Van Halen · For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge · song 9
Right Now tuning.
Right Now (Van Halen, 1991) is in E Standard at concert pitch (A 440), measured by TuneLit from the record.
Song tuning
E Standard
At concert pitch (A 440).
Measured by TuneLit
At concert pitch
The album's value, measured on the CD.
Van Halen · For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge · 1991
About Right Now
Right Now, from For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991), is built on Eddie's piano part, with the guitars coming in heavy behind it, one of the best-known songs of the Hagar years. Like nearly all of the album, the guitars are in E Standard at concert pitch.
TuneLit measured the song about 4 cents sharp, which counts as concert pitch, and the album as a whole sits within about 4 cents of A 440 too. A guitar tuned the usual way matches it; there is no offset to set and no reason to retune between this and the rest of the record, apart from Runaround, which is a half step down.
TuneLit's audio check leaned toward F as the lowest string, the usual mistake on songs that don't use the open low E: Right Now centres on B♭ and D, so String 6 hardly ever rings open. The tab is in E Standard, and nothing suggests otherwise. The piano intro gives you a clean reference before the band enters, so it is the best moment to check your open strings.
Tip: Tune to A 440 and check your open strings against the piano intro before the band comes in.
Step by step
Tune your guitar like the record
- Tap Tune like this: the tuner switches to E Standard, the notes Right Now was recorded in.
- Turn String 6 to String 1 until each shows ✓ in tune. Right Now sits at concert pitch on the record, so the tuner stays at A 440.
- Then play Right Now 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 Right Now 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 Right Now moves down 4 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 Right Now in?
E Standard: E A D G B E, low to high, at the pitch TuneLit measured on the record.