Deep Purple · Machine Head · song 1
Highway Star tuning.
Highway Star (Deep Purple, 1972) is in E Standard, about 6 cents sharp (A ≈ 442), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
6 ¢ sharp
The album's value, measured on the CD: Tune moves every string +6 ¢.
Deep Purple · Machine Head · 1972
About Highway Star
Highway Star opens Machine Head (1972) and grew out of a riff Blackmore improvised on a tour bus: a single G, repeated over and over. On the record that G is a power chord, String 6 at the 3rd fret with String 5 at the 5th, hammered in steady eighth notes under the verses. The 35-second introduction lets an open G string ring against chord shapes higher up. Later comes the famous solo, which Blackmore worked out note by note over a Bach-like progression, D minor, G minor, C and A. All of it is in E Standard.
Machine Head sits about 6 ¢ sharp on the EMI CD (A ≈ 441.6), and the song's Tune button follows the album. Highway Star itself reads closer to concert pitch, about +1 ¢. The difference is too small for a separate value: tune to the album setting, or to plain A 440, and you will be within a few cents either way.
The verse riff never plays the open low E, so the check from the audio cannot confirm String 6 and points a half step up, its usual error on such songs. Nothing suggests the record is anything but E Standard. In the main tab the solo stays at or below the 10th fret, so a guitar that is in tune on its open strings will stay in tune through it.
Tip: Fret the G power chord at the 3rd fret and listen to it against the verse riff; if it rubs, nudge the whole guitar, not just String 6.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string +6 ¢, the notes Highway Star was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Highway Star sits 6 cents sharp on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much flat against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Highway Star 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 Highway Star 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 +6 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Highway Star moves down 6 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 Highway Star in?
E Standard +6 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.