Daydream Nation tuning.

How to get there from E Standard: String 6 up 3 half steps (E → G), String 4 down 3 half steps (D → B), String 3 down 5 half steps (G → D), String 2 down 7 half steps (B → E), String 1 down 9 half steps (E → G); the other strings stay.

String 1 sits 9 half steps below its standard E4. On a normal set (.010) it keeps only about 35 % of its usual tension and flaps. For the usual feel use about a .017 string, or a baritone guitar.

The main riff is Thurston's G A B D E G guitar; Lee doubles and drones on G G D D G G.

Thurston's guitar: G A B D E G, a pentatonic tuning with no two strings alike. Lee Ranaldo's guitar: G G D D G G. Both published in Guitar Player (1989 and 1991).

On its own, this song measures sharper: CD +10.7 ¢. Tune uses the album's A 440.

How to get there from the album's A2 C3 C3 G3 G♯3 C4: String 6 up 3 half steps (A → C), String 4 up 4 half steps (C → E), String 3 up 4 half steps (G → B), String 2 down a half step (G♯ → G), String 1 up a whole step (C → D); the other strings stay.

Thurston's guitar: C C E B G D, a high-pitched tuning with its lowest string on the C below middle C. Lee's guitar: G G D D G G. From a 1989 video.

How to get there from the album's A2 C3 C3 G3 G♯3 C4: String 6 up 3 half steps (A → C), String 4 up 4 half steps (C → E), String 3 up 4 half steps (G → B), String 2 down a half step (G♯ → G), String 1 up a whole step (C → D); the other strings stay.

Thurston's guitar: C C E B G D; Lee's guitar: E E E E F♯ F♯. Both in Guitar Player, February 1989.

How to get there from E Standard: String 5 up a whole step (A → B), String 4 up a whole step (D → E), String 3 down 3 half steps (G → E), String 2 down a whole step (B → A), String 1 down 5 half steps (E → B); the other strings stay.

String 1 sits 5 half steps below its standard E4. On a normal set (.010) it keeps only about 55 % of its usual tension and feels loose. For the usual feel use about a .013 string, or a baritone guitar.

Lee sings and plays the lead part.

Lee Ranaldo's guitar, the song's lead voice: E B E E A B (Guitar Player 1989 and 1991). Thurston plays an old four-string "Drifter" guitar strung with bass strings, two on B and two on F♯, fretted with a drumstick.

How to get there from E Standard: String 6 up 3 half steps (E → G), String 5 down a whole step (A → G), String 3 down 5 half steps (G → D), String 2 down 8 half steps (B → E♭), String 1 down 13 half steps (E → E♭); the other strings stay.

String 1 sits 13 half steps below its standard E4. On a normal set (.010) it keeps only about 20 % of its usual tension and flaps. For the usual feel use about a .021 string, or a baritone guitar.

Thurston's guitar: G G D D D♯ D♯ (Guitar Player, February 1989). Lee's guitar: G G D D G G, according to the band's techs.

How to get there from E Standard: String 5 up a whole step (A → B), String 4 up a whole step (D → E), String 3 down 3 half steps (G → E), String 2 down a whole step (B → A), String 1 down 5 half steps (E → B); the other strings stay.

String 1 sits 5 half steps below its standard E4. On a normal set (.010) it keeps only about 55 % of its usual tension and feels loose. For the usual feel use about a .013 string, or a baritone guitar.

Lee sings and leads.

Lee's guitar: E B E E A B (Guitar Player 1989 and 1991). Thurston's guitar: G A B D E G, the Teen Age Riot tuning.

How to get there from E Standard: String 5 up a whole step (A → B), String 4 up a whole step (D → E), String 3 down 3 half steps (G → E), String 2 down a whole step (B → A), String 1 down 7 half steps (E → A); the other strings stay.

String 1 sits 7 half steps below its standard E4 (counting the record’s pitch). On a normal set (.010) it keeps only about 40 % of its usual tension and flaps. For the usual feel use about a .015 string, or a baritone guitar.

Lee sings. Even the band had trouble finding its way back to these tunings twenty years later. The record sits about 46 ¢ flat, almost halfway between two notes, and TuneLit's semitone check hears a note a half step under Lee's low E, which fits Thurston's D♯ strings. Check by ear which guitar you are matching.

Lee's guitar: E B E E A A, a variant of his E B E E A B that he settled on when the band relearned the album in 2007 and believes was the original. Thurston's D♯ D♯ A A E E had to be reconstructed by detective work at the same time.

How to get there from E Standard: String 6 up 3 half steps (E → G), String 5 down a whole step (A → G), String 3 down 5 half steps (G → D), String 2 down 8 half steps (B → E♭), String 1 down 13 half steps (E → E♭); the other strings stay.

String 1 sits 13 half steps below its standard E4. On a normal set (.010) it keeps only about 20 % of its usual tension and flaps. For the usual feel use about a .021 string, or a baritone guitar.

One 14-minute track on the original CD: The Wonder, Hyperstation and Eliminator Jr.

Thurston's guitar: G G D D D♯ D♯ through all three parts (Guitar Player 1989 and 1992). Lee plays G G C♯ D G G on The Wonder and Hyperstation and G G D D G G on Eliminator Jr.