Queen · News of the World · song 1
We Will Rock You tuning.
We Will Rock You (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 Will Rock You
The opener of News of the World (1977): two minutes of stamps, claps and voices, then Brian May's guitar solo to finish. There is nothing to play along with until the solo, which is in E Standard on every tab, the most-viewed Songsterr one included.
That makes it hard to measure. Over the 90 seconds TuneLit reads, the song came out about 18 ¢ flat on EMI's 1993 CD, but with low confidence, because claps and voices give the estimator little steady pitch. The song therefore uses the album's value, E Standard 4 ¢ flat (A ≈ 438.9). A separate read of the last 30 seconds, the solo alone, gives about 19 ¢ flat with good confidence, and the Japanese and Mobile Fidelity CDs show the same low reading for the song.
So the button may leave you about 14 ¢ sharp against May's solo. If the bends sound a touch sharp, set the tuner to about 18 ¢ flat (A ≈ 435.4) instead. TuneLit's audio check agrees with E as the lowest string, so the tuning itself is not in doubt, only the last few cents.
Tip: Skip to the guitar solo and tune against it; if the button sounds sharp, try E Standard about 18 ¢ flat.
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 Will Rock You was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. We Will Rock You 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 Will Rock You 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 Will Rock You 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 Will Rock You 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 Will Rock You in?
E Standard −4 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.