Megadeth · So Far, So Good... So What! · song 6
In My Darkest Hour tuning.
In My Darkest Hour (Megadeth, 1988) is in E Standard, about 7 cents sharp (A ≈ 442), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Song tuning
E Standard +7 ¢
About 7 cents sharp (A ≈ 442).
Measured by TuneLit
7 ¢ sharp
The album's value, measured on the CD: Tune moves every string +7 ¢.
Megadeth · So Far, So Good... So What! · 1988
About In My Darkest Hour
In My Darkest Hour is the slow, heavy centrepiece of So Far, So Good... So What! (1988), written by Mustaine after the death of Metallica's Cliff Burton. It begins with clean arpeggios on an acoustic guitar before the distorted riff takes over, and Jeff Young plays alongside Mustaine on this album. Both parts are tabbed in E Standard.
This is the album where Megadeth's records reach concert pitch, or slightly above it. TuneLit measured So Far, So Good... So What! about 7 ¢ sharp (A ≈ 442), and In My Darkest Hour reads the same, about 7 ¢ sharp, with good confidence. So Tune sets E Standard +7 ¢. The check from the audio agrees on E as the lowest open string.
Seven cents is small, but the clean intro is exposed, and long ringing arpeggios are exactly where a few cents of difference become audible as a slow wobble. If you tune to plain A 440 the song still works; the +7 ¢ setting just removes the beating. Do not carry the −42 ¢ tuning over from Peace Sells: the two albums sit almost half a semitone apart.
Tip: Tune to E Standard +7 ¢ and test it on the clean intro arpeggios, where any remaining beating is easiest to hear.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string +7 ¢, the notes In My Darkest Hour was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. In My Darkest Hour sits 7 cents sharp on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much flat against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play In My Darkest Hour 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 In My Darkest Hour 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 In My Darkest Hour moves down 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 In My Darkest Hour in?
E Standard +7 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.