Queen · The Game · song 5
Crazy Little Thing Called Love tuning.
Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Queen, 1980) is in E Standard at concert pitch (A 440), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
At concert pitch
The album's value, measured on the CD.
Queen · The Game · 1980
About Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Mercury's rockabilly hit from The Game (1980). He wrote it on guitar, knowing only a few chords, and plays the acoustic rhythm guitar on the record himself; May plays the solo on Roger Taylor's Fender Esquire. Both parts are in plain E Standard on every tab, open chords for the strumming and a clean, simple lead.
TuneLit measured EMI's 1994 CD at about 3 ¢ flat for this song and 3 ¢ sharp for the album, both within the ±4 ¢ that counts as concert pitch, so Tune gives E Standard at A 440. The audio check agrees with E as the lowest string. This is one of the easiest Queen songs to tune for: the open chords make any error obvious and there is no offset to worry about.
One thing to know about editions: on The Game, EMI's 1994 CD reads about 4 ¢ lower than the Japanese 2001 remaster and the Mobile Fidelity gold CD, song after song. If you play along with one of those, a few cents sharp of A 440 matches slightly better, though most ears will not notice.
Tip: Tune at A 440 and check against the strummed open chords of the intro; nudge a few cents sharp only with the Japanese or MFSL CD.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, the notes Crazy Little Thing Called Love was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Crazy Little Thing Called Love sits at concert pitch on the record, so the tuner stays at A 440.
- Then play Crazy Little Thing Called Love 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 Crazy Little Thing Called Love 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. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Crazy Little Thing Called Love moves down 3 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 Crazy Little Thing Called Love in?
E Standard: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.