What tuning was Highway To Hell recorded in??

[BadBoy House]

does anyone know what tuning acdc used on the album version of highway to hell?? It deffinitely not standard tuning.

The live album is in standard.

[Led Zep Fan]

Why do you think the original was not in standard?

[BadBoy House]

because when I try to play along to it using any of my guitars in standard tuning it sounds out of tune.

If I play along to the live version that sounds as it should.

[Led Zep Fan]

It might have been slowed down, or sped up.

[arcanis494]

From what I can tell it is about a quarter step flat from stantard tuning

tune your a string to that first a chord and then tune everything else to that and then you should be fine.

[NeoConMan]

Dead on right.
That whole album was a little flat, and it varies among songs.

When I figured out Touch Too Much (nearly 30 yars ago...) I found I had to tune the high E down slightly to find the correct pitch, then match the guitar to that.
With a digital tuner, I remember how many lights flat of pitch I need to drop to.
About half the songs match that, others vary slightly, but they are in E.

This is the last album for that.
For Back In Black and ever since they are ALWAYS in standard E.

[geochem1st]

oh the joys of analogue tape.

[05jrock]

I heard that they tuned down a little for Bon's voice,he couldnt get his voice high enough so they dropped tune a bit.

Dunno if its true or not though,but you never know.

[arcanis494]

Originally Posted by 05jrock

I heard that they tuned down a little for Bon's voice,he couldnt get his voice high enough so they dropped tune a bit.

Dunno if its true or not though,but you never know.

Could be true

It is probably the tape being slowed or they didn't have electric tuners back then and they would just tune to themselves.

[NeoConMan]

Originally Posted by 05jrock

I heard that they tuned down a little for Bon's voice
Dunno if its true or not though,but you never know.

I agree with the above post.
The tuning is just slightly flat, not even half a step, and it's not consistent.

Remember, this was in the days before anybody had a fancy electronic tuner.
The ones available were huge - and expensive.

I imagine they would simply strum a guitar to check tuning and match everybody up.
"Sounds good? Roll the tape!"

[stinger]

There is a lot of music out there that is not tuned to 440. A lot of reasons for it too. Sometimes the song needed to be sped up or slowed down a bit to create a different vibe. Once a song is recorded and the mixing starts, it becomes alot easier to change the tempo a bit by turning a knob as opposed to rerecording an entire track.

Nowadays with digital, the same can be done without the pitch shift. I use a program called Guitar and Drum Trainer and I use it to adjust the tuning so I don't have to retune. What sucks is when a songs tuning doesn't stay consistant within itself. Rock Bottom by UFO changes the tuning between the solo and the main part of the song.

[5F6-A]

Originally Posted by stinger

What sucks is when a songs tuning doesn't stay consistant within itself. Rock Bottom by UFO changes the tuning between the solo and the main part of the song.