Metallica · Kill 'Em All · song 9
Seek & Destroy tuning.
Seek & Destroy (Metallica, 1983) is in E Standard, about 16 cents sharp (A ≈ 444), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
16 ¢ sharp
The album's value, measured on the CD and the original LP: Tune moves every string +16 ¢.
Metallica · Kill 'Em All · 1983
About Seek & Destroy
Seek & Destroy, from the 1983 debut Kill 'Em All, is a mid-tempo riff song that has stayed in Metallica's live set ever since. Like every guitar part on the album it is in plain E Standard (E A D G B E), with the riffs sitting on the lower strings.
The pitch is what trips people up. Players who jam along usually settle on about A 445 (roughly +20 ¢); TuneLit measured the album at +16 ¢ on the CD (A ≈ 444) and +17 ¢ on the original Megaforce LP, so the record really is sharp, just a little less than the usual figure. Seek & Destroy uses that album value, so its Tune button sets E Standard +16 ¢. At plain A 440 your guitar will sound a little flat against the record.
Fine-tune and the reference A do the same job, so set +16 ¢ or A 444, never both, or you end up twice as sharp. And since the Load era the song has been played live in E♭, so the many live recordings and tabs made from them sit more than a half step below the album.
Tip: Tap Tune for E Standard +16 ¢, or set the A chip to 444 instead, but not both.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string +16 ¢, the notes Seek & Destroy was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Seek & Destroy sits 16 cents sharp on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much flat against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Seek & Destroy 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 Seek & Destroy 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 +16 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Seek & Destroy moves down 16 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 Seek & Destroy in?
E Standard +16 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.