Deep Purple · Machine Head · song 5
Smoke on the Water tuning.
Smoke on the Water (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 Smoke on the Water
Smoke on the Water, from Machine Head (1972), tells how the casino in Montreux burned down on the eve of the band's recording sessions there. Its riff is a four-note blues line in G minor, played as parallel fourths: two strings sounding together, a fourth apart. Ritchie Blackmore usually plucks it with his fingers rather than a pick, and Jon Lord doubles it on a distorted Hammond. The tuning is plain E Standard, and the most-played tab keeps the riff on String 5 with String 4 and on String 4 with String 3, between the 3rd and 6th frets.
The EMI CD of Machine Head sits about 6 ¢ sharp (A ≈ 441.6). Measured on its own, this song reads +8 ¢, too close to the album for a value of its own, so its Tune button sets E Standard +6 ¢. That is a small offset, but the riff's bare fourths make it easy to hear: against a guitar at exactly A 440 the two notes of each pair rub slightly against the record.
Two things trip players up. Songsterr also lists a version in E♭ Standard; the studio record is in E, a half step higher. And the riff never touches the open low E, so TuneLit's check from the audio cannot hear String 6 at all and leans towards F, the known blind spot of the method; no source suggests anything but E Standard.
Tip: Tune String 4 and String 5 first and check them against the opening riff, where the guitar plays alone for the first bars.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string +6 ¢, the notes Smoke on the Water was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Smoke on the Water 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 Smoke on the Water 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 Smoke on the Water 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 Smoke on the Water 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 Smoke on the Water in?
E Standard +6 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.