Iron Maiden · Killers · song 2
Wrathchild tuning.
Wrathchild (Iron Maiden, 1981) 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.
Iron Maiden · Killers · 1981
About Wrathchild
Wrathchild, from Killers (1981), is one of Iron Maiden's shortest and most direct songs and has stayed in the live set ever since. It starts with Steve Harris's bass on E over the drums, and the two guitars answer on the same note in E Standard. In the Songsterr transcription the rhythm parts of Adrian Smith and Dave Murray sit almost entirely on the three lowest strings: the open low E alone is about one note in seven, the E at the 7th fret of String 5 and the B at the 9th fret of String 4 make the power-chord stabs, and each part has well over a hundred slides.
TuneLit measured Killers about 4 ¢ sharp on the first Japanese CD, which counts as concert pitch, and Wrathchild reads about 5 ¢ high, the same. Plain E Standard at A 440 matches the record, and that is what Tune sets. The 1998 and 2015 remasters read this song 2.5 and 4 ¢ lower, still at concert pitch.
The solos are where tuning shows. Smith's solo in the tab has more than seventy bends among its 148 notes, and over half of its notes sit on String 3, while Murray's climbs to the 17th fret of String 2. Heavy bending can knock a string slightly flat, so recheck String 3 after working on the solo. TuneLit's check from the audio agrees that the low string is E.
Tip: Stay at A 440 and check String 6 against the open E that the rhythm guitars hammer under the verses.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, the notes Wrathchild was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Wrathchild sits at concert pitch on the record, so the tuner stays at A 440.
- Then play Wrathchild 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 Wrathchild 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 Wrathchild moves down 4 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 Wrathchild in?
E Standard: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.