Jimi Hendrix · Electric Ladyland · song 16
Voodoo Child (Slight Return) tuning.
Voodoo Child (Slight Return) (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 Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
The closing track of Electric Ladyland (1968), recorded at the Record Plant in New York in May 1968, the day after the long Voodoo Chile jam, while a film crew was at the session. It opens with a muted riff through the wah-wah pedal. Hendrix's count-in names the key as E, and it is E shapes on a guitar tuned to E♭ Standard, so the record sounds in E♭.
On the MCA CD of 1993 the song reads about 12 ¢ flat of E♭, within reach of the album's 5 ¢ (A ≈ 438.7), so it shares the album's setting: E♭ Standard 5 ¢ down. TuneLit's audio check hears E♭ as the lowest open string, as the tabs say.
Do not mix it up with Voodoo Chile, the fifteen-minute jam on side one: that one is a whole step down, in D Standard. Many lessons teach this riff in E Standard; the shapes are the same, but you sit a half step above the record. Tune down, or keep standard tuning and let TuneLit's Play along move the record into E. The open low string carries the riff, so it is the string to check first.
Tip: Tune to E♭ Standard 5 ¢ down and play the open low string against the wah riff of the intro before the band comes in.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E♭ Standard, every string −5 ¢, the notes Voodoo Child (Slight Return) 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. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) 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 Voodoo Child (Slight Return) 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 Voodoo Child (Slight Return) 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 Voodoo Child (Slight Return) 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 Voodoo Child (Slight Return) in?
E♭ Standard −5 ¢: E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.