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 as either C-F-A#-D#-G-C or more often C-F-Bb-Eb-G-C.

The tuning is commonly used by metal and hard rock artists due to the dark sound it produces. It also makes bending easier for the player. Heavier gauge strings can be used in order to maintain tension in the strings. It is possible to play without them, but difficulty can be experienced as it becomes quite easy to unintentionally bend notes and chords out of tune. However, the ease of bends can be desirable, depending on playing style of the musician.

Use of C tuning

Generally, the tuning is used by heavy metal artists. Tony Iommi tuned his guitar 1 1/2 steps down to C# on most of the tracks featured upon the Black Sabbath album Master of Reality. While he did so primarily for physical reasons (his fretting fingers were tipped with hard plastic prosthetics due to an industrial accident in his youth, making string breakage a constant problem), this produced a new sound, which became coveted by many bands in the emerging stoner metal genre. Several, notably Kyuss and Sleep, took it a further half a step down, to end up with the resulting C tuning, which they used almost exclusively. Josh Homme from the aforementioned Kyuss and also of Queens of the Stone Age said of the tuning "We just did it in the beginning because I didn't have a tuner...we got to like it and it never came back up. It just sounded a little heavier than tuning in E." [http://www.stonerrock.com/kyuss/interviews/guitar_mag.txt] Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins also had a prototype Reverend guitar built for him that was specially designed to be tuned in C, which was used in the songs "The Everlasting Gaze" and "Heavy Metal Machine". [http://www.spfc.org/band/equipment.html?equipment_id=93]

Shortcut Tuning for Dropped C(Without A Tuner)

*For E: hit 10 on the D string
*For A: hit 3 on the D string
*For D: hit the open C string
*For G: hit 6 on the B string
*For B: hit 5 on the hE string
*For hE: hit 2 on the now C string

List of Bands using C Tuning

* Agalloch
* Akercocke
* Alestorm
* Alex Grim
* Alvinella Pompejana
* Anberlin
* Arch Enemy
* At The Throne of Judgment
* Atreyu
* A Perfect Circle
* Between the Buried and Me
* The Black Dahlia Murder
* Boy Hits Car
* Black Sabbath
* Bullet for my Valentine
* Burning Hatred
* Cathedral
* Cold
* Converge
* Cradle of Filth
* Deathstars
* Deftones
* Dethklok
* Disillusion
* Dream Theater (In particular, the songs "In the Name of God", "As I Am" and "Honor Thy Father" )
* Elliott Smith
* Entombed (band) (As heard on their album Wolverine Blues)
* Fightstar
* From First To Last (The entire Heroine album)
* Gorguts
* Gutted With Broken Glass
* High On Fire
* Hatebreed
* Incantation
* Immolation
* Immure the Saint
* In Flames
* John Mayer (Neon)
* Jimi Hendrix (Used on "Hear My Train A-Comin")
* Judas Priest (Used on Jugulator and Demolition)
* Kyuss
* Limp Bizkit (C# standard)
* Nine Black Alps (Used on "Southern Cross")
* Overkill
* P.O.D.
* Peter Case
* Queens of the Stone Age (almost if not exclusively)
* The Sword
* Mario Lopez Army
* Scar The Armada
* Sleep
* Soundgarden ("Fourth of July" from the album Superunknown)
* Static-X
* Steve Vai
* Smashing Pumpkins
* Leo Kottke (Used in "The Last of the Arkansas Greyhounds")
* Wintersun
* The Who (Used for Underture)
* The Wounded
* Three Days Grace (Used on "Animal I Have Become")
* Division Death (C Standard)
* Slaughter the Citizens
* Sleater-Kinney (C# Standard)
* Soilwork

References

Also: White Chapel Drop C Tuning. Beheaded Drop C.