Brothers on A hotel Bed : Chords

today's post is gonna be more of a howto sort of thing, i get a lot (a loooooooot) of comments on my youtube videos asking for tablature or chords to the songs that i cover. i decided that since so many people seem to be interested in how to play these songs i might as well put them up here in case other people are interested too! plus now i can direct people here instead of typing it out every time.

oh yeah, here's the video of my playing it so you can have some context :)




i play it in the key of e, and the chords are a kind of C#minor 2nd, B suspended, A2nd.

C#minor 2nd = 4th fret A string, 2nd fret D string, 4th fret G string, and the B and E strings open.

Bsus = 2nd fret A string, 4th fret D string, 4th fret G string, and the last two strings open

A2nd = open A string, 2nd fret D string, and 4th fret G string, with B and E left open.

on all these chords I don't play the low E string.

so the intro is 4 beats on the A2, 2 beats on the C#minor2, and 2 beats on the Bsus. i play that two or four times depending on how long it takes me to remember the words, haha.


A2_____________C#m2______Bsus___________A2
you may tire of me, as our december sun is setting
_________________________Bsus___A2
cuz i'm not who i used to be
A2__________________C#m2____________Bsus__________A2
no longer easy on the eyes, these wrinkles masterfully disguise
A2____________Bsus
the youthful boy below
A2_____________________C#m2_________Bsus___________A2
who turned your way and saw, something he was not looking for
_________________________Bsus__A2
both a beginning and an end
A2_________________C#m2_______Bsus________A2
but now he lives inside, someone he does not recognize
__________________________Bsus_____A2
when he catches his reflection on...accident.

A2 x 4
Bsus x 2
C#m2 x 2


A2 x 4
Bsus x 2
C#m2 x 2

A2___________________C#m2_________Bsus__________A2
on the back of a motor bike, arms outstretched trying to take flight
A2___________________Bsus_____A2
leaving everything behind
A2___________________C#m2__________Bsus_____________A2
but even at our swiftest speed, we couldn't break from the concrete
A2______________________Bsus
in the city where we still reside
A2_____________C#m2______Bsus___________A2
and i have learned, that even landlocked lovers yearn
A2____________________Bsus______A2
for the sea like navy men
A2_________________C#m2_______Bsus_________A2
'cuz now we say goodnight, from our own separate sides
A2_________________C#m2___Bsus___A2
like brothers on a hotel bed
A2_________________C#m2___Bsus___A2
like brothers on a hotel bed
A2_________________C#m2___Bsus___A2
like brothers on a hotel bed
A2_________________C#m2___Bsus
like brothers on a hotel bed
A2
you may tire of me, as our december sun is setting
A2
cuz i'm not who i used to be

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

ok. i know this is supposed to mostly be about how to make it as an independent musician, but i also want to dedicate a portion of the content on this site to discussing music. mostly music that i like, but also new music from up and coming artists, and maybe some stuff from locals to the central coast too. if you think of anything you'd like me to mention, just e-mail me at deadplant155@gmail.com.

onto the article.



there's a great article in volume 23 of american songwriter magazine about the new death cab for cutie album and if you don't mind picking up a copy i'd highly recommend it. if you'd rather not, the full article is actually available online here the album is called "narrow stairs" and frontman ben gibbard calls it his "favorite album that we've ever done." gibbard and guitarist/producer chris walla talk at length in the article about how the process was a much more organic one this time around than on their previous release, plans. "it just feels like an album made by a band, instead of a recording made bit by bit while the other guys are out of the room playing ... that just doesn't feel like a band experience." gibbard said.

narrow stairs is referred to as both a departure for the band and a return to form. gibbard and walla agree that it is darker than previous installments in the dcfc catalogue, but gibbard also says that his writing process on plans was heavily influenced by his decision to write the majority of the songs on piano. "i wasn't feeling very inspired by my guitar. for some reason, i would pick up the guitar and immediately put it down, as if it were broken. i think that album had a lot of piano, because it was the first time i ever actually owned a piano...so most of those songs were written on piano, keyboard, or in some kind of protools capacity." ben says that he made a conscious effort to make sure all of the new songs could be played on an acoustic guitar and that he "was making sure all of the songs had choruses and taking more of a traditional approach to songwriting."

the computer played an integral role in creating the band's last release, with very little of the final performance created live by a full band. though they returned to analog recording (rather than digital) and toned down the use of pre-recorded loops in the songwriting, protools and the like are still useful tools when it comes to experimenting with the arrangement. gibbard says the unlimited options afforded by a computer can be both freeing and overwhelming at the same time.

one of the sections in the interview i found most interesting was towards the end of the article when american songwriter asked ben about his songwriting process in general. he says that he didn't really feel his lyrical abilities come into their own until the band's second album, "we have the facts and we're voting yes" when he wrote the song called "company calls epilogue". "i had concocted this narrative of going to the wedding of someone that you used to be in love with...and i was very proud of the descriptive nature of the song." gibbard also says, "i want to write songs with complete sentences, i almost have this obsession with shortchanging words. i would never be so pretentious to say that my lyrics are poetry. that's the most annoying thing ever and one of my biggest pet peeves as a songwriter...poems are poems. song lyrics are for songs."

hearing about professional musicians and their struggles finding their voice or coming into their own lyrically is really encouraging to me, that maybe if i keep trying and keep writing i'll be able to find something similar. i hope you found that interesting, and i hope it got you as excited for 'narrow stairs' as i am!

thanks for reading,

-loren