Queen · News of the World · song 2
We Are the Champions tuning.
We Are the Champions (Queen, 1977) is in E Standard, about 5 cents flat (A ≈ 439), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
5 ¢ flat
The album's value, measured on the CD: Tune moves every string −4 ¢.
Queen · News of the World · 1977
About We Are the Champions
Mercury's anthem from News of the World (1977). It begins with piano, voice, bass and drums; May's guitar comes in subtly and builds to a solo played over the last chorus. Mercury's chords are rich, with sixths, sevenths and diminished chords, but every tab plays them on a guitar in plain E Standard.
TuneLit measured EMI's 1993 CD about 4 ¢ flat (A ≈ 438.9), with high confidence, and that is also the album's value, so Tune sets E Standard 4 ¢ down. That is close to concert pitch, but News of the World is the album with the widest spread in the catalogue, from 26 ¢ flat to 14 ¢ sharp, so do not carry the setting over to the next song without checking its button.
On this album the edition makes a small difference. The Japanese 2004 remaster reads about 3 ¢ higher than the 1993 CD and the Mobile Fidelity gold CD about 2 ¢ higher, so with those discs A 440 is practically right. The audio check is unsure here, which is common for a song that rests on piano chords rather than the open low string.
Tip: Tune to the button and check it against the sustained piano chords of the first verse, before the guitar enters.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string −4 ¢, the notes We Are the Champions was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. We Are the Champions sits 5 cents flat on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much sharp against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play We Are the Champions 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 We Are the Champions 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 −4 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and We Are the Champions moves up 5 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 We Are the Champions in?
E Standard −4 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.