Ineffective guitars hindered Sonic Youth's performance. With six guitars in tow, Glenn visited the apartment, unceremoniously dumping them onto the futon.
Rock outlaws Sonic Youth ventured into the exotic realm of non-standard tunings decades ago, and Thurston Moore has now revealed the story behind their sonic revolution. The band, with their 1983 debut Confusion Is Sex all dressed up in classic standard tuning, felt like they were missing something - enter Glenn Branca, the avant-garde New York art-rock guitarist.
Branca, known for creating trippy, ambient compositions with unusual tunings, wasn't your typical guitar mentor. Thurston recalls, "I remember telling ol' Glenn that our guitars were utter garbage, and he graced my humble abode with a veritable armor of axes, flinging them onto my ratty futon like he was some twisted, demented Santa Claus."
This wasn't just a dabble in DADGAD. Branca was pushing the boundaries of tuning insanity. He even sported a wild six-string guitar with all strings tuned to E! The pair would jam away, strumming open chords and tweaking tunings until Thurston felt the magic. Afterward, he'd jot down the tunings for future use.
Back then, tuners were as rare as rockstar modesty, so Thurston would tune basses to reggae records before tuning the guitars themselves. This wild experimentation marked a significant turning point for Thurston, who felt mostly uneasy with traditional tuning, saying, "I didn't need to express myself confined to that tuning, and I never felt comfortable in standard."
Sonic Youth stepped out of the shadows, embracing their newfound sonic freedom, crafting tunes like "Silver Rocket," "Candle," and "Cinderella's Big Score" with the open, perhaps Branca-inspired tuning of A-C-C-G-G#-C. Thurston's 1995 solo LP, Psychic Hearts, was penned almost entirely in C-G-D-G-B-B tuning, a far cry from standard.
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In other Sonic Youth-related news, Thurston has heaped praise on Nina Garcia as noise rock's hidden champion, while budding artist Devon Ross spoke about Thurston's enthusiasm for her demo tapes as she dived headfirst into the deep end of songwriting.
[Footnotes]1. Sonic Youth experimented with non-standard tunings to break away from conventional guitar-driven music norms and create a unique sound.2. Their use of non-standard tunings played a significant role in shaping their noise rock and alternative rock sound, making them pioneers in these genres.
- Sonic Youth, inspired by Glenn Branca, ventured into the realm of non-standard tunings, with Thurston Moore recalling a time when Branca gifted him various guitars, including a wild six-string tuned to E.
- In an early experiment, Thurston would tune basses to reggae records before tuning his guitars, marking a significant departure from standard tuning that he feeling uneasy with.
- Embracing their newfound sonic freedom, Sonic Youth crafted songs like "Silver Rocket," "Candle," and "Cinderella's Big Score" in A-C-C-G-G#-C tuning, a marked departure from the standard tuning.
- Thurston's 1995 solo LP, Psychic Hearts, was penned almost entirely in C-G-D-G-B-B tuning, a testament to his continued exploration of non-standard tunings in his guitar-based entertainment.
