Van Halen · 1984 · song 2
Jump tuning.
Jump (Van Halen, 1984) is in E Standard at concert pitch (A 440), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Measured by TuneLit
At concert pitch
Measured on this song itself.
Van Halen · 1984 · 1984
About Jump
Jump, from 1984, is Van Halen's biggest hit, built on the Oberheim OB-Xa synthesizer riff that Eddie wrote around 1981 and the rest of the band first turned down. For guitarists it is a plain E Standard song: Wikipedia, citing the Van Halen Guitar Anthology, puts it in C major, with the guitar solo in B♭ minor.
TuneLit measured the record within about a cent of concert pitch. Its Tune button uses the album value, E Standard about 8 cents sharp (A ≈ 441.9), which is close enough that you will not hear the difference. Unlike Panama, two tracks later, Jump needs no lower tuning at all.
TuneLit's audio check could not settle the low string here, because the song is keyboard-driven and its guitar parts hardly touch the open low E. That is no reason to doubt the tabs, which all use E Standard. If you play the synth riff on guitar, any standard-tuned guitar at A 440 will do; the solo is the part that needs care, with fast legato lines in B♭ minor.
Tip: Tune with the album button and check yourself by strumming a C major chord against the opening synth riff.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, the notes Jump was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Jump sits at concert pitch on the record, so the tuner stays at A 440.
- Then play Jump 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 Jump 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 Jump moves up 1 cent, 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 Jump in?
E Standard: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.