The Official Metallica Tunings Thread

[Pushead]

By the former Encycmet Tab Guy
(Trust me, the tab books aren't always right)

Since the old one was deleted.


E Standard – E, A, D, G, B, E

Kill 'em All
Hit the Lights
The Four Horsemen
Motorbreath
Jump in the Fire
Whiplash
Phantom Lord
No Remorse
Seek & Destroy
Metal Militia

Ride The Lightning*
Fight Fire With Fire
Ride The Lightning
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Fade To Black
Trapped Under Ice
Escape
Creeping Death
The Call of Ktulu


Master of Puppets
Battery
Master of Puppets
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Disposable Heroes
Leper Messiah
Orion
Damage, INC.

...And Justice For All
Blackened
...And Justice For All
Eye of the Beholder
One
The Shortest Straw
Harvester of Sorrow
The Frayed Ends of Sanity
To Live is to Die
Dyers Eve

Metallica (The Black Album)
Enter Sandman
Holier Than Thou
The Unforgiven
Wherever I May Roam
Don't Tread On Me
Through The Never
Nothing Else Matters
Of Wolf and Man
My Friend of Misery
The Struggle Within

Garage INC.
Helpless
The Wait
Crash Course In Brain Surgery
Last Caress / Green Hell
Am I Evil?
Blitzkrieg
Breadfan
The Prince
Stone Cold Crazy
So What

Eb Standard – Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb, eb

Metallica (The Black Album)
The God That Failed

Load
Ain't My Bitch
2 x 4
The House Jack Built
Until It Sleeps
King Nothing
Hero of the Day
Bleeding Me
Cure
Poor Twisted Me
Wasting My Hate
Mama Said
Thorn Within
Ronnie
The Outlaw Torn

ReLoad
Fuel
The Memory Remains
The Unforgiven II
Better Than You
Slither
Carpe Diem Baby
Where the Wild Things Are
Prince Charming
Low Man's Lyric
Attitude
Fixxxer

Garage INC.
Killing Time
Overkill
Damage Case
Stone Dead Forever
Too Late Too Late

It's Electric
Turn The Page
Die Die My Darling
Loverman
Mercyful Fate
Astronomy
Tuesday's Gone

S&M
No Leaf Clover

MI:2 Soundtrack
I Disappear



D Standard – D, G, C, F, A, d

Master of Puppets
The Thing That Should Not Be (Can also be played in Dropped D)

Metallica (The Black Album)
Sad But True

ReLoad
Devil's Dance

Garage INC.
Sabbra Cadabra
Whiskey In The Jar
The Small Hours

Db / C# Standard – C#, F#, B, E, G#, C#

ReLoad
Bad Seed

Garage INC.
Free Speech For The Dumb
The More I See

Dropped Db/C# – Db, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb, eb

S&M
- Human

Saint Anger
Dirty Window

Dropped C – C, G, C, F, A, d

Saint Anger
Frantic
Saint Anger
Some Kind of Monster
My World
Shoot Me Again
Sweet Amber
Purify
All Within My Hands

Dropped Bb/A# – Bb, F, Bb, Eb, G, c

Saint Anger:
The Unnamed Feeling

Dropped Ab/G# – Ab, Eb, Ab, Db, F, Bb

Saint Anger:
Invisible Kid

* = The entire Ride The Lightning album is tuned slightly sharp of E standard.

[Metal Militant]

* = The entire Ride The Lightning album is tuned slightly sharp of E standard.

On purpose?

[One]

It was sped up slightly.

Stickied.

[Pushead]

Since we were discussing it on another forum:

Pus humbly submits Don't Tread On Me in E standard clicky

People didn't believe me. Silly tab books.

[jhguitarfreak]

Dropped Bb/A# – Bb, F, Bb, Eb, G, c

Saint Anger:
The Unnamed Feeling

How is this song in Dropped Bb?

I play this song in dropped C perfectly

[Pushead]

I humbly submit The Unnamed Feeling in Dropped Bb clicky

Going by what I hear, there is a low Bb ringing during those sections.

Watch the St. Anger Sessions DVD and look where their hands are on the neck. They play the opening sections on the second fret, and let open chords ring during the section I grabbed above.

Not that it's a huge deal, if you're playing some of the chords an octave higher, especially with a lot of gain. Most people will never tell. There's a dozen or so people playing it that way on youtube. Just know that Metallica plays it lower.

[Pushead]

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The start of the first verse is especially telling.

[-Battery-]

This man knows his shit. I've always played it in Bb. Love that song. <3

[jhguitarfreak]

I humbly submit The Unnamed Feeling in Dropped Bb clicky

Going by what I hear, there is a low Bb ringing during those sections.

Watch the St. Anger Sessions DVD and look where their hands are on the neck. They play the opening sections on the second fret, and let open chords ring during the section I grabbed above.

Not that it's a huge deal, if you're playing some of the chords an octave higher, especially with a lot of gain. Most people will never tell. There's a dozen or so people playing it that way on youtube. Just know that Metallica plays it lower.

I stand corrected

I just assumed it was in dropped C cause thats how I learned it

EDIT::.
Learned it by ear, not tab. Most songs I usually learn by ear unless theres some sort of obstacle (overbearing solo over a riff, crazy fast parts, etc, etc...)

Just wanted to clear that up

[Pushead]

Nah man. That's cool. There isn't only one way these tunes can be played.

[One]

Nah man. That's cool. There isn't only one way these tunes can be played.

UNTR0000000000

[Dildo Warhead]

May all of your chromatic tuners rust in peace.

[Blitzer]

Nah man. That's cool. There isn't only one way these tunes can be played.

True dat, I got mega confused a while ago when I heard from 2 different credible sources that the tuning for Thingy was drop D and D standard! Took me ages to figure out you could play it in both, fucken n00b!

[Misfire]

And Death Magnetic is in E with the exception of "all nightmare long" which is in drop D. That will need verification though.

[Pushead]

And Death Magnetic is in E with the exception of "all nightmare long" which is in drop D. That will need verification though.

Yeah, All Nightmare Long is in Dropped D or D standard. Without going much through the song, I'm leaning toward playing it in D standard, but I don't hear anything that would make me thing it couldn't be played in Dropped D.

I haven't gotten much figured out on the new album yet. I've got bits and pieces of 3 or 4 songs done.

[Misfire]

Yeah it could be D standard but what led me to believe it was drop D is because there's a section in A that would be easier to play in drop D. But I haven't analyzed the song so I'll leave it to you

[Tornado of Souls]

how can I tune my drums to sound like Lars'? :S

[One]

how can I tune my drums to sound like Lars'? :S

Badly.

[Wooly Bully]

SOunds like he's tuning them waaay down. Sounds pretty farty on metallicalive.com recordings, but live.. man, it's the most powerful drum sound I have heard. Weird.

[Aether]

His drum sound on the Black Album is one of the best sounding drumkit I've EVER heard. And as Woolly Bully said, pretty damn powerful live.

His kit sound on DM and St. Anger is a bit pants, more so on DM. (Yes, there's more to drums than the sound of the snare).

[alex_grenader]

SOunds like he's tuning them waaay down. Sounds pretty farty on metallicalive.com recordings, but live.. man, it's the most powerful drum sound I have heard. Weird.

the reason for this, is because they Bypass all the Effect Chain to record it.. so we get the raw sounds of every instrument... that means no compression nor gating in the bass drums, nor reverb and shit in guitars an vocals.. just pure tone, wah and lras hitting shit with sticks....