Alice in Chains · Jar of Flies · song 4
No Excuses tuning.
No Excuses (Alice in Chains, 1994) is in E♭ Standard, about 13 cents sharp (A ≈ 443), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
13 ¢ sharp
The album's value, measured on the CD: Tune moves every string +13 ¢.
Alice in Chains · Jar of Flies · 1994
About No Excuses
The first single from Jar of Flies (1994) and the band's first No. 1 on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart, a mid-tempo song over Sean Kinney's side-stick groove. Everything is in E♭ Standard: Songsterr's tab has an acoustic, a 12-string and a distorted electric guitar, all a half step down, and Mike Inez on acoustic bass in the same tuning.
TuneLit measured the CD of Jar of Flies (the 2011 Original Album Classics reissue) about 13 ¢ sharp, A ≈ 443.3, and No Excuses sits right with it. So the setting is E♭ Standard +13 ¢: a guitar at plain A 440 sounds noticeably flat against the ringing acoustics. The check from the audio confirms E♭ as the lowest string.
A 12-string needs extra care. Its four lower courses pair each string with a thin one an octave higher, and both go down a half step: E♭, A♭, D♭ and G♭, each an octave apart, then the B♭ and E♭ pairs in unison. Tune the thick strings first, then match each thin partner to them by ear. If you only have a six-string, the main parts still fit; you lose the shimmer, not the song.
Tip: Tune with the Tune button's +13 ¢, then check each octave string of the 12-string against its thick partner before playing along.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E♭ Standard, every string +13 ¢, the notes No Excuses 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. No Excuses sits 13 cents sharp on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much flat against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play No Excuses 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 No Excuses 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 +13 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and No Excuses moves up 87 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 No Excuses in?
E♭ Standard +13 ¢: E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.