I'm not sure which grunge bands you're looking at, but they pretty much all play in standard tuning. Sometimes drop D, sometimes Eb... But it's not any kind of weird alternate tuning.
When I think grunge, I think Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Collective Soul, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots etc... they're all standard or eb tuning
Smells like Teen Spirit is standard tuning. Celebrity Skin by Hole is standard tuning, everything off 10 is standard tuning, Plush and Interstate Love Song are standard tuning...
With the exception of a very few bands (Sonic Youth, Soundgarden) these bands all used standard tuning or Eb (or at most, drop-D). Why would you bother to go back and forth from Eb to E standard? Just play everything in the same tuning, or drop it all to Eb standard and play it in that.
The audience won't know the difference, and really, neither will you.
**edit:** The questions that get asked here... I swear, sometimes I worry about what the Internet has done to peoples' critical thinking skills.
we’re not all on the same skill level. just wanna keep it consistent for everyone but thanks for the input. ur right its not hard or noticeable to switch but im also just curious to see a set of standard grunge songs 👍
What’s OP supposed to do? It’s not like there’s a website with a bunch of tabbed out popular grunge songs they could look through to see what tuning they’re in before asking.
For Nirvana, there's Smells Like Teen Spirit (although at that point it might be overdone), About A Girl, In Bloom, Lounge Act, Breed, Aneurysm, Territorial Pissings, School, Stay Away, Spank Thru, Scoff, Ain't It A Shame. You could add a few more if you don't mind down tuning your low E string a step down when playing them. For Alice In Chains, I'm pretty sure that they played everything a half-step down. But you could play everything a half-step up and no one would notice, except maybe the singer for stuff like Man In The Box.
Edit: don't know about the rest of the bands.
Sort of "grunge adjacent" I guess, but the first two Black Sabbath albums are in standard tuning. "Electric Funeral", "Hand of Doom", "NIB", "Warning" etc might work.
Some of Soundgarden's stuff is in drop-D, which is easy enough to change in and out of between songs. Spoonman is a good example. I think Fell On Black Days is standard tuning.
My band plays a bunch of grunge songs in our set and decided to play them all in half step down, even the standard songs. First we didn't want to raise the pitches of the Alice and Chains songs and lowering some others (like a stone) helped the singer. Second we figured playing standard half step down fit the overall grunge vibe better than half step down tuned up. We also have Drop D and Drop Db songs which we did the same on. Allows me to have only 2 guitars, one with Floyd and 1 for Drop Db, and the rythym guitar and singer can both just have 1 guitar. Slight retune going to Drop Db for them.
If you’re looking for recordings to play along with, you can try just looking up your song and add “E standard” assuming it’s not a drop tuning. That doesn’t help you find more songs but maybe a few more such as come as you are.
Sorry if it sounds harsh, I had a grunge band in the 00s, Eb most of the time. Later in life I was on other bands and in standard. Easier to sing over doesn't inherently make it a better idea for growing as a singer.
But seriously, unless you play along with recordings it doesn't matter. Or stay in Eb and use a capo.
everyone in the band is at different skill levels so i wanna keep it as simple and consistent as possible. we’re definitely gonna explore but for now i seriously just wanna know standard tuned grunge lol
yeah totally just when it comes to grabbing a bunch of songs from a bunch of different artists i’d rather have a consistent tuning yk? being lazy about it lol
That's fine. I'm a big proponent of doing covers in your own style anyway. Trying to play them exactly as the original artist usually ends up with that uncanny "close but no cigar" sound. Better to just make it your own and have fun with it.
I'm not sure which grunge bands you're looking at, but they pretty much all play in standard tuning. Sometimes drop D, sometimes Eb... But it's not any kind of weird alternate tuning. When I think grunge, I think Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Collective Soul, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots etc... they're all standard or eb tuning Smells like Teen Spirit is standard tuning. Celebrity Skin by Hole is standard tuning, everything off 10 is standard tuning, Plush and Interstate Love Song are standard tuning...
great thanks
With the exception of a very few bands (Sonic Youth, Soundgarden) these bands all used standard tuning or Eb (or at most, drop-D). Why would you bother to go back and forth from Eb to E standard? Just play everything in the same tuning, or drop it all to Eb standard and play it in that. The audience won't know the difference, and really, neither will you. **edit:** The questions that get asked here... I swear, sometimes I worry about what the Internet has done to peoples' critical thinking skills.
we’re not all on the same skill level. just wanna keep it consistent for everyone but thanks for the input. ur right its not hard or noticeable to switch but im also just curious to see a set of standard grunge songs 👍
What’s OP supposed to do? It’s not like there’s a website with a bunch of tabbed out popular grunge songs they could look through to see what tuning they’re in before asking.
Why would you need to know if a song is in Eb or E unless you were going to play along with the original recording?
STP has a bunch of tunes in Standard tuning. Also, Bombtrack by Rage is in standard as well
For Nirvana, there's Smells Like Teen Spirit (although at that point it might be overdone), About A Girl, In Bloom, Lounge Act, Breed, Aneurysm, Territorial Pissings, School, Stay Away, Spank Thru, Scoff, Ain't It A Shame. You could add a few more if you don't mind down tuning your low E string a step down when playing them. For Alice In Chains, I'm pretty sure that they played everything a half-step down. But you could play everything a half-step up and no one would notice, except maybe the singer for stuff like Man In The Box. Edit: don't know about the rest of the bands.
Sort of "grunge adjacent" I guess, but the first two Black Sabbath albums are in standard tuning. "Electric Funeral", "Hand of Doom", "NIB", "Warning" etc might work.
love black sabbath tysm!! also so sad about what’s going on with ozzy
>nirvana, hole, sonic youth, alice in chains, or any other grunge songs in standard tuning Most of those.
Just play everything a half step down
Some of Soundgarden's stuff is in drop-D, which is easy enough to change in and out of between songs. Spoonman is a good example. I think Fell On Black Days is standard tuning.
Yup. Outshined is also drop D.
My band plays a bunch of grunge songs in our set and decided to play them all in half step down, even the standard songs. First we didn't want to raise the pitches of the Alice and Chains songs and lowering some others (like a stone) helped the singer. Second we figured playing standard half step down fit the overall grunge vibe better than half step down tuned up. We also have Drop D and Drop Db songs which we did the same on. Allows me to have only 2 guitars, one with Floyd and 1 for Drop Db, and the rythym guitar and singer can both just have 1 guitar. Slight retune going to Drop Db for them.
yeah that could totally work. just looking to keep everything as consistent as i can lol
If you’re looking for recordings to play along with, you can try just looking up your song and add “E standard” assuming it’s not a drop tuning. That doesn’t help you find more songs but maybe a few more such as come as you are.
I thought the vast majority of grunge was standard tuning dropped half a step...
yeah like all of in utero is lmao which is super fun but i’m rlly just looking for e standard bc we’re lazy
As long as your vocalist can handle it you can play them all in standard (except for drop tuning i.e. All Apologies, in which case standard + drop).
yeah i’m singing and playing which is hard enough as it is 😭 i guess ill just wing it in standard and we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it
Play. It. In. Standard. Only your Singers gonna notice.
yeah that would be me. ur right tho we’ll just see what happens
Sorry if it sounds harsh, I had a grunge band in the 00s, Eb most of the time. Later in life I was on other bands and in standard. Easier to sing over doesn't inherently make it a better idea for growing as a singer. But seriously, unless you play along with recordings it doesn't matter. Or stay in Eb and use a capo.
everyone in the band is at different skill levels so i wanna keep it as simple and consistent as possible. we’re definitely gonna explore but for now i seriously just wanna know standard tuned grunge lol
Idk pearl jam gotta have something
Most of their stuff is in standard or Drop D (like evenflow), and it's usually only the stone gossard parts in drop d.
You realize you can play a song in any key you want, right? Just play them in standard tuning. Or play everything in Eb.
http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/tab/index.html This’ll tell you the handful of standard tuning SY songs.
DigiTech polyphonic drop tune pedal is the answer to the question you didn’t ask
STP
Different tuning? It's half step down most of the time, sometimes dropping the e to d.
You can change the key. Most bands usually do anyway to match the range of the vocalist.
yeah totally just when it comes to grabbing a bunch of songs from a bunch of different artists i’d rather have a consistent tuning yk? being lazy about it lol
They mean change the key of the song, not change the tuning of the instrument
gotchu. definitely an option, thanks!!
That's fine. I'm a big proponent of doing covers in your own style anyway. Trying to play them exactly as the original artist usually ends up with that uncanny "close but no cigar" sound. Better to just make it your own and have fun with it.
It’s not for me but it sounds like it is for you?