C tuning (guitar)

C tuning.

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 as either C-F-A♯-D♯-G-C or more often C-F-B♭-E♭-G-C.

The tuning is commonly used by metal and hard rock artists due to the dark sound it produces. It also makes bending easier for the player than in E standard using the same gauge of strings. Heavier gauge strings can be used in order to maintain tension in the strings. It is possible to play without them, but difficulty can be experienced as it becomes quite easy to unintentionally bend notes and chords out of tune. However, the ease of bends can be desirable, depending on playing style of the musician.

Used by

Arch Enemy

• Scorpions (on "321")
• Hatebreed
• High On Fire
• Dark Tranquillity
• Deadlock
• Dethklok
• Dismember
• Dream Theater (used on at least one song per album since Train of Thought)
• Entombed
• Katatonia (all albums since Viva Emptiness)
• Kyuss
• King's X
• Queens of the Stone Age (all albums up to Lullabies to Paralyze – after that both C and E standard were used)
• In Flames
• Cradle of Filth (In "Better to Reign in Hell" from Damnation and a Day)
• Arch Enemy
• Sleep
• Static-X (all up until Shadow Zone – since then, they drop the low string to A#)
• Cold
• Nick Drake
• Noah And The Whale
• Judas Priest (on "Dead Meat", "Brain Dead", and "Cathedral Spires")
• The Black Dahlia Murder
• The Ransack (on the Bloodline album)
• John Butler
• Soundgarden (in "4th of July" from Superunknown)
• The Sword
• The Wretched Deceased