Megadeth · Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? · song 1
Wake Up Dead tuning.
Wake Up Dead (Megadeth, 1986) is in E Standard, about 42 cents flat (A ≈ 429), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Song tuning
E Standard −42 ¢
About 42 cents flat (A ≈ 429).
Measured by TuneLit
42 ¢ flat
The album's value, measured on the CD: Tune moves every string −42 ¢.
Megadeth · Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? · 1986
About Wake Up Dead
Wake Up Dead opens Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? (1986): a short, fast thrash song with lead breaks from both Mustaine and Chris Poland. The most-viewed tab writes the guitars and the bass in E Standard, and the riffs keep coming back to the open String 6.
Like the whole album, the record sits well below A 440. TuneLit measured Peace Sells about 42 ¢ flat (A ≈ 429.5). Wake Up Dead's own reading is too unsure to stand on its own, but the Randy Burns mix of the same recording, released as a bonus track in 2004, reads about 38 ¢ flat, in line with the album. So the Tune button sets E Standard −42 ¢, and TuneLit's check from the audio hears the flattened E as the lowest open string.
This is the song where tab versions disagree most visibly: an "E♭/D♯ tuning" version on Songsterr has more than half as many views as the E Standard one. Both describe the same fingering, but neither matches the record at A 440. E♭ leaves you about 58 ¢ under it and plain E about 42 ¢ over it. Tuning E Standard down 42 ¢ is the only setting that lines up.
Tip: Use the E Standard −42 ¢ setting and check it on the open-E chugs right after the intro; skip the E♭ version of the tab.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string −42 ¢, the notes Wake Up Dead was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Wake Up Dead sits 42 cents flat on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much sharp against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Wake Up Dead 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 Wake Up Dead 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 −42 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Wake Up Dead moves up 42 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 Wake Up Dead in?
E Standard −42 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.