C tuning (guitar) explained

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 most commonly as C-F-A♯-D♯-G-C or C-F-B♭-E♭-G-C. This is not to be confused with C tuning, which is one and one half steps lower than standard tuning.

The tuning is commonly used by metal and hard rock artists to achieve a heavier, deeper sound. Slackening regular strings on a regular guitar to a lower pitch makes bending easier. Depending on personal playing style, some guitarists find this desirable, while others switch to heavier-gauge strings to avoid unintentional bending and to play chords in tune more easily. Another option is the use of a baritone guitar, which is built slightly longer and stronger than a regular guitar to achieve the desired pitch with heavy strings at average tensions.

• Abysmal Dawn
• The Absence
• Acid Bath
• Akercocke
• Alestorm
• Al-Namrood
• Amaranthe (this tuning and drop B-flat used on their first two studio albums)
• Amatory
• Amon Amarth (on the albums Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds, Once Sent from the Golden Hall, and their new album Berserker along with drop B-flat)
• Anaal Nathrakh
• Ani Di Franco
• Anathema (on their recent progressive rock albums)
• Arch Enemy (2001–present)^[1]
• Avatar (on the first three studio albums)
  • Autopsy Bad Company
• Behemoth
• Black Sabbath (on live performances of most songs from Master of Reality and Vol. 4 since 2012, including "Into the Void", "Under the Sun", and "Snowblind")
• Blasphemy
• Blut Aus Nord
• Bolt Thrower (on their debut album In Battle There Is No Law!)
• Brendon Small
• Bring Me the Horizon
• BroodMother
• Burnt By The Sun
• Called To Arms
• Cancerslug
• Chthonic
• Chuck Berry (most notable songs were recorded in standard tuning)
• Cold^[2]
• Colour Haze
• Cradle of Filth (In "Better to Reign in Hell" from Damnation and a Day)
• DarkWrench
• Dawn Of Demise
• Deadlock
• Death (metal band) (1985)
• Deathstars
• Defeated Sanity
• Dethklok
• Devourment
• Die Apokalyptischen Reiter
• Dimension Zero
• Dirty Sound Magnet (most songs on their album DSM-III)
  • Disgorge Dismember
• Dissection
• Dream Theater (used on "As I Am", "Honor Thy Father" and "In the Name of God" on Train of Thought, "A Nightmare to Remember" on Black Clouds & Silver Linings, and "Untethered Angel" on Distance over Time)
• Entombed (From Clandestine onward)
• Elder (On debut album only)
• Electric Wizard
• Epica (on most songs from Consign to Oblivion)
• Evanescence on some songs
• EyeHateGod
• Fight (band)
• From The Vastland
• Full of Hell
• George Cromarty
• George Ezra
• Goat Horn
• Gorguts^[3] (since Obscura)
• Grand Magus
• Guía Luz Negra (d bandolier)
• Hamlet (main tuning)
  • Harvey Milk Hatebreed
• Hatesphere
• Heaven Shall Burn
• High on Fire
• Hypocrisy (from Penetralia to The Final Chapter)
• Immolation
• Incantation
• In Flames^[4] (since The Jester Race; after Reroute to Remain, they started using drop A# exclusively)
  • Into Eternity Jimi Hendrix (In the song "Here My Train A' Comin' (Acoustic)")
• John Butler
• Judas Priest (on "Dead Meat", "Brain Dead", and "Cathedral Spires" from Jugulator, "Hell Is Home" from Demolition)
• Katatonia (all albums since Viva Emptiness)
• Kip Winger (solo)
• Kittie
• Kyuss^[5]
• Kreator
• Kuthah
• Legion Of The Damned
• Life of Agony (on half of “Ugly”, the entirety of “Soul Searching Sun”, and some songs from "The Sound of Scars")
• Licuation
• Monster Magnet
• Murder by Death
• NAILS
• Necrophagia
• Nervosa
• Neuraxis
• Nick Drake
• Nightrage
• Noah And The Whale
• One Ok Rock
• Panopticon
• Paradise Lost (first two albums)
• Parasite Inc.
• Pantera (in most tracks of their eighth studio album The Great Southern Trendkill)
• Pile
• Porcupine Tree (in Anesthetize and Way Out of Here)
• Punch the Klown
• Queens of the Stone Age (used exclusively on their debut album, after which C standard, E standard and various other tunings were used)^[6]
• Royal Blood (How Did We Get So Dark?)
• Salticid (in "Black Fly")
• Scorpions (on "Love 'em or Leave 'em")
• Scythrow
• Sentenced (on their first album Shadows of the Past)
• Septicflesh (in a few earlier songs, and in much of their recent symphonic death metal material)
• Sepultura (on "Antichrist" and "Necromancer")
• Six Feet Under
• Sleep
• Suffocation (on Effigy of the Forgotten)
• The Black Dahlia Murder
• The Smashing Pumpkins (in "The Everlasting Gaze" "Lucky 13" "Heavy Metal Machine" and "The Imploding Voice")
• The Sword
• Sibylle Baier
• Sodom (in "Masquerade in Blood")
• Soundgarden (occasionally on other releases)
• Spectrum Disorder
• Spiritual Beggars
• Starkill
• Static-X (all up until Shadow Zone – since then, they drop the low string to Bb)
• Strapping Young Lad
• Suidakra
• Tal Wilkenfeld (open C# in Pieces of Me, among others)
• Therion (on their early death metal albums)
• Tiamat (on their first album Sumerian Cry)
• Tony Iommi (on the song "Who's Fooling Who")
• Tremonti (on the songs "Arm Yourself", "Throw Them to the Lions" (performed in B tuning live), and "Make it Hurt")
• While Heaven Wept
• The Wildhearts (on 2009's "Chutzpah" album)
• Witchfinder General
• Wolfchant

Notes and References

1. Web site: Michael Amott Interview . Musisi.com . June 7, 2008.
2. Web site: Terry Balsamo Artist Interview Ibanez . Ibanez . January 1, 2006 . December 23, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180927020042/http://www.ibanez.co.jp/artist/interview.php?interview_id=19 . September 27, 2018 . dead .
3. Web site: Rigged: Luc Lemay of Gorguts. MetalSucks.net. 4 October 2013 . MetalSucks. 24 October 2016.
4. Web site: In Flames Interview . tartareandesire.com . 2012-02-01 . 2016-03-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001343/http://www.tartareandesire.com/interviews/inflames2.html . dead .
5. Web site: Kyuss The Guitar Cave . The Guitar Cave . October 28, 2011.
6. Web site: 10 Questions with Troy Van Leeuwen - Queens of the Stone Age . guitar.com . 2012-02-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120406070426/http://www.guitar.com/articles/10-questions-troy-van-leeuwen-queens-stone-age . 2012-04-06 . dead .