Nirvana · Nevermind · song 3
Come as You Are tuning.
Come as You Are (Nirvana, 1991) is in D Standard, about 14 cents sharp (A ≈ 444), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
14 ¢ sharp
Measured on this song itself: Tune moves every string +14 ¢.
Nirvana · Nevermind · 1991
About Come as You Are
Come as You Are, the second single from Nevermind (1991), is built on a single-note riff on the low strings that Kurt Cobain played through an Electro-Harmonix Small Clone chorus, which gives it that watery sound. The guitar is tuned a whole step down to D Standard (D G C F A D), and the main tab and its many copies agree.
TuneLit measured the Nevermind CD about 14 ¢ sharp (A ≈ 443.6), and Come as You Are reads about 13 ¢, in line with the album, so its Tune button sets D Standard +14 ¢. At plain A 440 your guitar sounds slightly flat against the record, which is easy to hear on the riff's open notes. TuneLit's check from the audio agrees that the lowest open string is D.
Two things cause confusion. On MTV Unplugged in New York the band played it a half step higher, in E♭ Standard, so tabs and videos of that show do not fit the studio take. And producer Butch Vig recalled that Krist Novoselic tuned his bass unusually for this song and ran it through a DBX sub-harmonic unit; exactly how the bass was tuned is not documented.
Tip: Lower all six strings a whole step, tap Tune for the +14 ¢, and check the open low D in the opening riff before the band comes in.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to D Standard, every string +14 ¢, the notes Come as You Are was recorded in.
- From the album's E Standard: Every string down a whole step. No tuner that knows D Standard? Clamp a capo across fret 2, tune to E Standard as usual, then take it off: every string drops to D Standard. Check each string again afterwards, since a capo pulls the strings a little sharp.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Come as You Are sits 14 cents sharp on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much flat against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Come as You Are 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 Come as You Are instead. Add your own copy, for example from your CD (it never leaves your device); the link already says the song is in D Standard +14 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Come as You Are moves up a half step and 86 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 Come as You Are in?
D Standard +14 ¢: D G C F A D, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.