Queens of the Stone Age · Villains · song 2
The Way You Used to Do tuning.
The Way You Used to Do (Queens of the Stone Age, 2017) is in Open G at concert pitch (A 440), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
At concert pitch
Measured on this song itself.
Queens of the Stone Age · Villains · 2017
About The Way You Used to Do
The Way You Used to Do, the first single from Villains (2017), is played in Open G: D G D G B D, from the lowest string to the highest. Songsterr and UG agree on it. Lower Strings 6, 5 and 1 a whole step each; Strings 4, 3 and 2 stay where they are. The song centres on G, which in this tuning is the open fifth string, and the bass goes down to D as well.
TuneLit measured Villains at concert pitch (0 cents) and this song about 2 cents sharp, so Tune opens Open G at A 440. The audio check agrees with the low D of String 6.
In Open G a straight barre across all six strings is a major chord, so the tab's shapes look simpler than in standard tuning, while a regular chord shape played from memory sounds wrong: stick to the tab. One chords sheet gives a standard-tuning version that reworks the riff; it is a different arrangement, not the record's. After this track, raise the three strings back for the E Standard songs on the rest of the album.
Tip: Lower Strings 6 and 1 to D and String 5 to G, then strum all six open: you should hear a clean G major chord.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to Open G, the notes The Way You Used to Do was recorded in.
- From the album's E Standard: String 6 down a whole step (E → D), String 5 down a whole step (A → G), String 1 down a whole step (E → D); the other strings stay.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. The Way You Used to Do sits at concert pitch on the record, so the tuner stays at A 440.
- Then play The Way You Used to Do 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 The Way You Used to Do instead. Add your own copy, for example from your CD (it never leaves your device); the link already says the song is in Open G. The Way You Used to Do is already in Open G at A 440, so nothing moves. Slow it down or loop a few bars to learn it, and save the result as a WAV file.
Questions
What tuning is The Way You Used to Do in?
Open G: D G D G B D, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.