LAST UPDATED: JUNE 16 2007 -- 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. Please send your comments! [Scroll down the right-hand side for updates]

JUNE 04 2007 -- some great MURRAY STREET and DIRTY updates courtesy of tabmaster FDSwayze. Added 'Rain King' tuning (all other Daydream tunings were accurate!) w/ interesting note...

MAY 14 2007 -- ALL 'RATHER RIPPED' SONGS TABBED: GTR AND BASS! Thanks FDSwayze! Now Helen/Eyeliner too!

You all learned the 'Nurse' tunes courtesy of FDSwayze's phenomenal triple guitar maps for those tunes a couple of years ago, and he's done it again, this time providing guitar and bass tabs for all songs on 'RATHER RIPPED'. Enjoy these for now, there's more general site updates forthcoming....

TIL THEN...

SEND ME YOUR TABS!

UPDATE JUNE FOURTEEN [2002] -- 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

NEWS APRIL 13 -- 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!

...