Van Halen tunings with Peterson strobe tuner reference

[rvk5150]

My favorite tone in general is VH2...specifically Dance the Night Away; have you ever done that one Allen?

[garbeaj]

Ok...this one is unusual and never repeated again to the best of my knowledge.

”Dance the Night Away" from the ‘Van Halen II’ album, Ibanez Destroyer "main guitar":

1st string: Eb +39.8 cents
2nd string: Bb +40.0 cents
3rd string: Gb +38.3 cents
4th string: Db +42.1 cents
5th string: Ab +42.1 cents
6th string: Eb +39.8 cents

And the overdubbed "harmonic melody" guitar

1st string: Eb +48.8 cents
2nd string: Bb +49.0 cents
3rd string: G -49.3 cents
4th string: D -48.9 cents
5th string: A -48.9 cents
6th string: Eb +48.8 cents

This tuning for the "harmonic melody" guitar is tricky, because we are now in the realm where the pitch stops being a flat pitch and becomes a natural pitch because of the offsets on the 3rd, 4th and 5th strings. These natural pitch cent references now become MINUS cent references because we have gone from flat pitches to natural pitches. The pitch differential could be the result of pitch shift on the Eventide, but since there are likely two different guitars on the track, it's just as likely that they just have different tuning offsets from each other.

I used the HDCD remaster of ‘Van Halen II’ and this isolated track:

for reference and I used my Musikraft/Locke '78 styled replica guitar and my '75 Ibanez Destroyer to find these tunings. There is no vibrato bar work on the entire main guitar track, which almost certainly points to the Shark version of the Ibanez Destroyer being used on that track. In bars 63-67, there is a natural harmonic at the 12th fret of the B string that is effected by the "whine" of the Eventide Harmonizer that begins a feedback loop which makes that note go up an octave. That oscillating high B octave feedback note then dives 2 whole steps in pitch from bar 66-67 until that guitar is faded out. This 2 whole-step dive is the full extent of the range on a vintage Fender vibrato system.

"Dance the Night Away" is similar to "Jamie's Cryin'" in that the Ibanez Destroyer (the main guitar on the track) is in a completely different tuning from the overdubbed "melodic guitar"...in both recordings, the overdubbed melodic guitar is almost certainly the '78 Frankenstein and I believe that there might be Eventide on the overdubbed melodic guitar from "Jamie's Cryin'" as well.

[rvk5150]

Ok...this one is unusual and never repeated again to the best of my knowledge.

”Dance the Night Away" from the ‘Van Halen II’ album, Ibanez Destroyer "main guitar":

1st string: Eb +39.8 cents
2nd string: Bb +40.0 cents
3rd string: Gb +38.3 cents
4th string: Db +42.1 cents
5th string: Ab +42.1 cents
6th string: Eb +39.8 cents

And the overdubbed "harmonic melody" guitar

1st string: Eb +48.8 cents
2nd string: Bb +49.0 cents
3rd string: G -49.3 cents
4th string: D -48.9 cents
5th string: A -48.9 cents
6th string: Eb +48.8 cents

This tuning for the "harmonic melody" guitar is tricky, because we are now in the realm where the pitch stops being a flat pitch and becomes a natural pitch because of the offsets on the 3rd, 4th and 5th strings. These natural pitch cent references now become MINUS cent references because we have gone from flat pitches to natural pitches. The pitch differential could be the result of pitch shift on the Eventide, but since there are likely two different guitars on the track, it's just as likely that they just have different tuning offsets from each other.

I used the HDCD remaster of ‘Van Halen II’ and this isolated track:

for reference and I used my Musikraft/Locke '78 styled replica guitar and my '75 Ibanez Destroyer to find these tunings. There is no vibrato bar work on the entire main guitar track, which almost certainly points to the Shark version of the Ibanez Destroyer being used on that track. In bars 63-67, there is a natural harmonic at the 12th fret of the B string that is effected by the "whine" of the Eventide Harmonizer that begins a feedback loop which makes that note go up an octave. That oscillating high B octave feedback note then dives 2 whole steps in pitch from bar 66-67 until that guitar is faded out. This 2 whole-step dive is the full extent of the range on a vintage Fender vibrato system.

"Dance the Night Away" is similar to "Jamie's Cryin'" in that the Ibanez Destroyer (the main guitar on the track) is in a completely different tuning from the overdubbed "melodic guitar"...in both recordings, the overdubbed melodic guitar is almost certainly the '78 Frankenstein and I believe that there might be Eventide on the overdubbed melodic guitar from "Jamie's Cryin'" as well.

Thanks man!

[garbeaj]

I posted this clip of Eric Johnson earlier in this thread:


In it, he explains his tuning process, which was essentially how I tuned by ear for decades before I got my Peterson strobe tuners. What’s funny is that I analyzed the resulting tuning that he was in on that ‘Burst Les Paul and he ended up being EXACTLY -30.0 cents down from standard pitch…no offset difference present between the open strings, just straight -30.0 cents across all six strings!

I was talking with his guitar technician Dustin Sears on Wednesday night (11-13-2022) and I’m trying to help him learn how to use the “create your own offset” function and how to download the tuning offsets from the Peterson website onto his StroboPLUS HDC and Strobo Stomp HD. He’s working for Doyle Bramhall II and Charlie Sexton in Arc Angels right now, but he also works for Kenny Wayne Shepherd when he’s not with EJ. Right now, Dusty uses the “GTR” preset with Doyle II and Charlie and they’ve been happy with it, but I’m helping him with an offset for Charlie’s songs that are capoed at the 4th fret.

Anyway, I thought it was quite funny that after all that EJ wound up at -30.0 cents from standard! Dusty doesn’t know why he was at that pitch in that video which he made at home during the height of the pandemic, but maybe I’ll get some answer from EJ himself!

[garbeaj]

"Dance the Night Away”, “You’re No Good” and “Bottoms Up!” from the 1979 Warner Bros. ‘Van Halen II’ LP promo film from the May 19, 1979 Rochester, NY show.


1st string: Eb +27.7 cents
2nd string: Bb +27.9 cents
3rd string: Gb +29.6 cents
4th string: Db +30.0 cents
5th string: Ab +30.0 cents
6th string: Eb +27.7 cents

Again, this offset is one of Eddie's tried and true offsets that he returned to using regularly. It is the same offset as the “Somebody Get Me a Doctor”, “Women In Love" intro, "Outta Love Again", "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" and the live 1977 offset (I have the live 1977 offsets notated in this thread as only 1 whole cent down from this-I think it is actually this same offset and I was off by one cent).

If you wanted a good "generic" early Van Halen tuning offset to stick with in a live situation or just in general, this would be the offset I would recommend. I’ll listen to more 1979 tour bootlegs to confirm, but I believe Ed simply continued to use the same offset for the 1977, 1978 and 1979 touring cycles.

[rvk5150]

Hey brother I sent you an e-mail!

[garbeaj]

Hey brother I sent you an e-mail!

On Facebook, Instagram or my regular e-mail? I might have missed it...

[rvk5150]

On Facebook, Instagram or my regular e-mail? I might have missed it...

Regular email....the address you provided me on IG.

[garbeaj]

I didn’t get it…can you send it again and I’ll be sure to check my Junk mail so that I don’t miss it.

[rvk5150]

Sent! I did not get a bounce back from the first one so I assume I am typing the address you gave me correctly. Subject line is "Strobe tuner."


Thanks!

[garbeaj]

I’m still not seeing it?

[garbeaj]

Just a heads-up…Peterson is offering 10% off their entire online store (not valid with other offers or promotional pricing) between December 12, 2022 through December 16, 2022 with the promo code “10_PERCENT”. Might help anyone who wants to try the Strobo HD series tuners…

[garbeaj]

Here’s a fun clip that I thought I would post here to serve as a small reminder to those who think I’m crazy or otherwise talking nonsense about being able to find and notate pitches of individual strings on guitars from recordings.

Here Paul Davids breaks down John Frusciante’s tuning on “Scar Tissue” and he discovers that Frusciante’s B string is detuned 14.0 cents below standard pitch.


And here he reacts to Rick Rubin and Frusciante commenting on that video:
https://youtube.com/shorts/nqLFjfefL7c?feature=share

Frusciante basically says that they were aware that his B string happened to be slightly out of tune, but that they chose to go with it because it sounded good.

It’s just nice to have an example of someone else out there like Paul Davids who is also finding, notating and sharing tuning offsets from recordings. I’m not the only one and I never claimed to be. But there are many people out there who just don’t understand or don’t believe that what I’m doing is possible…they just don’t get it no matter how simply I try to break the process down. There is such a strong resistance to the idea that anyone, especially Edward, would ever purposely tune to anything other than direct chromatic pitches-and that’s very puzzling to me since this entire thread and videos I and others have made have proven that this idea was and is common.