C Tuning
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
C tuning is a type of tuning for guitars. The C standard tunes the strings of the guitar to produce a low tone. This tuning is commonly used by metal and hard rock artists as it is 2 whole steps below standard tuning. This tuning can be written as either C-F-A#-D#-G-C or more often C-F-Bb-Eb-G-C. Despite being two whole steps lower than standard E-A-D-G-B-E tuning the intervals between the strings remain the same.
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[edit] Tuning to C
If a singer has a low vocal range C tuning allows the singer to sing in the tone set of the guitar, C tuning may be used if you want a heavier sound without sacrificing clarity to as large a degree as is common in other slack tunings and lastly C tuning may be used in order to make it easier for the musician to bend notes.
[edit] Transposing: How to play a song written in standard tuning in a lower tuning
- When in a tuning 1 whole step below E you should play each note two frets higher than written.
- When in a tuning 2 whole steps below E you should play each note four frets higher than written.
[edit] Use of C tuning
Generally, the tuning is used by heavy metal artists. Tony Iommi tuned his guitar 1 1/2 steps down to C# on most of the tracks featured upon the Black Sabbath album Master of Reality. While he did so primarily for physical reasons (Iommi's fretting fingers were damaged in an industrial accident in his youth), This is the sound coveted by many stoner metal bands. Several, notably Kyuss and Sleep, took it a further half a step down, to end up with the resulting C tuning, which they used almost exclusively. Josh Homme from the aforementioned Kyuss and also of Queens of the Stone Age said of the tuning "We just did it in the beginning because I didn't have a tuner...we got to like it and it never came back up. It just sounded a little heavier than tuning in E."[1] Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins also had a prototype Reverend guitar built for him that was specially designed to be tuned in C, which was used in the songs "The Everlasting Gaze" and "Heavy Metal Machine".[2]
[edit] List of Bands using C Tuning
- Metallica/St.Anger
- Akercocke
- Alvinella Pompejana
- Arch Enemy (band)
- Cathedral
- Cold
- Cradle of Filth
- Deftones
- Dethklok
- Disillusion
- Disturbed
- Dream Theater (In particular, the song "As I am")
- Dying Fetus
- Entombed (band) (As heard on their album Wolverine Blues)
- In Flames
- Jimi Hendrix (Used on "Hear My Train A-Comin")
- Kyuss
- P.O.D
- Queens of the Stone Age
- Sleep
- Static-X
- Smashing Pumpkins
- System of a Down
- Leo Kottke (Used in "The Last of the Arkansas Greyhounds")
- The Black Dahlia Murder
[edit] Problems with the Tuning
- Heavier gauge strings are recommended in order to maintain tension in the strings. It is possible to play without them, but difficulty can be experienced as it becomes quite easy to unintentionally bend notes and chords out of tune. (However, the ease of bends can be desirable, depending on playing style of the musician.)
- It is difficult to tune down to C by ear, so a chromatic tuner is highly recommended.
- Difficulty can be experienced when tuning an electric guitar with a floating bridge. It is recommended that in order to save frustration, such guitars are left in the lower tuning and a capo placed upon the 4th fret if standard tuning is required.
