Aerosmith · Permanent Vacation · song 3
Rag Doll tuning.
Rag Doll (Aerosmith, 1987) is in E Standard at concert pitch (A 440), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
At concert pitch
The album's value, measured on the CD.
Aerosmith · Permanent Vacation · 1987
About Rag Doll
Rag Doll, from Permanent Vacation (1987), mixes two tunings. Brad Whitford's rhythm guitar is in plain E Standard, while Joe Perry's slide is a lap steel tuned to an E chord, E B E G♯ B E. Perry wrote the basic parts on a 1939 Rickenbacker lap steel.
TuneLit measured the song about 1 cent flat, on a CD that sits about 3 cents sharp; both are close enough to A 440 that Tune opens plain E Standard at concert pitch. The audio check hears the open low E on the record, which fits the rhythm part.
For the slide on a regular guitar, open E gives the same chord as Perry's lap steel: raise String 5 a whole step to B, String 4 a whole step to E and String 3 a half step to G♯, and leave Strings 6, 2 and 1 alone. Those three strings gain tension, so a second guitar set up for slide is kinder than retuning your main one. The rest of the album stays in E Standard, apart from two Drop D songs, Hangman Jury and St. John.
Tip: Tune to E Standard for Whitford's rhythm part first, and only retune to open E (E B E G♯ B E) if you want to play Perry's slide line.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, the notes Rag Doll was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Rag Doll sits at concert pitch on the record, so the tuner stays at A 440.
- Then play Rag Doll along with the record: its lowest open note and your String 6 should ring together without a wobble.
Or the other way round
Move the record into your tuning
Rather keep your guitar as it is? Let Play along move Rag Doll instead. Add your own copy, for example from your CD (it never leaves your device); the link already says the song is in E Standard. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Rag Doll moves down 3 cents, at its own speed. Slow it down or loop a few bars to learn it, and save the result as a WAV file.
Questions
What tuning is Rag Doll in?
E Standard: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.