The Rolling Stones · Out of Our Heads · song 7
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction tuning.
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones, 1965) is in E Standard, about 11 cents flat (A ≈ 437), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Song tuning
E Standard −11 ¢
About 11 cents flat (A ≈ 437).
Measured by TuneLit
11 ¢ flat
The album's value, measured on the CD: Tune moves every string −11 ¢.
The Rolling Stones · Out of Our Heads · 1965
About (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
The song that made the Rolling Stones a number-one band in America, released in 1965 and placed on the American edition of Out of Our Heads (in Britain it was a single only). Keith Richards wrote the riff thinking of a horn line and recorded it through one of the first fuzz pedals, in plain standard tuning. The riff lives on String 5 around the 2nd to 5th frets, over an E chord, so nothing about the tuning is unusual.
What is unusual is the record's pitch. TuneLit measured the CD of Out of Our Heads about 11 ¢ flat (A ≈ 437.2), and Satisfaction itself reads a little lower still, about 19 ¢ flat, though not far enough from the album for a value of its own. Tune sets E Standard 11 ¢ down; against a guitar left at A 440, the fuzz riff would rub audibly.
Two things trip players up. First, fuzz hides tuning errors when you check by ear, so tune with the effect off and only then switch it on. Second, the song exists in many masterings and live versions; if you play along with a different release or a concert recording, it may sit a few cents elsewhere, and the bright fuzz makes even small differences obvious.
Tip: Tune with the fuzz switched off, then check the open A string against the first riff note on String 5 before you start.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, every string −11 ¢, the notes (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction sits 11 cents flat on the record: at A 440 your guitar would sound that much sharp against it, which Tune already corrects.
- Then play (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction 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 (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction 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 −11 ¢. Choose E Standard at A 440 and (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction moves up 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 (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction in?
E Standard −11 ¢: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.