Guns N' Roses · Use Your Illusion I · song 4
Don't Cry (Original) tuning.
Don't Cry (Original) (Guns N' Roses, 1991) is in E♭ Standard, about 5 cents flat (A ≈ 439), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Song tuning
E♭ Standard −5 ¢
About 5 cents flat (A ≈ 439).
Measured by TuneLit
5 ¢ flat
The album's value, measured on the CD: Tune moves every string −5 ¢.
Guns N' Roses · Use Your Illusion I · 1991
About Don't Cry (Original)
The power ballad that appeared twice in 1991: this original version on Use Your Illusion I and an alternate-lyrics version on Use Your Illusion II. The music is the same and only the vocals differ. Both are in E♭ Standard, the band's tuning throughout, guitars and bass a half step down.
TuneLit measured the Mobile Fidelity gold CD of Use Your Illusion I (UDCD 711) about 5 ¢ flat (A ≈ 438.7), and Don't Cry reads the same, so the setting is E♭ Standard −5 ¢. The alternate version on the Part II CD reads about 4 ¢ flat and is listed at plain A 440. All of these are close enough to call concert pitch.
Some of the most-viewed Songsterr versions are rewritten for E Standard. They are fine for learning the notes but sound a half step sharp against the record: keep the frets and tune down.
Izzy Stradlin and Axl Rose wrote it in March 1985, shortly after the band formed, and Rose has called it the first song written for Guns N' Roses. On the record Izzy plays rhythm and Slash plays lead, his melodic lines weaving around the vocal. The tune carries well enough on guitar alone that Bumblefoot later used an instrumental version as his solo spot on tour. Learn the chord changes with a light, even touch first, then add Slash's lines on top.
Tip: Whichever of the two versions you play along with, tune to E♭ Standard; the few cents between them, and between CD editions, are not worth chasing.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E♭ Standard, every string −5 ¢, the notes Don't Cry (Original) 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. Don't Cry (Original) sits 5 cents flat on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much sharp against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Don't Cry (Original) 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 Don't Cry (Original) 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 −5 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Don't Cry (Original) moves up a half step and 5 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 Don't Cry (Original) in?
E♭ Standard −5 ¢: E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.