Guitar tuning · C F B♭ E♭ G C
C Standard tuner.
C F B♭ E♭ G C: 2 whole steps down from standard. Tune with your mic or by ear, at A4 = 440 or any pitch you need.
Tuner · Any tuning
Tune your guitar.
Pluck a string and the meter shows how far off it is. Tap any string to hear it at its true pitch and tune by ear.
- Pick any instrument and tuning
- Shift it down or up by half steps
- Set A to anything: 440, 432, 442…
C F B♭ E♭ G C · E Standard shape · −4 st
Check string tension →The sound never leaves your device.
Keys: Space start or stop · ← → half step · ↑ ↓ A (Shift: bigger steps) · 1–9 string · M mode · R hear · − + volume · L copy link · Esc done
Ready
tab: E
Strings 1 → 6
3 times each
Tap Start, then pluck any string.
Your browser asks once · nothing is recorded
Strings · tap to hear
Instrument
Try uke, bari, 5 string, cello…
Tuning
C Standard
Shape
Shift
Standard pitch
Higher or lower
Fine-tune
Moves every string a little, for example to match a recording.
Custom tuning
Any strings, any notes
One row for each string. The top row is the top string, usually the thickest.
Start from
Strings
+ adds a lower string at the top. − takes the top string away.
Notes from C0 to C8. Type a note like D2, F♯3 or B♭1, or use − and +.
Save and use keeps it on this device (up to 8 tunings). Use without saving tunes with it for now.
Reference A
Slider 380–500 Hz. Type any value from 300 to 600 Hz.
More pitches
Sound
Violin, viola, cello and double bass start with Bowed, the rest with Acoustic.
Note length
Match a recording Beta
Find the A a song was recorded at, then tune to it and play along.
…listening
Play the song, loud and clear.
Result
This recording sits on A 440
The tuner already matches it: nothing to change.
A recording is only known within a half step: if the song is a half step down, also change the tuning.
Beta: tested on real records and synthetic songs. Check the result by ear.
Nothing is uploaded: the sound is measured on this device.
Settings
Mode
Guided: one string at a time, from the thickest.
Meter
Bar: a slider with a mint in-tune zone.
Note length
How long a tapped string and Hear sound. Repeat plays the string again every few seconds, Continuous holds it: tap it again to stop.
Reference sound
Violin, viola, cello and double bass start with Bowed, the rest with Acoustic. A sound you pick stays.
Volume
Phone speakers play very low notes an octave up.
Note names
Sharps and flats
Octave numbers (E2, E4)
Tells the two E strings apart: E2 is the low one, E4 the high one.
Frequencies (Hz)
Each string's pitch in hertz, such as 82.4 Hz.
In tune within
Precise is not used with harmonics: Normal ±3 applies.
Harmonic mode
For one low string: play its 12th-fret harmonic (×2) or its 5th-fret one (×4).
Pro view
The pitch heard in Hz, tenths of a cent and the input picker. Turns on octave numbers and frequencies.
Device names appear after you allow the microphone.
Input channel
Auto picks the channel with sound. Interfaces: choose the input your instrument is plugged into.
Background
Night ocean, cosmos, forest and more.
The sound never leaves your device. No account, no cookies.
Guitar · Downtuned standard
About C Standard
Every string sits 2 whole steps below E Standard: C F B♭ E♭ G C. Downtuned standard tunings keep every chord shape you know; songs simply sound lower and the strings feel a bit looser.
C Standard is two whole steps down. Stoner rock, doom and metal bands use it for a big, dark sound, and most players move to heavier strings for it.
Also written: 2 steps down · CFBbEbGC
How to get there from standard
- String 6: lower 2 whole steps (E2 → C2)
- String 5: lower 2 whole steps (A2 → F2)
- String 4: lower 2 whole steps (D3 → B♭2)
- String 3: lower 2 whole steps (G3 → E♭3)
- String 2: lower 2 whole steps (B3 → G3)
- String 1: lower 2 whole steps (E4 → C4)
Quicker from Drop C: lower String 5 a whole step (G2 → F2); lower String 4 a whole step (C3 → B♭2); lower String 3 a whole step (F3 → E♭3); lower String 2 a whole step (A3 → G3); lower String 1 a whole step (D4 → C4).
Why players use it
Why C Standard
C Standard, C F B♭ E♭ G C, sits two whole steps below standard. The open low C, about 65 Hz, is in bass territory, so a fuzzy power chord on the bottom strings fills a room on its own. Fingerings do not change; a riff you know in E just sounds much deeper.
That depth shaped a whole sound. In Palm Desert, California, Josh Homme tuned Kyuss's guitars down to C and played through bass cabinets, which handled the low notes better than guitar speakers, and the bass went down with him. The sound later got the name stoner rock, or desert rock.
On the records
Who plays in C Standard
Two related bands make up almost all of TuneLit's 79 songs here. Kyuss have 39, from Wretch (1991) through Blues for the Red Sun, Welcome to Sky Valley and ...And the Circus Leaves Town, with Green Machine, Gardenia and One Inch Man among them. Queens of the Stone Age, Homme's next band, add 33: their first three albums are in C, and Homme has named No One Knows as a C Standard song himself. From Lullabies to Paralyze on, most of their songs move up to E.
The rest are single songs: ZZ Top's Rhythmeen and Prettyhead from 1996, Black Sabbath's Forbidden, two tracks on Sepultura's 1985 Bestial Devastation EP and Van Halen's Honeybabysweetiedoll. Kyuss had no tuner before Scott Reeder joined in 1992, so Wretch and Blues for the Red Sun sit flat of A 440; their Tune buttons carry the offsets.
Songs on TuneLit
Famous songs in C Standard
Each song has its own page: the exact tuning, the pitch of the record and how to get there string by string. Tune sets the tuner to the record, cents included.
- ThumbKyuss · Blues for the Red Sun (1992) · −19 ¢Tune
- Feel Good Hit of the SummerQueens of the Stone Age · Rated R (2000)Tune
- Green MachineKyuss · Blues for the Red Sun (1992) · −19 ¢Tune
- The Lost Art of Keeping a SecretQueens of the Stone Age · Rated R (2000)Tune
- 50 Million Year Trip (Downside Up)Kyuss · Blues for the Red Sun (1992) · +7 ¢Tune
- No One KnowsQueens of the Stone Age · Songs for the Deaf (2002) · +9 ¢Tune
- Thong SongKyuss · Blues for the Red Sun (1992) · −19 ¢Tune
- Go with the FlowQueens of the Stone Age · Songs for the Deaf (2002) · +9 ¢Tune
- GardeniaKyuss · Welcome to Sky Valley (1994) · +8 ¢Tune
- Sick, Sick, SickQueens of the Stone Age · Era Vulgaris (2007) · +6 ¢Tune
- Supa Scoopa and Mighty ScoopKyuss · Welcome to Sky Valley (1994) · +8 ¢Tune
- 3's & 7'sQueens of the Stone Age · Era Vulgaris (2007) · +6 ¢Tune
- Demon CleanerKyuss · Welcome to Sky Valley (1994) · +8 ¢Tune
- WhitewaterKyuss · Welcome to Sky Valley (1994)Tune
- HurricaneKyuss · ...And the Circus Leaves Town (1995)Tune
- One Inch ManKyuss · ...And the Circus Leaves Town (1995) · +8 ¢Tune
79 songs · 7 bands
Every C Standard song on TuneLit
Open a band to see its songs in this tuning. Each song opens on its album page, at its own Tune button, set to the pitch of the record.
Kyuss 39 songs
- Wretch (1991): (Beginning of What's About to Happen) Hwy 74, Love Has Passed Me By, Son of a Bitch, The Law, I'm Not, Stage III
- Blues for the Red Sun (1992): Thumb, Green Machine, Molten Universe, 50 Million Year Trip (Downside Up), Thong Song, Apothecaries' Weight, Caterpillar March, Freedom Run, 800, Writhe, Allen's Wrench, Mondo Generator, Yeah
- Welcome to Sky Valley (1994): Gardenia, Asteroid, Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop, 100°, Demon Cleaner, Odyssey, Conan Troutman, N.O., Whitewater
- ...And the Circus Leaves Town (1995): Hurricane, One Inch Man, Thee Ol' Boozeroony, Gloria Lewis, Phototropic, El Rodeo, Jumbo Blimp Jumbo, Tangy Zizzle, Size Queen, Catamaran, Spaceship Landing
- Kyuss: every album and its tuning
Queens of the Stone Age 33 songs
- Queens of the Stone Age (1998): Regular John, Avon, If Only, Walkin' on the Sidewalks, You Would Know, How to Handle a Rope, Mexicola, Hispanic Impressions, You Can't Quit Me Baby, Give the Mule What He Wants, I Was a Teenage Hand Model
- Rated R (2000): Feel Good Hit of the Summer, The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret, Better Living Through Chemistry, Monsters in the Parasol, Quick and to the Pointless, In the Fade, Tension Head, I Think I Lost My Headache
- Songs for the Deaf (2002): You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire, No One Knows, A Song for the Dead, Go with the Flow, Do It Again, A Song for the Deaf, Mosquito Song
- Lullabies to Paralyze (2005): Medication, Everybody Knows That You Are Insane, Tangled Up in Plaid
- Era Vulgaris (2007): Sick, Sick, Sick, Battery Acid, 3's & 7's
- ...Like Clockwork (2013): Keep Your Eyes Peeled
- Queens of the Stone Age: every album and its tuning
Sepultura 2 songs
ZZ Top 2 songs
Black Sabbath 1 song
The Rolling Stones 1 song
Van Halen 1 song
Playing tips
Playing in C Standard
On light 9s or 10s, C Standard flaps, buzzes and drifts sharp when you pick hard. A set around .012–.056 or .013–.060 holds it on a normal 25.5-inch neck; Troy Van Leeuwen's C-tuned guitar carries .012–.058. A baritone keeps C firm with ordinary heavy strings.
Keep one guitar in C if you can. Moving a neck between E and C changes the pull on it, so relief, intonation and nut slots need attention each time. On bass, C F B♭ E♭ needs heavier strings too, and many players use the low B string of a five-string set for the C. Watch out for Kyuss and Queens tabs moved up to E Standard for convenience: same shapes, but four half steps above the record.
6 strings
Notes and frequencies
| String | Note | A = 440 | A = 432 | A = 442 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | C2 | 65.41 | 64.22 | 65.70 |
| 5 | F2 | 87.31 | 85.72 | 87.70 |
| 4 | B♭2 | 116.54 | 114.42 | 117.07 |
| 3 | E♭3 | 155.56 | 152.74 | 156.27 |
| 2 | G3 | 196.00 | 192.43 | 196.89 |
| 1 | C4 | 261.63 | 256.87 | 262.81 |
The tuner on this page works at any A4 from 300 to 600 Hz, and can shift the whole tuning by half steps or fine cents.
Measured
How the tuner hears C2
C Standard goes down to C2 on String 6, 65.41 Hz. A phone mic hears C2 faintly: in our phone-mic model its fundamental arrives 8 dB quieter. Read from its overtones, C2 stayed within 1 ¢.
No tuner for C Standard?
The capo trick
If your tuner only knows E Standard, clamp a capo across fret 4 and tune the strings, capo on, to E Standard (E A D G B E) as usual. Take the capo off: every open string drops 2 whole steps and you are in C Standard (C F B♭ E♭ G C).
A capo pushes the strings a little sharp, so the open strings can end up a few cents flat. Check each one again without the capo: the tuner on this page reads C Standard directly.
String tension
Strings and tension
Strings 6–1: about 37% less tension (approx., same strings, same scale length).
To keep the feel of a 10–46 set at standard pitch, try about 13–59 (approx.: string makers' charts differ, and many players simply like it looser).
A longer neck helps too. Compared with a 25.5″ guitar, a 27″ scale gives back about a half step of tension and 28.6″ about a whole step (approx.).
Check string tension → String by string, with your own set and scale length.
Neighboring tunings
Higher tunings first. Each rung moves every string of C Standard by a half step; in the tuner, the ◂ ▸ arrows on the tuning chip do the same.
- D StandardAll strings 2 half steps lower
- C♯ StandardAll strings 3 half steps lower
- C StandardThis pageAll strings 4 half steps lower. Notes: C F B flat E flat G C
- B StandardAll strings 5 half steps lower
- B♭ StandardAll strings 6 half steps lower. Notes: B flat E flat A flat D flat F B flat
Questions
What are the notes of C Standard?
From String 6 to String 1: C2 F2 B♭2 E♭3 G3 C4. At A4 = 440 Hz the lowest string is 65.41 Hz and the highest is 261.63 Hz.
Is C Standard the same as tuning 2 steps down?
Yes. C Standard means every string is 2 whole steps lower than standard: C F B♭ E♭ G C. Tabs often call it "2 steps down". Chord shapes stay the same; only the sound moves down.
Do I need heavier strings for C Standard?
Strings 6–1: about 37% less tension (approx.). To keep the feel of a 10–46 set at standard pitch, try about 13–59 (approx.: string makers' charts differ, and many players simply like it looser).