Slayer · Reign in Blood · song 10
Raining Blood tuning.
Raining Blood (Slayer, 1986) is in E♭ Standard, about 13 cents flat (A ≈ 437), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
13 ¢ flat
The album's value, measured on the CD: Tune moves every string −12 ¢.
Slayer · Reign in Blood · 1986
About Raining Blood
Raining Blood closes Reign in Blood (1986): it opens with a thunderstorm and a pounding drum build-up, then explodes into some of thrash metal's best-known riffs. Like every song on the album it is in E♭ Standard (E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭), the half-step-down tuning Kerry King calls "D♯" and strings with .009–.042 gauges.
Reign in Blood is not one pitch. TuneLit measured the CD about 12 ¢ flat overall (A ≈ 436.8), with most songs 12 to 18 ¢ low, and Raining Blood is the lowest of them, about 18 ¢ flat. That is not clearly enough apart from the album to get its own setting, so its Tune button sets E♭ Standard −12 ¢. TuneLit's check from the audio agrees on E♭.
So even after Tune, your guitar may sit a few cents above the record. You hear it most on the long, ringing notes of the intro; if they beat against your guitar, lower Fine-tune a little more. Postmortem, which runs straight into this song, sits at concert pitch, so if you play the two back to back, retune between them.
Tip: Tap Tune for E♭ −12 ¢, then play along with the intro's long ringing notes and lower Fine-tune a few cents if they beat.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E♭ Standard, every string −12 ¢, the notes Raining Blood was recorded in.
- From E Standard: Every string down a half step. No tuner that knows E♭ Standard? Clamp a capo across fret 1, tune to E Standard as usual, then take it off: every string drops to E♭ Standard. Check each string again afterwards, since a capo pulls the strings a little sharp.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Raining Blood sits 13 cents flat on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much sharp against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Raining Blood 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 Raining Blood 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 −12 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Raining Blood moves up a half step and 13 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 Raining Blood in?
E♭ Standard −12 ¢: E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.