Alice in Chains · Dirt · song 5
Rooster tuning.
Rooster (Alice in Chains, 1992) is in E♭ Standard, about 10 cents sharp (A ≈ 443), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
10 ¢ sharp
The album's value, measured on the CD: Tune moves every string +10 ¢.
Alice in Chains · Dirt · 1992
About Rooster
Cantrell's song about his father's time as a soldier in Vietnam, Rooster being his father's nickname, sits fifth on Dirt (1992). It is in E♭ Standard throughout, guitars and bass a half step down. The verses are clean, with the flanger swirl MusicRadar points out, and the chorus comes in with heavy distorted chords; both use the same tuning, so nothing changes between them.
TuneLit measured the original 1992 CD of Dirt about 10 ¢ sharp (A ≈ 442.4). Rooster on its own reads a little higher still, about 15 ¢, but not far enough from the album for a setting of its own, so the Tune button gives E♭ Standard +10 ¢. On the long clean chords of the verses, the gap between that and plain A 440 is easy to hear. The check from the audio confirms E♭ as the lowest string.
Tabs are the trap here: an E Standard rewrite on Songsterr is almost as popular as the original tab, and it puts you a half step above the record. Keep its shapes and tune down. The band also played Rooster on MTV Unplugged in the same E♭ tuning; TuneLit has measured only the Dirt version, so the offset belongs to the studio record.
Tip: Tune against the clean verse chords rather than the distorted chorus: sustained clean notes show the record's +10 ¢ much more clearly.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E♭ Standard, every string +10 ¢, the notes Rooster was recorded in.
- From E Standard: Every string down a half step. No tuner that knows E♭ Standard? Clamp a capo across fret 1, tune to E Standard as usual, then take it off: every string drops to E♭ Standard. Check each string again afterwards, since a capo pulls the strings a little sharp.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Rooster sits 10 cents sharp on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much flat against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Rooster 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 Rooster 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 +10 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Rooster moves up 90 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 Rooster in?
E♭ Standard +10 ¢: E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.