Alice in Chains · Facelift · song 2
Man in the Box tuning.
Man in the Box (Alice in Chains, 1990) 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: Tune moves every string +4 ¢.
Alice in Chains · Facelift · 1990
About Man in the Box
The second track on Facelift (1990) and the song whose video put the band into regular rotation on MTV, later nominated for a Grammy. It is in plain E♭ Standard: every string a half step down, E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭, with Mike Starr's bass tuned the same way. The guitar that seems to talk between the vocal lines is Cantrell playing through a talk box, an idea producer Dave Jerden had after hearing Livin' on a Prayer on his car radio, not an unusual tuning.
TuneLit measured the original 1990 Columbia CD of Facelift about 4 ¢ sharp (A ≈ 441.1), and the Tune button sets E♭ Standard +4 ¢. Man in the Box alone reads a few cents higher, still close enough to concert pitch that most ears will not notice. In the low end of the record E♭ is by far the most-played note, and the check from the audio confirms it as the lowest string.
The usual trap is the tab. Songsterr's main version, with hundreds of thousands of views, is correctly in E♭, but a popular copy is rewritten for E Standard, and with it you play a half step above the record. Keep its frets and tune down instead. The wah solo needs no change of tuning, and without a talk box the talking line can be played straight on the guitar; it simply loses its vowel sounds.
Tip: Play the main riff along with the record: if the open low string clashes, you are still in E Standard, so lower all six strings a half step.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E♭ Standard, every string +4 ¢, the notes Man in the Box 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. Man in the Box sits at concert pitch on the record, so the tuner stays at A 440.
- Then play Man in the Box 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 Man in the Box 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 +4 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Man in the Box moves up 96 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 Man in the Box in?
E♭ Standard +4 ¢: E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.