C tuning (guitar)
C tuning is a type of guitar tuning. The strings of the guitar are tuned two whole steps lower than standard tuning. The resulting notes can be described most commonly as C-F-A♯-D♯-G-C or C-F-B♭-E♭-G-C. This is not to be confused with C♯ tuning, which is one and one half steps lower than standard tuning.
The tuning is commonly used by metal and hard rock artists to achieve a heavier, deeper sound. Slackening regular strings on a regular guitar to a lower pitch makes bending easier. Depending on personal playing style, some guitarists find this desirable, while others switch to heavier-gauge strings to avoid unintentional bending and to play chords in tune more easily. Another option is the use of a baritone guitar, which is built slightly longer and stronger than a regular guitar to achieve the desired pitch with heavy strings at average tensions.
Used by
- Abysmal Dawn
- The Absence
- Acid Bath
- Acid King
- Akercocke
- Alestorm
- Al-Namrood
- Amaranthe (this tuning and drop B-flat used on their first two studio albums)
- Amatory
- Amon Amarth (on the albums Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds, Once Sent from the Golden Hall, and their new album Berserker along with drop B-flat)
- Anaal Nathrakh
- Anathema (on their recent progressive rock albums)
- Arch Enemy (2001–present)[1]
- Avatar (on the first three studio albums)
- Autopsy
- Black Sabbath (on live performances of most songs from Master of Reality and Vol. 4 since 2012, including "Into the Void", "Under the Sun", and "Snowblind") [2][3][4]
- Blasphemy
- Blut Aus Nord
- Brendon Small
- BroodMother
- Burnt By The Sun
- Called To Arms
- Cancerslug
- Chthonic
- Chuck Berry (most notable songs were recorded in standard tuning)
- Cold[5]
- Colour Haze
- Cradle of Filth (In "Better to Reign in Hell" from Damnation and a Day)
- Deadlock
- Deathstars
- Defeated Sanity
- Dethklok
- Devourment
- Die Apokalyptischen Reiter
- Dimension Zero
- Disgorge
- Dismember
- Dream Theater (used on "As I Am", "Honor Thy Father" and "In the Name of God" on Train of Thought, "A Nightmare to Remember" on Black Clouds & Silver Linings, and "Untethered Angel" on their new album Distance over Time)
- Entombed (From Clandestine onward)
- Elder (On debut album only)
- Electric Wizard
- Evanescence on some songs
- EyeHateGod
- Fight (band)
- Full of Hell
- George Cromarty
- George Ezra
- Goat Horn
- Gorguts [6] (since Obscura)
- Guía Luz Negra (d bandolier)
- Hamlet (main tuning)
- Harvey Milk
- Hatebreed
- Hatesphere
- Heaven Shall Burn
- High on Fire
- Hypocrisy (from Penetralia to The Final Chapter)
- Immolation
- Incantation
- In Flames[7](since The Jester Race; after Reroute to Remain, they started using drop A# exclusively)
- Into Eternity
- Jimi Hendrix (In the song "Here My Train A' Comin' (Acoustic)")
- John Butler
- Judas Priest (on "Dead Meat", "Brain Dead", and "Cathedral Spires")
- Katatonia (all albums since Viva Emptiness)
- Kip Winger (solo)
- Kittie
- Kyuss[8]
- Kreator
- Legion Of The Damned
- Life of Agony (on half of “Ugly”, the entirety of “Soul Searching Sun”, and some songs from "The Sound of Scars")
- Monster Magnet
- Murder by Death
- NAILS
- Necrophagia
- Nervosa
- Neuraxis
- Nick Drake
- Nightrage
- Noah And The Whale
- Panopticon
- Paradise Lost (first two albums)
- Parasite Inc.
- Pile
- Porcupine Tree (in Anesthetize and Way Out of Here)
- Punch the Klown
- Queens of the Stone Age (used exclusively on their debut album, after which C standard, E standard and various other tunings were used)[9]
- Royal Blood (How Did We Get So Dark?)
- Salticid (in "Black Fly")
- Scorpions (on "Love 'em or Leave 'em")
- Sentenced (on their first album Shadows of the Past)
- Septicflesh (in a few earlier songs, and in much of their recent symphonic death metal material)
- Sepultura (on "Antichrist" and "Necromancer")
- Six Feet Under
- Sleep
- Suffocation (on Effigy of the Forgotten)
- The Black Dahlia Murder
- The Smashing Pumpkins (in "The Everlasting Gaze" "Lucky 13" "Heavy Metal Machine" and "The Imploding Voice")
- The Sword
- Sibylle Baier
- Sodom (in "Masquerade in Blood")
- Soundgarden (occasionally on other releases)
- Spectrum Disorder
- Spiritual Beggars
- Starkill
- Static-X (all up until Shadow Zone – since then, they drop the low string to Bb)
- Strapping Young Lad
- Suidakra
- Therion (on their early death metal albums)
- Tiamat (on their first album Sumerian Cry)
- Tony Iommi (on the song "Who's Fooling Who") [10]
- Tremonti (on the songs "Arm Yourself", "Throw Them to the Lions" (performed in B tuning live), and "Make it Hurt")
- While Heaven Wept
- The Wildhearts (on 2009's "Chutzpah" album)
- Witchfinder General
- Wolfchant
References
- "Michael Amott Interview". Musisi.com. June 7, 2008.
- Maximiliano Dickinson (2014-01-17), Black Sabbath Under The Sun ( Live... Gathered In Their Masses), retrieved 2016-01-22
- Black Sabbath (2015-07-08), Black Sabbath - "Into The hiVoid" Live 2013, retrieved 2016-01-22
- WORLD TOUR (2019-01-19), Black Sabbath - Snowblind (Live 2017), retrieved 2019-02-20
- "Terry Balsamo Artist Interview Ibanez". Ibanez. January 1, 2006. Archived from the original on September 27, 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2011.
- "Rigged: Luc Lemay of Gorguts". MetalSucks.net. MetalSucks. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
- "In Flames Interview". tartareandesire.com.
- "Kyuss The Guitar Cave". The Guitar Cave. October 28, 2011.
- "10 Questions with Troy Van Leeuwen - Queens of the Stone Age". guitar.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
- Ray H (2013-06-16), Iommi - Who's Fooling Who (Feat. Ozzy Osbourne & Bill Ward), retrieved 2016-04-07