Pantera · Vulgar Display of Power · song 3
Walk tuning.
Walk (Pantera, 1992) is in D Standard at A 426, about 57 cents flat, measured by TuneLit from the record.
Song tuning
D Standard A 426
About 57 cents flat (A 426).
Measured by TuneLit
57 ¢ flat
Measured on this song itself: Tune sets the reference A to 426.
Pantera · Vulgar Display of Power · 1992
About Walk
Walk, from Vulgar Display of Power (1992), is Pantera's slow, swaggering groove song, built on a riff Dimebag Darrell plays on the low strings. Dime wrote that the band tuned the whole guitar down a whole step for it, to D Standard (D G C F A D); with A New Level, it was the first time Pantera tuned the whole guitar that low.
On top of that comes Dime's famous flat tuning. TuneLit measured the album about 57 ¢ flat (A ≈ 425.7) on the CD and Walk about 59 ¢ flat, so the Tune button sets D Standard at A 426. A regular A 440 tuner reads the low string as roughly C♯ +40, which is why the song is often described as a little more than a whole step down.
Tabs of Walk in Drop D or E Standard circulate, but the documented tuning is D Standard, with all six strings down, and TuneLit's check from the audio agrees. Because the record sits between C♯ and D, some players call it C♯. Whatever the name, set the reference to A 426 first: plain D at A 440 is clearly sharp of the record.
Tip: Set the reference to A 426, lower all six strings a whole step to D, and check the open low D against the main riff.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to D Standard at A 426, the notes Walk 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. Walk sits 57 cents flat on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much sharp against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Walk 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 Walk 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 at A 426. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Walk moves up 2 half steps and 57 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 Walk in?
D Standard at A 426: D G C F A D, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.