One Step Closer tuning.

One Step Closer was Linkin Park's first single and the second track on Hybrid Theory (2000). Brad Delson found the riff while bored at an early photo shoot, playing harmonics against the open low string, and he has called it probably his favourite riff. By his own account the intro pattern runs straight through most of the song, so once it sits under your fingers you have most of the guitar part.

Delson remembers the guitar being in Drop D, and the shape is exactly that, but the record is a half step lower: Drop C♯ (C♯ G♯ C♯ F♯ A♯ D♯), as every tab has it and as TuneLit's audio check confirms (0.996). The song itself reads about 7.5 cents sharp, a little above its album, which sits at concert pitch, but not far enough for a value of its own. Tune opens Drop C♯ at A 440; raise the reference to about A 442 if the harmonics sound flat against you.

The most-viewed Songsterr tab lists its top two strings as B and E, as if only the lower four were tuned down; another track of the same tab has all six strings down. Tune the top strings down too, which gives ordinary Drop C♯. Harmonics are unforgiving: they expose a slightly flat or sharp string far more than a power chord does, so tune the open 6th and 4th strings carefully as an octave pair.

Tip: Tune the 6th string to C♯ and compare it with the 4th string an octave above; the harmonics will tell you at once if either is off.