Metallica · ...And Justice for All · song 4
One tuning.
One (Metallica, 1988) is in E Standard, about 19 cents sharp (A ≈ 445), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Song tuning
E Standard +19 ¢
About 19 cents sharp (A ≈ 445).
Measured by TuneLit
19 ¢ sharp
Measured on this song itself: Tune moves every string +19 ¢.
Metallica · ...And Justice for All · 1988
About One
One, from ...And Justice for All (1988), starts as a clean, quiet ballad and ends in a pounding machine-gun riff and long solos. Every song on Justice is in E Standard (E A D G B E), and One is no exception: tabs and transcriptions all agree on the tuning itself.
The pitch is the catch. Players have long said the studio recording sits about 20 ¢ sharp, and TuneLit's measurement of the original LP agrees: One is +19 ¢ (A ≈ 444.9), while the rest of the album sits close to concert pitch at about +4 ¢. A fan remix gives the same reading, and nothing official explains it. A guitar at A 440 therefore sounds noticeably flat against the record, so this song's Tune button adds +19 ¢.
If you prefer hertz, set the reference A to about 445 instead, but use one method, not both, or you end up twice as sharp. Live, the band has played One half a step down in E♭ since the Load era, so live tabs and videos sit well below the album.
Tip: Tap Tune instead of plain E Standard and check against the clean intro: at A 440 your open strings will sound flat next to the record.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string +19 ¢, the notes One was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. One sits 19 cents sharp on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much flat against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play One 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 One 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 +19 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and One moves down 19 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 One in?
E Standard +19 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.