Queens of the Stone Age tunings.

If you only remember one thing: heavy early QOTSA is in C Standard, most later QOTSA is in E Standard. A rough map:

• Queens of the Stone Age (1998), Rated R (2000): C Standard nearly throughout. Only songs led by other members (Nick Oliveri's Auto Pilot, Dave Catching's 12-string Lightning Song) and Leg of Lamb are tabbed differently.
• Songs for the Deaf (2002): still a C Standard album at heart (No One Knows, Go with the Flow, A Song for the Dead, Millionaire), but six songs are tabbed in E Standard, First It Giveth in C♯ Standard and The Sky Is Fallin' in E♭ Standard.
• Lullabies to Paralyze (2005): the turning point. Three heavy songs stay in C Standard, Little Sister sits in C♯ Standard, and most of the rest is in E Standard.
• Era Vulgaris (2007): mostly E Standard, with Sick, Sick, Sick, 3's & 7's and Battery Acid in C Standard.
• …Like Clockwork (2013): E Standard except the opener, Keep Your Eyes Peeled, in C Standard.
• Villains (2017) and In Times New Roman… (2023): E Standard, with a D Standard opener on both and The Way You Used to Do in Open G.

A word on the tabs before going further. Many QOTSA tabs are written in E Standard even when the record is in C Standard, simply because most players do not want to retune: the transcribers often say so at the top. Those tabs can still sound right on paper, but they cannot reach the low notes, and the chord shapes do not ring the same way. On this page the tuning comes from the transcriptions that play the song in its own tuning, and where tabs disagree we say so on the song.

Homme started tuning down in Kyuss. In a 2024 interview with Tom Power he explained that he wanted a sound of his own, and that at the time he knew of nobody tuning down to B or C; he was a kid in the desert with a small record collection, and he simply tried it to see what would happen. He added that Queens of the Stone Age are still detuned much of the time because it sounds unlike anything else, and picked No One Knows as the example: a song in C Standard that works as a pop song even with the low tuning.

C Standard keeps the shapes of normal tuning, so every chord and scale pattern you know still works, but everything sounds two whole steps (four half steps) lower. On a normal guitar with light strings it feels slack, so if you plan to stay in C, heavier strings help (see the setup section below).

The move up to E Standard on the later records is visible in the tabs and on the records themselves, but the band has not explained it in an interview we could find, so we only describe it. The C songs never left the live set: in a 2025 Premier Guitar rig rundown, Troy Van Leeuwen shows one of his guitars kept in C Standard for them.

Some bands' records sit a quarter tone away from a normal tuner. QOTSA's do not. TuneLit measured each album from the owner's CDs (90 seconds of every song, see how we measure recordings), and all seven albums land within a few cents of A 440:

Offsets within 4 cents count as concert pitch: nobody can hear them in a band. Songs for the Deaf is the one album worth correcting for, about 9 cents sharp, and Era Vulgaris is about 6 cents sharp. A few single songs stand further apart, all listed in the album sections below; the largest is God Is in the Radio, about 25 cents sharp (A ≈ 446.3), a quarter of the way to the next half step.

Queens of the Stone Age (1998)

C Standard11 songs, each with a Tune button

Main tuning: C Standard at concert pitch, measured by TuneLit on the CD (about 3 ¢ flat, stored as 0).

The debut was recorded in April 1998 at Monkey Studios in Palm Desert. Homme sang and played guitar, bass and keyboards himself, with Alfredo Hernández on drums; Chris Goss plays bass on You Would Know and Give the Mule What He Wants. Every transcription of Regular John, Avon, If Only, Mexicola, How to Handle a Rope and the rest is in C Standard, and the record's low notes agree: on Regular John, Walkin' on the Sidewalks, Mexicola and Give the Mule What He Wants the bass keeps returning to the low C itself.

The one song tabbed differently is I Was a Teenage Hand Model, the piano-led closer with Fred Drake on drums. Its only Songsterr tab is in E Standard, but the record's bass goes down to a low C and D that a bass in E Standard cannot reach, and a UG tab gives a C Standard version as well. We list it with the album, in C Standard.

TuneLit measured the 2010 Japanese CD of the reissue, which adds The Bronze, These Aren't the Droids You're Looking For and Spiders and Vinegaroons. Those three were measured too but are not part of the original album, so they are not listed. The eleven album songs average about 3 cents flat; the spread between songs (from about 15 ¢ flat on Walkin' on the Sidewalks to 16 ¢ sharp on the short instrumental Hispanic Impressions) comes from low-confidence readings, not from different tunings.

With TuneLit: C Standard for the whole album at A 440.

Rated R (2000)

C Standard11 songs, each with a Tune button

Main tuning: C Standard at concert pitch, measured by TuneLit on the CD (about 3 ¢ sharp, stored as 0).

Rated R was recorded at Sound City in Van Nuys with Nick Oliveri on bass, Dave Catching on keyboards, lap steel and 12-string, two drummers (Gene Trautmann and Nick Lucero) and Mark Lanegan singing In the Fade. Feel Good Hit of the Summer, The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret, Better Living Through Chemistry, In the Fade, Tension Head and I Think I Lost My Headache are all tabbed in C Standard.

The songs that differ:

• Auto Pilot is Oliveri's song: he sings and plays the guitar, Chris Goss plays bass and Homme sits at the drums. Songsterr and the most-voted UG tab are in E Standard.
• Lightning Song is an instrumental for Dave Catching's 12-string acoustic, tabbed in D Standard; the record's bass note is mostly that low D.
• Leg of Lamb is tabbed in E Standard, but the record's bass reaches a low D below the E string, so the album's C Standard may be the real tuning. We list E Standard, marked as disputed.
• Monsters in the Parasol is in C Standard on the best-rated UG tab and in E Standard on Songsterr. The record never goes below a low G, so it cannot tell them apart; we keep the album's C.

Two songs measure apart from the album: Better Living Through Chemistry is about 11 cents flat (A ≈ 437.2) and Quick and to the Pointless about 15 cents sharp (A ≈ 443.8), both with good confidence. Everything else is within a few cents of A 440.

With TuneLit: C Standard; E Standard for Leg of Lamb and Auto Pilot; D Standard on a 12-string for Lightning Song. Use the song's own Tune button for the two songs with their own pitch.

Songs for the Deaf (2002)

C Standard +9 ¢14 songs, each with a Tune button

Main tuning: C Standard +9 ¢ (A ≈ 442.4), measured by TuneLit on the CD.

The album that made the band famous, with Dave Grohl on drums, Oliveri on bass and Lanegan on several lead vocals. Its heavy core is in C Standard, and here the tuning comes from Homme himself: in 2024 he named No One Knows as a song in C Standard. Millionaire, A Song for the Dead, Go with the Flow, Do It Again, A Song for the Deaf and the hidden acoustic Mosquito Song are tabbed in C Standard too.

The rest is more varied than on any other QOTSA album:

• E Standard: Six Shooter, Hangin' Tree, Gonna Leave You, God Is in the Radio and Another Love Song. Three of them are Oliveri's songs, and Hangin' Tree first appeared on The Desert Sessions. Some older UG tabs put Gonna Leave You and Another Love Song in C Standard; Songsterr and the most-voted tabs say E.
• C♯ Standard: First It Giveth. Songsterr's main tab tunes every guitar and the bass a half step above the album's C, and the record agrees: its low notes sit on C♯ and almost never on C. Two less-voted UG tabs keep C Standard.
• E♭ Standard: The Sky Is Fallin'. One UG transcriber points out that C Standard with a capo at the 3rd fret gives exactly the same open notes, which is handy if your guitar is already in C.

The whole record runs about 9 cents sharp (A ≈ 442.4), quite consistently from song to song. Three songs stand apart. God Is in the Radio is about 25 cents sharp (A ≈ 446.3), the sharpest QOTSA song TuneLit measured. Hangin' Tree and Mosquito Song, on the other hand, sit right at concert pitch. We measured a 2009 Japanese reissue of the CD; an original 2002 pressing would be a useful cross-check for the album's 9 cents.

With TuneLit: C Standard at A 442.4 for most of the album; C♯ Standard for First It Giveth, E♭ Standard for The Sky Is Fallin', E Standard for tracks 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12. If you tune by ear to the record, the tuner's Tune button already includes each song's offset.

Lullabies to Paralyze (2005)

E Standard14 songs, each with a Tune button

Main tuning: E Standard at concert pitch, measured by TuneLit on the CD (about 1 ¢ sharp, stored as 0).

The first album after Oliveri left, recorded at Sound City in 2004 with Troy Van Leeuwen, Joey Castillo and Alain Johannes, and with Billy Gibbons on Burn the Witch. This is where the tunings split. After the short acoustic opener, the three heavy songs Medication, Everybody Knows That You Are Insane and Tangled Up in Plaid stay in the old C Standard. From Burn the Witch on, nearly everything is tabbed in E Standard: In My Head, I Never Came, The Blood Is Love, Long Slow Goodbye and the rest.

Two songs need a closer look:

• Little Sister is a step and a half down, in C♯ Standard. The first UG transcription says so plainly and points out that it is not in C like the albums before; the most-voted UG tab is the same transcription moved to E Standard for players who do not want to tune down, and Songsterr is in E Standard too. The record's bass reaches the low C♯ that only the lower tuning has, so we list C♯ Standard, marked as disputed.
• Someone's in the Wolf uses an open, droning tuning. Songsterr lowers the A string to G (E G D G B E); one UG transcriber argues for Open G (D G D G B D). Both put a G on the fifth string, the note the record's bass holds through most of the song, so either will get you close; we list Songsterr's version.

The album is at concert pitch. Only Tangled Up in Plaid stands apart, about 18 cents sharp (A ≈ 444.6).

With TuneLit: E Standard for most songs; C Standard for tracks 2–⁠4 (Tangled Up in Plaid at its own pitch); C♯ Standard for Little Sister; E G D G B E for Someone's in the Wolf.

Era Vulgaris (2007)

E Standard +6 ¢11 songs, each with a Tune button

Main tuning: E Standard +6 ¢ (A ≈ 441.5), measured by TuneLit on the CD.

Recorded with Van Leeuwen, Castillo and Johannes, and co-produced by Homme and Chris Goss. Into the Hollow, Misfit Love, Make It wit Chu, Suture Up Your Future, River in the Road and Run, Pig, Run are tabbed in E Standard on Songsterr and on the most-voted UG tabs. Three heavy songs stay in C Standard: Sick, Sick, Sick (whose bass hammers the low C on the record), 3's & 7's (one UG transcriber notes that the low notes of the bridge only work in C) and Battery Acid (C Standard on the best-rated UG tab; another tab plays it in Drop D and says it is simply easier that way).

One UG transcriber claims that most of Era Vulgaris is really in C♯ Standard. We could not confirm it: the E Standard tabs of Misfit Love, Make It wit Chu and Into the Hollow play the same notes as the record, and only Turnin' on the Screw has a low note that E Standard cannot reach, a little low C♯. We keep the tabs' E Standard there and flag it on the song.

The album runs about 6 cents sharp. River in the Road is the exception, about 12 cents flat (A ≈ 437.1).

With TuneLit: E Standard at A 441.5; C Standard for Sick, Sick, Sick, Battery Acid and 3's & 7's; River in the Road at its own pitch.

…Like Clockwork (2013)

E Standard10 songs, each with a Tune button

Main tuning: E Standard at concert pitch, measured by TuneLit on the CD (about 2 ¢ sharp, stored as 0).

Made at Homme's Pink Duck studio with Van Leeuwen, Dean Fertita and Michael Shuman, Joey Castillo and Dave Grohl sharing the drums, and guests such as Elton John, Trent Reznor and Alex Turner. Several songs are built on piano, and except for the opener every tab is in E Standard: I Sat by the Ocean, The Vampyre of Time and Memory, If I Had a Tail, My God Is the Sun, Kalopsia, Fairweather Friends, Smooth Sailing, I Appear Missing and the title song.

Keep Your Eyes Peeled is the one C Standard song, and the record confirms it: its bass sits on the low C almost all the time.

Two songs run a little sharp of the album: My God Is the Sun about 10 cents (A ≈ 442.5) and Smooth Sailing about 13 cents (A ≈ 443.3).

With TuneLit: E Standard at A 440; C Standard for Keep Your Eyes Peeled.

Villains (2017)

E Standard9 songs, each with a Tune button

Main tuning: E Standard at concert pitch, measured by TuneLit on the CD (0 ¢).

Produced by Mark Ronson and played by Homme, Van Leeuwen, Fertita, Shuman and Jon Theodore, the line-up that also made In Times New Roman…. Domesticated Animals, Fortress, Head Like a Haunted House, Un-Reborn Again, Hideaway, The Evil Has Landed and Villains of Circumstance are tabbed in E Standard. The two exceptions open the album:

• Feet Don't Fail Me is a whole step down, in D Standard, on Songsterr and on the best-rated UG tab.
• The Way You Used to Do is in Open G (D G D G B D) on Songsterr and UG; the bass goes down to D as well.

The album sits right at A 440. Domesticated Animals (about 8 cents sharp) and Un-Reborn Again (about 10 cents sharp) are the only songs that stand apart.

With TuneLit: E Standard; D Standard for Feet Don't Fail Me; Open G for The Way You Used to Do.

In Times New Roman… (2023)

E Standard10 songs, each with a Tune button

Main tuning: E Standard, not measured.

The latest album is not in the owner's library, so TuneLit has not measured it and lists it at concert pitch. The tabs put it in E Standard, except Obscenery, which Songsterr and a UG bass tab place in D Standard.

With TuneLit: E Standard at A 440; D Standard for Obscenery.

QOTSA tabs disagree more than most, and nearly always in the same way: the record is in C Standard and a tab is in E Standard. That is usually a choice, not a mistake. Many transcribers write the song in E Standard so nobody has to retune, and say so in the first line. Such a tab plays the right notes wherever it can, but it cannot reach anything below the low E, and riffs that ring on open strings in C become fretted shapes in E. If a tab feels awkward, check its first lines for a note about tuning.

TuneLit's check from the audio cannot settle this kind of question on its own. It hears which semitone the lowest open string sits on, so it can tell C from C♯, not C from E. What the record can show is a note below the tab's open low string: a low C or D on a song tabbed in E Standard means the bass, at least, is tuned lower. That is how I Was a Teenage Hand Model and Little Sister ended up with their lower tunings, and why Leg of Lamb and Turnin' on the Screw carry a warning.

The audio check confirmed the tabs' semitone on most songs. It disagreed confidently on ten, but nine of those are its known weak spot: a song that never plays its open low string makes it pick the note a half step up (C♯ instead of C on How to Handle a Rope, Feel Good Hit of the Summer, In the Fade, Medication and 3's & 7's; F instead of E on God Is in the Radio, Broken Box, Hideaway and The Evil Has Landed). The tenth, I Appear Missing, points a half step down, to E♭; no tab or source names E♭ for it, so it stays in E Standard until someone checks it by ear.

C Standard is two whole steps down. On a normal 25.5-inch guitar with light 9s or 10s the strings go slack, buzz and drift out of tune as you play. A few practical tips:

• Go heavier. A set around .012–.056 or .013–.060 keeps C Standard tight on a standard-scale guitar. For comparison, Van Leeuwen's C-tuned guitar in the 2025 rig rundown carries .012–.058.
• Keep one guitar in C if you can. Switching a guitar between E and C changes the neck tension, so it needs a setup (relief, intonation, nut slots for the heavier strings) to work well in both.
• A baritone helps too: its longer scale keeps C Standard firm with ordinary heavy strings.
• E♭ Standard songs on a C guitar: The Sky Is Fallin' is C Standard with a capo at the 3rd fret, open string for open string.
• Not ready to retune? You can play many C Standard songs in E Standard with the same notes higher up the neck, but you lose everything below the low E. TuneLit's Play along can instead move the recording to your tuning.

The measurements are TuneLit's own, made on the owner's CDs: a 2010 Japanese reissue of the debut, the 2010 deluxe edition of Rated R (disc 1), a 2009 Japanese reissue of Songs for the Deaf, the 2005 tour edition of Lullabies to Paralyze (disc 1) and the original CDs of Era Vulgaris, …Like Clockwork and Villains. Bonus tracks were measured but are not part of the albums listed here. A measurement is known only within one semitone, which is why the tuning's semitone comes from the tabs and sources; the cents come from the record. Album values are the median of their songs, and a song gets its own value only when it clearly stands apart (about 8 cents or more, with good confidence).

Two limits remain. First, none of these CDs has a second copy in the library (an LP or an original pressing), so no album could be cross-checked; Songs for the Deaf's 9 cents in particular comes from a reissue. Second, several song tunings rest on community tabs that disagree, marked as disputed on their songs; a check by ear would settle Leg of Lamb, Monsters in the Parasol, Turnin' on the Screw, Little Sister, Someone's in the Wolf and I Appear Missing.