Jimi Hendrix · Electric Ladyland · song 3
Crosstown Traffic tuning.
Crosstown Traffic (Jimi Hendrix, 1968) 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 ¢.
Jimi Hendrix · Electric Ladyland · 1968
About Crosstown Traffic
A short, punchy track from Electric Ladyland (1968), played by the Experience trio alone, unlike much of the album: Hendrix on guitar and vocals, Noel Redding on bass, Mitch Mitchell on drums. Hendrix doubles his lead line in places on a makeshift kazoo of comb and tissue paper, and Dave Mason sings backing vocals with Redding. The tabs, guitar and bass, are in E♭ Standard.
Electric Ladyland, measured from its 1993 MCA CD, sits about 5 ¢ flat of E♭ (A ≈ 438.7), and this song uses that value: its own reading, about 5 ¢ sharp, was too uncertain to stand on its own. TuneLit's audio check hears E♭ as the lowest open string, so the semitone is safe.
The kazoo and the guitar share the melody in places, but the kazoo's pitch is a voice, not a fretted string, so do not tune against it. Use the guitar chords between the vocal lines instead. If you play the song from a tab written in E Standard, keep its frets and tune every string down a half step. The riff is quick and percussive, so muted strings matter as much as the tuning.
Tip: Set E♭ Standard 5 ¢ down and tune against the guitar chords between the vocal lines, not the kazoo.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E♭ Standard, every string −5 ¢, the notes Crosstown Traffic 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. Crosstown Traffic 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 Crosstown Traffic 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 Crosstown Traffic 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 Crosstown Traffic 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 Crosstown Traffic in?
E♭ Standard −5 ¢: E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.