Pink Floyd · The Wall · song 19
Comfortably Numb tuning.
Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd, 1979) is in E Standard, about 11 cents sharp (A ≈ 443), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
11 ¢ sharp
The album's value, measured on the original LP: Tune moves every string +11 ¢.
Pink Floyd · The Wall · 1979
About Comfortably Numb
The ballad from The Wall (1979), with Roger Waters singing the verses and David Gilmour the choruses, ending in Gilmour's long solo. The solos are on his Black Strat in standard tuning. The chorus acoustics are on his high-strung Ovation, the guitar he wrote the melody on.
TuneLit measured an original Japanese double LP (CBS/Sony 40AP 1750~1) whose running time matches the CD within 0.1 %, so the turntable is not the cause: the album sits about 11 ¢ sharp (A ≈ 442.8), and Comfortably Numb about 13 ¢ sharp, close to it. Tune opens standard tuning +11 ¢. At A 440 your guitar sounds slightly flat against the record, which shows on long sustained bends.
The high-strung acoustic has its A, D and G strings an octave up and the low E two octaves up. On a normal guitar in standard tuning the same chord shapes give the same notes, only lower on four strings, so the choruses need no second tuning.
Tip: Set the tuner to the song's +11 ¢ before the solos; the long sustained bends make an 11 ¢ gap easy to hear.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string +11 ¢, the notes Comfortably Numb was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Comfortably Numb sits 11 cents sharp on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much flat against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Comfortably Numb 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 Comfortably Numb 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 +11 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Comfortably Numb moves down 11 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 Comfortably Numb in?
E Standard +11 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.