Black Sabbath · Paranoid · song 4
Iron Man tuning.
Iron Man (Black Sabbath, 1970) is in E Standard, about 25 cents sharp (A ≈ 446), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
25 ¢ sharp
The album's value, measured on the CD: Tune moves every string +25 ¢.
Black Sabbath · Paranoid · 1970
About Iron Man
One of the most famous riffs in rock, from Paranoid (1970): a slow chain of power chords that starts on B, climbs through D and E to G and steps back down. Tony Iommi played it in E Standard, and the faster sections and solos stay in the same tuning.
TuneLit measured the 1986 Castle CD. The album sits about 25 ¢ sharp (A ≈ 446.3), and Iron Man reads about 31 ¢ sharp, about 6 ¢ higher than the rest: not enough to give it a value of its own, so Tune uses the album's E Standard 25 ¢ up. If the riff still sounds a touch flat against your record, raise the reference to about A 448.
Tabs in C♯, D and E♭ Standard circulate, some of them following live versions (the band played lower on stage), but the studio version is standard tuning, and TuneLit's check from the audio agrees that the low string is E. Bass players have the same choice: E Standard with the same offset.
Tip: Tune against the first held B chord of the riff, then check the open low E in the faster section.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string +25 ¢, the notes Iron Man was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Iron Man sits 25 cents sharp on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much flat against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Iron Man 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 Iron Man 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 +25 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Iron Man moves down 24 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 Iron Man in?
E Standard +25 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.