Guns N' Roses · Appetite for Destruction · song 3
Nightrain tuning.
Nightrain (Guns N' Roses, 1987) is in E♭ Standard at concert pitch (A 440), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
At concert pitch
The album's value, measured on the CD.
Guns N' Roses · Appetite for Destruction · 1987
About Nightrain
A fast rocker from Appetite for Destruction (1987), with Slash and Izzy Stradlin on guitars and Duff McKagan on bass, all tuned to E♭ Standard like every song on the album. Slash has said the band tuned down a half step for the vocals and a heavier sound.
TuneLit measured the Mobile Fidelity gold CD of Appetite (UDCD 699, a 1997 remaster) about 2 ¢ sharp, and Nightrain about 3 ¢ sharp: concert pitch, so the setting is plain E♭ Standard at A 440. TuneLit's audio check agrees that the lowest open string sits on E♭.
The only trap is the usual one for this band: tabs rewritten for E Standard put you a half step above the record. If yours says E Standard, keep the frets and tune down a half step.
Slash and Izzy Stradlin wrote the main riff in the band's practice room, and Izzy finished the music with Duff McKagan; the title salutes Night Train, a cheap Californian fortified wine. The lead work is shared: Izzy plays the lead intro and the first half of the first solo, Slash everything else. With two guitars, split it the same way. Alone, start with the verse rhythm, the part Slash has singled out as the one that hooked him from the start.
Tip: Tune to E♭ Standard at plain A 440 and check your low E♭ against the opening riff; this song needs no offset.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E♭ Standard, the notes Nightrain 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. Nightrain sits at concert pitch on the record, so the tuner stays at A 440.
- Then play Nightrain 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 Nightrain 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. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Nightrain moves up 98 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 Nightrain in?
E♭ Standard: E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.