The Rolling Stones · Exile on Main St. · song 5
Tumbling Dice tuning.
Tumbling Dice (The Rolling Stones, 1972) is in G2 D3 G3 B3 D4, about 18 cents sharp (A ≈ 445), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Song tuning
G2 D3 G3 B3 D4 +18 ¢
About 18 cents sharp (A ≈ 445).
Measured by TuneLit
18 ¢ sharp
Measured on this song itself: Tune moves every string +18 ¢.
The Rolling Stones · Exile on Main St. · 1972
About Tumbling Dice
The single from Exile on Main St. (1972). Keith Richards plays it in five-string open G with a capo at the 4th fret, so his open strings sound as B and the song sits in B major. Mick Taylor plays slide and, on the record, the bass. The groove is Keith's: open-string chords at the capo and the two-finger moves around them, with the band leaning on the beat.
TuneLit measured Exile on Main St. about 18 ¢ sharp (A ≈ 444.5), and Tumbling Dice reads about 23 ¢ sharp, close enough to share that value. Tune sets G D G B D with the capo at the 4th fret and the reference 18 ¢ up. At A 440 the guitar sounds noticeably flat against the record.
Two things to watch. A capo pulls strings sharp, so tune in open G first, clamp the capo, then check again. And Exile is not one pitch: Happy uses the same tuning and capo but sits about 34 ¢ lower, so if you play both, retune between them.
Tip: After clamping the capo at the 4th fret, recheck all five strings against the open B chord at the start.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to G2 D3 G3 B3 D4, every string +18 ¢, the notes Tumbling Dice was recorded in.
- Turn String 5 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Tumbling Dice sits 18 cents sharp on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much flat against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play Tumbling Dice along with the record: its lowest open note and your String 5 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 Tumbling Dice instead. Add your own copy, for example from your CD (it never leaves your device); the link already says the song is in G2 D3 G3 B3 D4 +18 ¢. Choose G2 D3 G3 B3 D4 at A 440 and Tumbling Dice moves down 18 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 Tumbling Dice in?
G2 D3 G3 B3 D4 +18 ¢: G D G B D, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.