
self-obsessed and sexxee
bourgeois reader
no queen blues
orange rolls, angels spit
skink
sweet shine
chapel hill
stalker
destroyed room
the diamond sea
1/7/02
-- launch new site @ new location.
HOW YOU CAN HELP!
Here's a list of guitar tabs that are either non-existant, incomplete, incorrect, or just need improvement. Feel free to submit your additions, corrections or any comments on existing files.
TO BE HONEST, MOST OF THIS SHIT IS WICKEDLY WAY OUTTA DATE. WILL SMOOTH IT OUT DOWN THE LINE...
Please consult the Tuning Tutorial for the proper known tunings before tabbing something.
EVOL
- Shadow of a Doubt (Lee's part)
- In the Kingdom #19 (all)
- Green Light (Lee's part)
SISTER
- Beauty Lies in the Eye (figure out tuning!)
- Master-Dik (whatever)
DAYDREAM NATION
- Eric's Trip (Drifter part)
- Hey Joni (in proper tunings)
- Rain King (figure out tunings!)
- Kissability (in proper tuning)
- The Wonder (Lee's part)
- Hyperstation (Lee's part)
GOO
- My Friend Goo (Lee)
- Disappearer (figure out Lee's tuning, separate parts)
- Titanium Expose (fix up)
DIRTY
- Swimsuit Issue (fix T/L)
- Nic Fit (redo in ??)
- On the Strip (figure out tuning!)
- JC (redo all in proper tunings)
EXPERIMENTAL JET SET
- Skink (fix up Thurston)
- Quest for the Cup (figure out everyone's tuning)
- Waist (fix Lee's tuning)
- Sweet Shine (clean up Thurston)
WASHING MACHINE
- Junkie's Promise (Lee)
- Saucer-Like (clean up parts)
- No Queen Blues (Lee's part)
A THOUSAND LEAVES
- Wildflower (touch up?)
- Hits of Sunshine (jam)
- Snare, Girl (Lee's part)
SYR/NON-LP/ETC
- Tremens (all)
- Herinneringen (clean up, all)
- Most of MADE IN USA LP (please!)
- Ciccone whatever...
- Plastic Sun (all)
- Touch Me I'm Sick (all)
- That's All I Know Right Now (all)
- Tamra (?!?)
- Moist Vagina
- Burning Farm
- Electricity
- I Know There's An Answer
- Simpsons Theme
- Blink
- Hallowed Be Thy Name
- Come And Smash Me...
- Magic Wand
- Rowche Rumble
- Psycho Mafia
- Victoria
- Corporate Ghost
- Ruben's Beard
- Major Label Chicken Feed
- Clippers
- Blues Blur
- + any missing bass
all content © this site
'97 - '12 ++ 15 YEARS OF DASHES AND DIGITS!
if you're into this sorta thing, dig my butthole surfers gtr/bass tab site!
do you enjoy letters but find numbers distracting? my PAVEMENT/MALKMUS TUNING GUIDE may intrigue you, a complete ACCURATE list of tunings for all pavement tunes, with not a tab to be found!
all tabs featured on this site are the unofficial work of individual interpreters and some are guaranteed to suck worse than others -- thrash at yr own risk!
