Jimi Hendrix · Are You Experienced · song 1
Purple Haze tuning.
Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix, 1967) is in E Standard, about 7 cents flat (A ≈ 438), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Song tuning
E Standard −7 ¢
About 7 cents flat (A ≈ 438).
Measured by TuneLit
7 ¢ flat
The album's value, measured on the CD: Tune moves every string −7 ¢.
Jimi Hendrix · Are You Experienced · 1967
About Purple Haze
The opening track of the American Are You Experienced (1967) and the Experience's second single, begun at De Lane Lea Studios in London in January 1967. It is the song that made the dominant seventh sharp ninth famous as the "Hendrix chord", and every main tab plays it in plain E Standard, guitar and bass alike: the half-step drop Hendrix is known for came later in 1967. TuneLit's audio check hears E as the lowest open string, so the semitone is settled.
TuneLit measured the Polydor CD of 1991, the earliest edition in the library. Purple Haze reads about 11 ¢ flat, close to the album's 7 ¢ (A ≈ 438.1), so its Tune button uses the album value: E Standard 7 ¢ down. Against a guitar at A 440 the record sounds a touch flat until you set the reference.
Two things trip players up. A tab taken from a later concert, such as Woodstock, is in E♭, because by then Hendrix tuned a half step down on stage; for the studio version stay in E. And the high, squealing guitar in the outro was recorded at half speed and played back at full speed, an octave up, so it does not sit where your fingers expect it. Learn the riff and the chord first and leave the outro effect to the tape.
Tip: Set the album's button (E Standard, 7 ¢ down) and check your open low E against the bass notes under the main riff before you play the chord.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string −7 ¢, the notes Purple Haze was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Purple Haze sits 7 cents flat on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much sharp against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Purple Haze 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 Purple Haze 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 −7 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Purple Haze moves up 7 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 Purple Haze in?
E Standard −7 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.