Non standard tuning songs

DriftingByTheStorm · April 2013

rearviewross wrote:

DriftingByTheStorm wrote:

rearviewross wrote:

Early Van Halen was similar.

[it occurs to me that their may be some mis-speaking or miscommunication going on above, but to clarify]

Pretty sure early Van Halen is in the same camp as the entire GnR and AiC catalogue ... which is to say, Eb Tuning (down half a step on all 6 strings)

Also, pretty sure from the cursory read that i just did on Pantera tuning (have to confess they are a bit heavy for my taste, so i am not intimately familiar) that they are tuning a quarter step DOWN as well.

[snipet from first link at Ultimate Guitar for google search "pantera tuning" = "its a quarter step down from D tuning, pantera would always tune a quarter step down or so from whatever tuning they were playing in."]

But I can for sure tell you that early Van Halen plays in Eb tuning.
Dance The Night Away is one of my all time favorite songs to wanker guitar to,
and it is absolutely tuned down a half step across the board.

instead of EADGBE, it's Eb.Ab.Db.Gb.Bb.Eb. You could also regard this as D# tuning, but either way, you are tuning your strings (every one of them) DOWN a half step from their normal EADGBE tuning.

ps.
if you want an example of tuned UP a half step (or Capo on I if you're lazy) Buddy Holly's Cryin Waitin Hopin, or even more impressive (guitar solo rules) is the Marshall Crenshaw version from La Bamba. [of course in this live video, you NEVER get a cut of the fretboard, except during the solo, until LITERALLY the last chord of the song ... but you can tell from that even, because he is fretting a D chord in the normal 2nd fret "open" D chord position, and yet, unless your guitar was tuned up a half step, you would be flat from him a half step]

From an interview with EVH -

GP: How do you tune up before a show?

EVH: I tune all my guitars myself. We tune a quarter-step down, so it�s like right between E and Eb; this is for vocal reasons. I used to tune down to D, but Mike couldn�t get his bass tone. He�d get too much slap. When we go in the studio, man, I don�t strobe tune or anything. I just pick the guitar up and if it�s in tune, I say, �Mike, tune to me,� and we play. Why does it have to be the same? Who says it has to be tuned to E? Why the rules? Fuck the rules! I mean the main reason I get all the weird stuff I do on guitar is because I don�t do it by the rules.

Re Dimebag Darrell
http://www.guitarworld.com/guitar-stren ... ell-part-2

I know.
Read what you said:

rearviewross wrote:

SatansFuton wrote:

I believe Dime always turned his guitar slightly sharp on each string. D# plus 40 cents for example. Early Van Halen was similar.

It sounds like you are confused here.

What EVH is clearly describing (and what I have stated) is that he has all strings tuned DOWN a half step.
So that his EADGBE tuning is effectively EbAbDbGbBbEb

What you picked up on with Dimebag's tuning is that his E string is D# (or Eb, whatever you want to call it) but what you SAID was "I believe Dime always turned his guitar slightly sharp on each string." ... i'm letting you know that this is INCORRECT. He is slightly FLAT on each string.
The only reason you would call anything in the tuning "sharp" as opposed to "flat" would be if you were for some reason trying to knit-pick the SYMANTICS of the tuning, given that Eb IS D#. Either way the strings are tuned DOWN not UP.

I wasn't trying to be a dick, or start an argument. I was just going for a subtle point of clarity.

DriftingByTheStorm · April 2013

and i guess if we are knit-picking, we are both wrong. lol
cuz his dumb ass tunes a QUARTER of a step down, which is pretty much not even transcribeable.

Looks like they USED to drop all the way to D.
Which is news to me.
so EADGBE would have been way back when, DGCFAD ("D Standard Tuning", though to my mind there is nothing "standard" about that. lol)

rearviewross · April 2013

No tension here.

You are right. My original statement was not clear. I am so used to playing a half step down. What I meant was he tunes down a half step and then tunes up slightly, by 40 cents.

EVH clearly says he tunes a quarter step down not a half step. Now I don't know when that interview was given and you are right, he played a half step down I think on most things, but he did play in that quarter step tuning on some songs I believe. I think I have read Aint Talkin bout Love is tuned like this.

I don't play any Pantera or Van Halen and it sounds like you know more about theory, I know none, really. This is just information that I had heard in the past.

Berasapj · April 2013

A little guide to different tunings

http://www.howtotuneaguitar.org/tuning/ ... ing-chart/

Hope you find it interesting

rearviewross · April 2013

Berasapj wrote:

A little guide to different tunings

http://www.howtotuneaguitar.org/tuning/ ... ing-chart/

Hope you find it interesting

Cool. Thanks for sharing.

FrankieG · May 2013

This is a great list that I wish could be sticky-ed.

FrankieG · June 2013

Mostly all gaslight anthem songs are D-standard. (1 step down)

QUOTSA - No One Knows - C Standard (2 steps down)

simmers33 · February 2018

This list reminds me ... I need more guitars

webbo · February 2018

Great thread! Stones parts in Leash and Go are open D though, Mikes in dropped D for that tune. Cheers!

Tristelune · June 2018

All or none isn’t in Dropped C# but in standard tuning capo IV

Weirdest (but sounds awesome) is Seasons in Open F5 (FFCCCC) (last 2 C strings being 1 octave higher) lots of wrong tunings floating around for this one that sound ok but make it harder.