The Beatles · Rubber Soul · song 7
Michelle tuning.
Michelle (The Beatles, 1965) is in E Standard, about 12 cents sharp (A ≈ 443), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
12 ¢ sharp
Measured on this song itself: Tune moves every string +12 ¢.
The Beatles · Rubber Soul · 1965
About Michelle
Michelle, from Rubber Soul (1965), began as a finger-picked instrumental McCartney played in C. On the record it is in F: every guitar part in the tab, McCartney's acoustic, Lennon's nylon-string and Harrison's guitars, uses a capo at the 5th fret, so the C-shape fingerings sound a fourth higher. George Martin wrote the melody of Harrison's solo.
TuneLit measured the 1987 CD, George Martin's stereo remix. Michelle sits about 12 ¢ sharp (A ≈ 442.9), some 23 ¢ above the rest of the album, which reads about 12 ¢ flat. So the song has its own setting: Tune opens E Standard 12 ¢ up, capo at the 5th fret. Both vinyl copies TuneLit checked agree that it runs sharp.
Keep the album setting away from this one: at −12 ¢ you would be almost a quarter of a half step flat, and the slow descending line under the verse chords shows it at once. The second chord of the verse is the jazz voicing the band learned from Jim Gretty in Liverpool; with the capo it falls in comfortable C-shape territory.
Tip: Tune to +12 ¢ first, put the capo on the 5th fret, and recheck the first chord, since a capo pulls strings slightly sharp.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string +12 ¢, the notes Michelle was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Michelle sits 12 cents sharp on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much flat against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Michelle 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 Michelle 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 Michelle moves down 11 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 Michelle in?
E Standard +12 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.