The Beatles · Help! · song 13
Yesterday tuning.
Yesterday (The Beatles, 1965) is in D Standard, about 10 cents flat (A ≈ 437), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
10 ¢ flat
Measured on this song itself: Tune moves every string −10 ¢.
The Beatles · Help! · 1965
About Yesterday
Yesterday, from Help! (1965), is McCartney alone with his Epiphone Texan acoustic and a string quartet. He tuned the guitar down a whole step, D G C F A D, and played the song in G shapes, so the record sounds in F. That is why it lies so well under the fingers: the verse moves through open-position G, F♯m7, B7 and Em shapes.
TuneLit measured the 1987 CD, George Martin's stereo remix of Help!. The album sits about 19 ¢ flat, but Yesterday only about 10 ¢ flat (A ≈ 437.4), so it has its own setting: Tune opens D Standard 10 ¢ down. The two vinyl copies TuneLit checked read it 12 and 16 ¢ flat.
Tabs come in two kinds. A tab in G shapes assumes the whole-step-down tuning; a tab written in F expects standard tuning and puts barre chords where McCartney had open ones. Both give the same notes. Six strings a whole step down feel slack and drift at first, so tune, play for a minute, and tune again; a slightly heavier set holds the tuning better if you keep the guitar there.
Tip: Tune all six strings down a whole step to D G C F A D at −10 ¢, then check against the opening F chord, played as a G shape.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to D Standard, every string −10 ¢, the notes Yesterday was recorded in.
- From the album's E Standard: Every string down a whole step. No tuner that knows D Standard? Clamp a capo across fret 2, tune to E Standard as usual, then take it off: every string drops to D 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. Yesterday sits 10 cents flat on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much sharp against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Yesterday 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 Yesterday instead. Add your own copy, for example from your CD (it never leaves your device); the link already says the song is in D Standard −10 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and Yesterday moves up 2 half steps and 10 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 Yesterday in?
D Standard −10 ¢: D G C F A D, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.