# Bands Or Guitarists The Tune Down One Half Step To Eb?



## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

I have been tuning down for a few years now. These are off the top of my head:

SRV
Jimi Hendrix
Van Halen
Johny Lang
Ozzy?

Others?


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Guns N' Roses
B.B. King
Danzig
Disturbed
Extreme
Green Day
Journey
Slayer
AC/DC
Alice In Chains
Jane's Addiction
Black Sabbath (half step and beyond)
Van Halen (Roth era)
Smashing Pumpkins
Motley Crue
Robert Johnson
Thin Lizzy
KISS
Weezer
U2


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

Metallica for several albums, and all of their live stuff since the mid-nineties.


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## reckless toboggan (Mar 9, 2019)

Pretty much every band in the 90's for an album or two before they decided to really tune down.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

I've asked our band to tune down 1/2 step. It's easier for me to sing backup.
The singer says that he can't sing 1/2 step down. Oh well.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

Skynyrd - Simple Man is 1/2 tone down.


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## DaddyDog (Apr 21, 2017)

Weezer.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

I love how my Boss TU2 had a half step down button.


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## tdotrob (Feb 24, 2019)

Propaghandi tunes down a half step for most songs.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

Don’t know what it is, but I just can’t do it.

If a song was originally recorded a half-step down (ie. Say it Ain’t So - Weezer) then it’s fine since it sounds like the recording. But if I’m covering a tune and playing it lower than the recording, it just rubs me the wrong way.

I auditioned for a band once and when I showed up, they sprung the Eb thing on me. I did the audition but turned down the gig. It’s a deal breaker.


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## cdntac (Oct 11, 2017)

KISS is actually a full step down now. 

Nugent plays a 1/2 step down.


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

2manyGuitars said:


> Don’t know what it is, but I just can’t do it.
> 
> If a song was originally recorded a half-step down (ie. Say it Ain’t So - Weezer) then it’s fine since it sounds like the recording. But if I’m covering a tune and playing it lower than the recording, it just rubs me the wrong way.
> 
> I auditioned for a band once and when I showed up, they sprung the Eb thing on me. I did the audition but turned down the gig. It’s a deal breaker.


Yeah, unless the arrangement/style is different, covers always sound "wrong" to me when they're in a different key than the original.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

jbealsmusic said:


> Yeah, unless the arrangement/style is different, covers always sound "wrong" to me when they're in a different key than the original.


We were doing _You Wreck Me_ by Tom Petty. Don’t know what they did on the original recording, but to play it in the “right” key, you capo at the 1st fret and it’s D-A-E (so Eb-Bb-F). We figured why go to the hassle of using the capo and tried _actual_ D-A-E. By the time I hit that 3rd chord, we were all looking at each other thinking “that doesn’t sound right”. Played it with the capo ever since.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

2manyGuitars said:


> You Wreck Me


We play that too .. in E. Guitarist didn't want to bar chord the whole song or use a capo.
'A capo on an electric!!? What's wrong with you man!?'
The crowd, and us, don't notice/care about the difference.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

If you can hear that a song is in a different key by one semitone, without hearing the original at the same time, I commend your very impressive ears.

Alexisonfire is half step. I can't think of anything else Eb off the top of my head.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Budda said:


> If you can hear that a song is in a different key by one semitone, without hearing the original at the same time, I commend your very impressive ears.
> 
> Alexisonfire is half step. I can't think of anything else Eb off the top of my head.


If you play in Eb for some time there is a very distinct recognizable sound plus the 1/2 step down.


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## Paul M (Mar 27, 2015)

I've often tuned guitars either/both up/down 1/2 step when playing with horns. Horn players tend to prefer flat keys. There is a reason every highschool stage band plays Sir Duke in Bb, and not B natural.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

Budda said:


> If you can hear that a song is in a different key by one semitone, without hearing the original at the same time, I commend your very impressive ears.


I don’t have perfect pitch or anything but for a lot of songs, I play them in my head and I go right to the proper key because it’s just how I hear it. For example, if I don’t have a tuner, I “play” Hell’s Bells by AC/DC in my head and I can tune my A string to it. If I need a D, it’s Rush’s Fly by Night. There are just certain songs that I can help but hear them in the right key.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

player99 said:


> If you play in Eb for some time there is a very distinct recognizable sound plus the 1/2 step down.


Played drop Db for 5 years, cant say I agree.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Budda said:


> Played drop Db for 5 years, cant say I agree.


I can tell by the string flubbing vs regular. To me it is distinct. At least I think it is...


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

A lot of Motley Crue recordings were a whole step down. 

Merle Haggard did a fair bit down a half. Workin Man Blues for instance is in Ab.

Much of Johnny Cash's recordings were a half step up, to F standard.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

cboutilier said:


> ... Much of Johnny Cash's recordings were a half step up, to F standard.


Apparently he often tuned to a dial tone, which is essentially an F.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

When I first started to sing, I would just find some chord site, find a version that sounded good to me, then print. I'd find out (sometimes years) later that it was supposed to be 1/2 step down. _Every Rose_ for instance. It wasn't till I did a lesson for it (solos and all) I realized it was different. I still sing/play it in standard. When I'm doing a solo gig, I don't want to be up/down/up/down or like someone else said, do songs that were not meant for Eb to be covered in Eb. If I can't sing an Eb tune in standard, I don't cover it. There are plenty you can. The only one I find that I absolutely cannot do, is _Got You Where I Want You_.


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