# i don't get it



## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

i like to play along to cd or to wmp. on the odd occasion i have trouble figuring out where someone is, i look up tab online. the thing is, i suck bad enough in standard tuning, so i don't really mess with alternative tunings. 
somehow though, it still works. even though i don't tune different. 
for example, if i was to play stuff from appetite for destruction. most tab sites show slash tuning from top to bottom, D#, G#,C#,F#,A#,D#
i don't bother with all that. i know where sweet child is, so i just hit my D, and turn it down till it matches the key. then i tune all the other strings to that as if it was standard. works like a charm for the whole record. i do the same thing with other bands, and i can still find the sound. * shouldn't this totally not work? *satriani's surfing with the alien, same thing, sorta. tab sites show him in standard tuning. but if i do that everything is 2 frets lower than where i play it, and it's harder to play. so i tune my A down to match the opening of surfing with the alien. then i tune to that string. works fine for the whole record but instead i play everything 2 frets higher, and it's all way easier to play. the fingering makes much more sense to me this way. 
why is that?


----------



## ajcoholic (Feb 5, 2006)

cheezyridr said:


> i like to play along to cd or to wmp. on the odd occasion i have trouble figuring out where someone is, i look up tab online. the thing is, i suck bad enough in standard tuning, so i don't really mess with alternative tunings.
> somehow though, it still works. even though i don't tune different.
> for example, if i was to play stuff from appetite for destruction. most tab sites show slash tuning from top to bottom, D#, G#,C#,F#,A#,D#
> i don't bother with all that. i know where sweet child is, so i just hit my D, and turn it down till it matches the key. then i tune all the other strings to that as if it was standard. works like a charm for the whole record.


He is in Eb tuning (all strings dropped a semitone). You are doing just that - you are tuning to the album.

AJC


----------



## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

....well, that was far simpler than i expected. 
:wave:


----------

