Radiohead · Hail to the Thief · song 9
There There tuning.
There There (Radiohead, 2003) is in D2 B2 D3 G3 B3 E4 at concert pitch (A 440), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
At concert pitch
Measured on this song itself.
Radiohead · Hail to the Thief · 2003
About There There
The first single from Hail to the Thief (2003), an album recorded mostly live in two weeks in Los Angeles. Thom Yorke's guitar is tuned D B D G B E: String 6 down a whole step to D and String 5 up a whole step to B, with the top four strings standard, as The King of Gear lists it and the Songsterr tab of his part has it. Jonny Greenwood's and Ed O'Brien's guitars stay in standard tuning.
The 2016 XL LP of Hail to the Thief sits at concert pitch (A ≈ 439.3), and There There reads within a cent of A 440, so Tune opens D B D G B E at A 440 with no offset. TuneLit's semitone check from the audio agrees that the lowest string sits on D, which supports the dropped String 6.
Most Ultimate Guitar tabs write the song in standard tuning. That works for Jonny's and Ed's lines, but Thom's part is shaped around the two retuned low strings, and its fingerings make little sense without them. Raising String 5 from A to B adds tension, so turn the peg slowly, stop at B, and put it back down after the song. Tune String 6 down first, then String 5 up, and recheck both, since changing one shifts the other slightly.
Tip: Drop String 6 to D, raise String 5 to the B an octave below String 2, and check both against the open strings above them.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to D2 B2 D3 G3 B3 E4, the notes There There was recorded in.
- From the album's E Standard: String 6 down a whole step (E → D), String 5 up a whole step (A → B); the other strings stay.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. There There sits at concert pitch on the record, so the tuner stays at A 440.
- Then play There There 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 There There instead. Add your own copy, for example from your CD (it never leaves your device); the link already says the song is in D2 B2 D3 G3 B3 E4. Choose D2 B2 D3 G3 B3 E4 at A 440 and There There moves up 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 There There in?
D2 B2 D3 G3 B3 E4: D B D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.