Iron Maiden · Piece of Mind · song 5
The Trooper tuning.
The Trooper (Iron Maiden, 1983) 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 ¢.
Iron Maiden · Piece of Mind · 1983
About The Trooper
The Trooper, from Piece of Mind (1983), is Iron Maiden's best-known gallop: Steve Harris's bass pumping the rhythm under a twin-guitar melody that almost every rock guitarist learns sooner or later. It is in E Standard. In Songsterr's transcription, the band's most viewed tab there, Harris plays four notes in ten on the E at the 7th fret of his A string, Adrian Smith's lead part centres on the E at the 7th fret of String 5 and the B at the 9th fret of String 4, and the open low E comes in for the palm-muted gallop.
TuneLit measured Piece of Mind about 8 ¢ sharp on the first Japanese CD (A ≈ 442), and The Trooper reads a little higher, about 10 ¢; the 1995 reissue gives exactly the same numbers. A guitar at A 440 is close, but against the harmony melody the difference can be heard, so Tune sets E Standard +8 ¢.
Most players learn the harmony line first, and that is where the tuning shows: two guitars in parallel make any mismatch with the record beat slowly against it. The rhythm part in the tab is palm-muted four notes in five, mostly on Strings 5 and 6, so check that your open low E sits with Harris's fretted E. TuneLit's check from the audio agrees that the low string is E.
Tip: Tap Tune for E Standard +8 ¢ and check String 6 against the palm-muted gallop under the verse.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string +8 ¢, the notes The Trooper was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. The Trooper 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 The Trooper 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 The Trooper 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 The Trooper 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 The Trooper in?
E Standard +8 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.