Meshuggah · Destroy Erase Improve · song 1
Future Breed Machine tuning.
Future Breed Machine (Meshuggah, 1995) is in B♭ Standard, about 5 cents sharp (A ≈ 441), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Song tuning
B♭ Standard +5 ¢
About 5 cents sharp (A ≈ 441).
Measured by TuneLit
5 ¢ sharp
The album's value, measured on the CD: Tune moves every string +5 ¢.
Meshuggah · Destroy Erase Improve · 1995
About Future Breed Machine
The opener of Destroy Erase Improve (1995), the first full Meshuggah album on seven-string guitars and the first with Mårten Hagström next to Fredrik Thordendal. Both play seven-strings tuned a half step down, B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭, the tuning Hagström described to Guitar World as the band's only one in those years. The rhythm parts hammer the open String 7 (B♭) in palm-muted bursts whose groupings run across the steady four-beat pulse of the hi-hat, so the riff seems to start in a different place every bar.
TuneLit measured the album about 5 ¢ sharp (A ≈ 441), which is concert pitch for any practical purpose. Future Breed Machine itself gave the estimator nothing usable on any of the four CD editions, so its button simply uses the album value. The semitone check from the audio is clear, though: it hears the open low B♭ under this song and rules out the notes either side.
The hard part is counting, not tuning. Learn the riff against a click in four, and say the accents out loud until the displacement feels natural. A six-string tuned to E♭ Standard covers the upper strings, but the riff lives on the low B♭, so it needs the seventh string.
Tip: Tune String 7 to B♭ first and check it against the main riff's muted chugs; the rest of the guitar follows a half step below standard.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to B♭ Standard, every string +5 ¢, the notes Future Breed Machine was recorded in.
- From B Standard: Every string down a half step. No tuner that knows B♭ Standard? Clamp a capo across fret 1, tune to B Standard as usual, then take it off: every string drops to B♭ Standard. Check each string again afterwards, since a capo pulls the strings a little sharp.
- Turn String 7 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Future Breed Machine sits 5 cents sharp on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much flat against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Future Breed Machine along with the record: its lowest open note and your String 7 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 Future Breed Machine instead. Add your own copy, for example from your CD (it never leaves your device); the link already says the song is in B♭ Standard +5 ¢. Choose B Standard at A 440 and Future Breed Machine moves up 95 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 Future Breed Machine in?
B♭ Standard +5 ¢: B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.