Stevie Ray Vaughan · Couldn't Stand the Weather · song 5
Cold Shot tuning.
Cold Shot (Stevie Ray Vaughan, 1984) is in E♭ Standard at concert pitch (A 440), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Song tuning
E♭ Standard
At concert pitch (A 440).
Measured by TuneLit
At concert pitch
The album's value, measured on the CD.
Stevie Ray Vaughan · Couldn't Stand the Weather · 1984
About Cold Shot
A shuffle from Couldn't Stand the Weather, released as a single in 1984. Its watery, swirling guitar tone comes from a Fender Vibratone, a rotating-speaker cabinet, not from a special tuning: the guitar is in Vaughan's usual E♭ Standard, every string a half step down, with the riff played in standard shapes.
TuneLit reads the song about 3 ¢ sharp, close to its album at concert pitch, so the Tune button opens E♭ Standard at A 440. TuneLit's audio check agrees that the lowest open string is E♭.
The rotating speaker makes the pitch seem to waver, which can trick you into retuning when nothing is wrong. Tune against a clean part of the song, or before you press play, and trust the tuner rather than the shimmer. The chord stabs are short, so muting with both hands matters as much as the notes. If you do not have a rotary effect, a slow chorus or vibrato pedal gets you close without touching the tuning; set its depth low so the pitch wobble does not mask the record.
Tip: Tune before you switch on any rotary or chorus effect, then match the riff with a dry sound first.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E♭ Standard, the notes Cold Shot 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. Cold Shot sits at concert pitch on the record, so the tuner stays at A 440.
- Then play Cold Shot 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 Cold Shot 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. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Cold Shot moves up 98 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 Cold Shot in?
E♭ Standard: E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.