Alice in Chains · Dirt · song 13
Would? tuning.
Would? (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 Would?
The closing track of Dirt (1992), first heard on the soundtrack of Cameron Crowe's film Singles; Cantrell wrote it about Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone. It opens with Mike Starr's bass line, and the verse riff gets its dark colour from the notes Cantrell picks, which MusicRadar describes as Phrygian, not from a lower tuning: guitars and bass are in plain E♭ Standard, every string a half step down.
TuneLit measured the original 1992 CD of Dirt about 10 ¢ sharp (A ≈ 442.4). Would? itself reads a little lower, about 5 ¢, but stays with the album's setting, E♭ Standard +10 ¢. If the guitar seems a hair sharp against this particular song, bring the offset down to about +5 ¢. The check from the audio confirms E♭ as the lowest string.
Would? has more tab versions than almost any Alice in Chains song, and many are transposed: Songsterr's E Standard and D Standard copies each have tens of thousands of views. The first sits a half step above the record, the second a half step below. Whichever you learn from, keep the frets as written and tune to E♭, and the shapes will line up with the record.
Tip: Check your two low strings against Mike Starr's opening bass line before the guitars come in.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E♭ Standard, every string +10 ¢, the notes Would? 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. Would? 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 Would? 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 Would? 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 Would? 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 Would? in?
E♭ Standard +10 ¢: E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.