D and NOT c#

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MCI2424

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Tony Iommi tunes down to a D and NOT a C#
like his website claims. Iommi should at least check that his cronies have the info right. How much more is wrong there?
 
It depends on which album you are talking about. It has changed over the years.
 
Does it matter? If you're trying to learn a Sabbath tune, it'll be pretty obvious to you whether or not C# or D is correct once you start. :D
 
I think that the majority of the old Sabbath stuff is in C#. That's the tuning he was famous for, at least. I wouldn't doubt that a few other drop tunings made it in there over the years, but I'm pretty sure that C# was his bread and butter.
 
I tune down to C. That makes me a semitone better than Iommi, right?
 
growing up i thought the folklore was that he tuned to C and capo'd it to a D
 
Tadpui said:
I think that the majority of the old Sabbath stuff is in C#. That's the tuning he was famous for, at least. I wouldn't doubt that a few other drop tunings made it in there over the years, but I'm pretty sure that C# was his bread and butter.
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He tuned to normal E tuning until he tuned to D tuning. My kids listen to all Sabbath and Heaven and Hell albums forcing me to re-learn all of it to teach them the guitar. I have yet to find any C# anywhere. The only albums I don't have are all the late 80s and beyond Iommie Sabbath debocharies.
 
Tadpui said:
I think that the majority of the old Sabbath stuff is in C#. That's the tuning he was famous for, at least. I wouldn't doubt that a few other drop tunings made it in there over the years, but I'm pretty sure that C# was his bread and butter.
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I can't find C# anywhere. At least my tuner says he is in D.
 
WikiPedia said:
His aforementioned factory accident affected the Black Sabbath sound later on, as Iommi detuned his guitar from E to C# (3 half-steps down), in order to ease the tension on his fingers. As a result, Sabbath were among the first bands to detune and resulted in the technique being a mainstay of heavy metal music. The first two Black Sabbath albums are actually in E tuning, however, as Iommi didn't start tuning down to C# until 1971's Master of Reality. Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler also tuned his instrument down to match Iommi's.
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This thread made me curious so I went to Wikipedia. They think its C#, although if your tuner says D, then Falken must be right that he capoed to D. And you're right that the first 2 Sabbath albums were in E.
 
He was tuned down one step until Master of reality. He was tuned one step down until then.

Don't confuse the key of the song with the tuning. Sabbath riffs never involve pedaling on an open string. Almost everything is fretted.

Paranoid is in E, but if you look at the video, he is playing it on the 9th fret. I'm trying to find video of him from after the 3rd album to show where he is playing the riffs.
 
As an ageing Sabbath fan I'm desperately trying to get excited about this.:o
 
Farview said:
He was tuned down one step until Master of reality. He was tuned one step down until then.

Don't confuse the key of the song with the tuning. Sabbath riffs never involve pedaling on an open string. Almost everything is fretted.

Paranoid is in E, but if you look at the video, he is playing it on the 9th fret. I'm trying to find video of him from after the 3rd album to show where he is playing the riffs.
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Trouble is..................My tuner says D
My fingers are in the exact same frets as Iommi (in the Heaven and Hell video....SO
I only know for sure that he tunes to D for all the DIO albums. Not too sure about the rest.
 
He has done differetn things on different albums. Try to figure out the Masters of Reality album without tuning to C#. For all intents and purposes, the first two albums could have been played tuned normally (to E). I do know for a fact that he has a set of guitars tuned to C# that he toured with the last time he was out sith Black Sabbath. I don't know anyone in the Heaven and Hell camp.
 
First 2 albums in standard, then went down to C# starting with Master of Reality. The song "Never Say Die: is in standard I think. "Heaven and Hell" is Eb.

...or at least that's what works for me...
 
From an interview with Iommi on 4/30/2008:

What tuning do you prefer?

I like a semi-tune down (1/2 step) which is good for me, but over the years and in the early days, I tried several different tunings, 3 semi-tunes (C tuning), you know, just to get a different sound and different feel. But I prefer the semi-tune down.


Note there's a bit of conflict here. The interview says "semi-tune." I don't know if Iommi is mistakenly saying that when he means to say "semi-tone" or if the interviewer isn't a musician and mistakenly heard it as "semi-tune." Then he says "3 semi-tunes" and there's a "C tuning" written in parentheses. I don't know whether Iommi said the "C tuning" or if the interviewer added that (again, incorrectly) after the fact.

At any rate, I think it's pretty significant that Iommi would say "a semi-tone" and "3 semi-tones."
 
This is obviously not from the classic days, but it is definitive proof that Iommi did, at times, tune down to C#. Here's "Children of the Grave" live. There's clear shots in the beginning of him playing in open position. And at 4:30, there's a very clear shot of him soloing firmly in the 12th position E minor pentatonic box.

Yet the song sounds in C# minor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQXDJvNtz1E

I checked a few other live videos from 1970, and he was tuned down a half step. I didn't find anything where he was tuned to D (though, I didn't look that long).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtqy4DTHGqg
 
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