One of my favorite parts of doing this website is getting to hear from fans who are as excited as I am about some particular aspect of the band's history. This week's song was partially inspired by a reader named Jean-Nicolas Raymond, who provided me with some incredible pictures from the Washing Machine recording sessions, which I'd never seen before. It led us to the topic of "Little Trouble Girl", one of the very few Sonic Youth songs where the tunings have been unable to be confirmed. Lee's tuning is particularly in question, and we were wondering if somehow there was a clue buried in these photographs. As it turns out, we have a somewhat plausible theory...
But I'll save that! Let's dig into the song first. It was the inexplicable second single from Washing Machine, the band's spooky take on a 60s girl group theme, with Kim singing lead, augmented by guest vocalists Kim Deal, Lorette Velvette, and Melissa Dunn. This was the first (and only?) Sonic Youth song to feature outside singers so prominently (and Breeders mastermind Kim Deal's voice is the most prominent). Both Kims appeared in the video, which follows the adventures of an alien child in an empty office, partially modelled after Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville. It might be sacrilegious to say, as a big fan of both Gordon and Deal, but I think I actually prefer the instrumental mix that was released on the b-side to some versions of the single (the other reproduced "My Arena" and a savagely short edit of "The Diamond Sea"). The bulk of the melody exists in Thurston's guitar line, and the open verse stands on its own without Kim's admittedly haunting spoken word, where she portrays the titular character addressing an overbearing mother. The instrumental loses the piano, though, which is a shame. (It also begins in pitch, while the album version starts out high then audibly slows down to the correct speed.)
Alright, can you tell I'm excited to just get to these pictures and talk about the implications? Mostly, they're just cool to see. In-studio photos are pretty rare. Some have surfaced from either Daydream or Goo, and there's a nice session that led to the back cover of Jet Set (and of course, Echo Canyon was an open book). These shots from Easley Studio in Memphis, Tennessee (still the only time the band made an album outside of NYC) demonstrate the environment in which Washing Machine was recorded in April 1995. I don't know who the photographer was, but I thank them immensely and also credit Easley with sharing the photos (and Jean-Nicolas for finding them!). I always love looking at their guitar racks, but this isn't the Gear Guide so I will direct your focus to two pictures in particular:
Now, we're just spitballing here. Going back to the "Quest for the Cup"/"Bone" article, we can never guarantee that the band is playing a specific song in a photo where they happen to be holding instruments in the studio. They could be warming up, improvising, whatever. However, a lot can be assumed from the first photo. Lee has pulled out four guitars: a Tele Deluxe, Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, Travis Bean Artist, and Fender Jaguar with the awesome leopard print. This makes a lot of sense when you break down his tunings for Washing Machine:
So, you can see that two of these guitars are used heavily, one is key for "The Diamond Sea", and then there's the outliers: "Junkie's Promise" and "Little Trouble Girl". On "Junkie's Promise", Lee used a deviously weird tuning on a guitar that needed to be restrung with gauges and octaves out of order. I think he originally used the Hopf Telstar guitar for this song (it has extensive notes on the headstock about the tuning), but he's later seen using a Tele towards the end of the song's life cycle. The Hopf can be spotted in the guitar racks, just not pulled out yet, so Jean-Nicolas and I really keyed in on that leopard Jaguar. From 1992 til 1996-ish, this guitar was tuned to DDDDAA and used exclusively for "Schizophrenia" (and perhaps the odd "Catholic Block"). So what is it doing with the other Washing Machine guitars?
Well, let's turn to the next photo. Kim is playing bass, which radically limits the amount of songs they could be playing (assuming - again, with hesitation - that they're playing a Washing Machine track). Only "Panty Lies" "Skip Tracer" and "The Diamond Sea" feature Kim on bass...oh, and "Little Trouble Girl". I used to debate whether she was playing guitar or bass, but I'm now confident it's bass. Thurston is using the red Jazzmaster seen resting on the amp in the previous pic, which was his EGDGED guitar during this era. The only song known to be in this tuning is "The Diamond Sea", but it has always been the assumption for "Little Trouble Girl" based on some harmonics. But could they just be playing "The Diamond Sea"? Kim's fret position doesn't really match that song, in fact she looks like she's locked in on a G note (the main note for "Little Trouble Girl"...).
So, that leaves Lee. Unfortunately with his back to us we can't be 100% sure, but it's not the Travis Bean or Les Paul. If it's the Telecaster, then it's probably "The Diamond Sea", game over. For the sake of this article, let's proceed with the assumption that they're not merely playing their future hit single. Let's suppose he is playing that leopard Jaguar, and they're not just jamming, but actually playing "Little Trouble Girl" (future..single). I would be stunned to discover that the one picture of the band playing in the studio was taken during the one instrumentally controversial song, but stranger things have happened. (Also, dig the piano presumably used on the album version of the track!)
Having said that, I'm not suggesting that the song was in DDDDAA. I do think it was rooted in D (you can hear a low D note during Lee's intro), and I think Larsen, who originally tabbed the song back in 1998, was pretty damn close when he came up with DGDEGG to transcribe Lee's part. There aren't too many clues, but I thought I heard some 12th fret harmonics that led me to settle on DGCDGG. Which, I realized after the fact, was the tuning Lee used on "Kim's Chords", that I'd previously assumed was a modification of the DFCDFF tuning prevalent on NYC Ghosts. When I locked into DGCDGG, the chord shapes felt very natural and his part just fell together.
So, even if I can't confirm that the picture is taken during a performance of "Little Trouble Girl", I think I've pinned down his tuning. I'm comfortable sticking with EGDGED for Thurston, though I'd be happier if there was a big loud low E somewhere in the song.
I still maintain it was a bizarre single, and they never did play the song live (unless it was one of the few instrumentals dropped at a secret gig they staged in Memphis). It's one of the rare Sonic Youth songs where we also have an instrumental mix available, and I encourage you to seek it out if you've never heard it, particularly if "Little Trouble Girl" is not one of your favorites. Curiously, it seemed to almost not make the album, present with "My Arena" on a card labelled "Also" on the back cover, separate from the tentative running order (under its original title "Trouble Girl", which also ended up on some early promo discs). The video is available on Corporate Ghost, with commentary by the band and director Mark Romanek.
Larsen was the first to tackle this song back in 1998 - I knocked out a bass tab a few years back, replacing my old misguided guitar tab - and I'm really happy to be revisiting it and possibly decoding Lee's tuning for real. I can't thank Jean-Nicolas Raymond enough for the inspiration and back and forth on this topic and many others. I don't get too many e-mails from people who really dig into what I write about (which is fine, I enjoy a lot of other content on the internet and almost never reach out to say so), so when they lead to revelations like this it's always very exciting, even if I'd still put a big tentative asterisk on these findings. And if that's not enough - Jean-Nicolas is the guy who found Thurston's stolen white Jazzmaster on eBay back in 2012, responsible for the only one of Thurston's guitars being returned to the band. Now THAT is cool!!! I hope you enjoyed this article, please write with any comments, and stay tuned for more...
"LITTLE TROUBLE GIRL"
LAYOUT
INTRO - A - B - C - A - D
KIM
bass
CENTER
THURSTON
EGDGED
CENTER
LEE
DGCDGG
LEFT/RIGHT
INTRO 00:00-00:19
This is free time before the song begins. You can hear Lee arpeggiating a chord shape:
G--------------7------------------7---7-----
G------------9------------------9-----9----- repeat variation
D----------8-------8----------8-------8-----
C--------7------------------7---------------
G----0------------------0-------------------
D------0------------------0-----------------
A SECTION 00:19-00:56
Thurston:
D-------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------
G---7--9------------7--9-----7-7----7--9----------------------7-7---
D---------9--7-7----------9---------------9--7-7---9-7-5-7-9--------
G-------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------
D---------------------------------------------------------------
E---------------------------------------------------------------
G---7--9------------7--9-----7-7----7--9------------------------
D---------9--7-7----------9---------------9--7-7---9-7-5--------
G-----------------------------------------------------------0--- (drone G string)
E---------------------------------------------------------------
Lee's part seems to be played through some kind of stereo phase effect,
most likely the Mu-Tron Bi-Phase he was obsessed with at this time. It
creates that warbly sound heard through the entire song.
He comes in at 0:28 with some open strings and loose notes, then begins a figure:
G----------------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------12---
D--------------------10-------------12---------
C------------------9-------------12----12------
G---0------------------------------------------
D-----------0----------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------------12~--
G------------11-------------------11----------------------12-----------12~--
D-------10------10---10------10------10---10--------12-------12----12--12~-- x 2
C-----9----9-------9-------9----9-------9--------12----12-------12-----12~--
G---------------------------------------------0-----------------------------
D---0--------------------0--------------------------------------------------
The second time he plays that figure, it continues into the next section.
Kim:
G---7-9-------------7-9-------------7-9-------------7-9--\12-----------
D--------9--7-7----------9-\12-12--------9--7-7---------------12-12----
A----------------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------------
G---7-9-------------7-9-------------7-9-------------7-9----
D--------9--7-7----------9-\12-12--------9--7-7------------
A----------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------
B SECTION 00:56-02:38
Thurston drones the low G string until 1:17, when he starts this motif:
D------------*7*-----x------------
E--------------------x----x-x-x--- he picks the harmonics, then strums behind the bridge
G---------*7*--------x----x-x-x---
D------*7*----------------x-x-x---
G---*7*--------------------------- repeat for a minute or so
E---------------------------------
At 2:18 he plays:
D---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G---14--12-12--14--\16--12-12------------------14--12-12--14--16--19-16-----------------
D------------------------------14--12-12---------------------------------14--16--12-----
G---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lee comes back in at 1:08
G---------------------------------------------------
G-----------------------7----------7------------7---
D---------8-----------8-----------7------------8----
C-----7-9-----------9------------7------------9-----
G---0-------------0-------------0------------0------
D---------------------------------------------------
** **
I think he overdubs 7th fret harmonic strums over the ** chords.
At 1:28 he begins a basic arpeggiation:
G----------------------------------------------------------------------
G-----------7---------------7---------------7----------------7---------
D-------7-----7---7-----7-----7---7-----8-----8---8------8-----8---8---
C-----7---7-----7-----7---7-----7-----9---9-----9------9---9-----9-----
G---0---------------0---------------0----------------0-----------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------------
He repeats this for a bit, sometimes adding whammy bar flourishes or
changing the picking slightly.
At 2:09 he starts playing the shapes as chords (listen for the rhythm)
G------------
G------------
D---7----8--- x 2
C---7----9---
G---0----0---
D------------
At 2:29 it almost sounds like he switches to:
G--------------
G--------------
D---10-----8---
C----9-----9---
G----0-----0---
D--------------
Kim:
G----------------------- etc etc
D---5---5-5---5---5-5---
A-----------------------
E-----------------------
C SECTION 02:38-02:47
Thurston softly picks this chord:
D--------
E--------
G--------
D---12---
G----0---
E--------
Lee:
G--------
G--------
E--------
D--------
G---5----
D---5----
Kim:
G----------------------- etc etc
D---5---5-5---5---5-5---
A-----------------------
E-----------------------
A SECTION 02:47-03:38
Thurston:
D-----------------------------------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------------
G---7--9------------7--9-----7-7----7--9-----------7--9-----7-7---
D---------9--7-7----------9---------------9--7-7---------9--------
G-----------------------------------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------
G---7--9-----------------------7-7----7--9-----------7--9-----7-7---
D---------9--7-7----9-7-5\7-9---------------9--7-7---------9--------
G-------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------
E-----------------------
G---7--9------------7--- softly strum chord
D---------9--/7-----7---
G-------------------0---
E-----------------------
Lee comes back in at 2:58 playing the same motif:
G----------------------------------------------------------------------*12*~--
G------------11-------------------11----------------------12-----------*12*~--
D-------10------10---10------10------10---10--------12-------12----12--*12*~-- x 2
C-----9----9-------9-------9----9-------9--------12----12-------12-----*12*~--
G---------------------------------------------0-------------------------------
D---0--------------------0----------------------------------------------------
Then he starts strumming the shapes instead. Listen for how long to hold each chord:
G---------12---
G---11----12---
D---10----12--- x 2
C----9----12---
G--------------
D--------------
Kim:
G---7-9------------7-9--------------7-9-------------7-9-------------
D--------9--7-7---------9-\12-12---------9--7-7----------9-\12-12---
A-------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------
G---7-9------------7-9--\12----------7-9-------------7-9----------------------
D--------9--7-7-------------12-12---------9--7-7----------5---5-5---5---5-5--- stay on G
A-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
D SECTION 03:38-04:29
Thurston:
D---12----12/-----
E---12--------7---
G--(12)------(7)-- notes on G string optional
D-----------------
G-----------------
E-----------------
At 3:58 begin this figure til end:
D---------------------
E---------------------
G-------7-------7-----
D-----7---7---7---7---
G---0-------0---------
E---------------------
Lee plays his final melody line with heavy delay:
G--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-----------------12-11-------------12---------------12-11-------------12---------------12---
C---9-10-11-------------12-11-10----------9-10-11----------12-11-10----------9-10-11---------
G--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------------------------
D---12-11-------------12------------------------------------
C---------12-11-10----------9-10-11------9-10-11-----11-----
G-----------------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------
Kim:
G-------------------------------------------
D---5---5-5---5---5-5---5---5-5---5---5-5--- etc til end
A-------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------
text + tab by Chris Lawrence
w/ historical thanx to Larsen '98
Return to the Sonic Youth Guitar/Bass Tab Archive