Green Day · Nimrod · song 17
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) tuning.
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) (Green Day, 1997) is in E Standard, about 8 cents sharp (A ≈ 442), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
8 ¢ sharp
The album's value, measured on the CD: Tune moves every string +8 ¢.
Green Day · Nimrod · 1997
About Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) is the acoustic song near the end of Nimrod (1997): Billie Joe Armstrong alone with a steel-string guitar and, later, strings. It is in G major in plain E Standard, picked and strummed through open G, C and D chords, and it is one of the most-played Green Day songs among beginners for that reason.
Nimrod is where Green Day left E♭ behind, and TuneLit measured the CD about 8 cents sharp of E Standard (A ≈ 442). This song reads a little lower, about 4 cents sharp, which is within the album's spread, so Tune uses the album's 8 cents. TuneLit's audio check confirms E as the lowest open string.
With an acoustic guitar playing alone, small tuning errors are easy to hear. If you play along with the record at A 440 you will be about a twelfth of a semitone flat, enough to make the open G chord beat against the recording on headphones. Tuning every string 8 cents up fixes it. No capo is needed for the album version.
Tip: Tune to E Standard 8 cents sharp and compare your open G chord with the first strum of the record.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string +8 ¢, the notes Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) sits 8 cents sharp on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much flat against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) 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 Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) 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 +8 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) moves down 8 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 Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) in?
E Standard +8 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.