Pantera · Cowboys from Hell · song 5
Cemetery Gates tuning.
Cemetery Gates (Pantera, 1990) is in E Standard at A 432, about 32 cents flat, measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
32 ¢ flat
Measured on this song itself: Tune sets the reference A to 432.
Pantera · Cowboys from Hell · 1990
About Cemetery Gates
Cemetery Gates is the long power ballad of Cowboys from Hell (1990), moving from clean, arpeggiated verses to heavy riffs and one of Dimebag Darrell's best-known solos. It is played in E Standard (E A D G B E), but tabs disagree about that, and the reason is the record's pitch.
TuneLit measured the song about 32 ¢ flat (A ≈ 431.9) on the CD, a little lower than the rest of the album, which sits near A 435. The record therefore falls between E and E♭, though still closer to E, so its Tune button sets E Standard at A 432. TuneLit's check from the audio also hears E as the lowest open string.
That in-between pitch is why the main tab is in E Standard and an alternate one in E♭: each transcriber rounded to a different side of the same performance. With the reference at A 432, the E Standard tab lines up with the record. Neither plain E at A 440 nor the 60 ¢ figure usually quoted for Dime fits this song: the first is too high, the second too low.
Tip: Set A 432, a few hertz below the rest of the album, and check the open strings against the clean intro before the distortion arrives.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard at A 432, the notes Cemetery Gates was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Cemetery Gates sits 32 cents flat on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much sharp against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Cemetery Gates 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 Cemetery Gates 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 at A 432. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Cemetery Gates moves up 32 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 Cemetery Gates in?
E Standard at A 432: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.