Diary Of A Madman album tuning

[Shockwave]

The theory of the tuners being out of whack or whatnot i think is pretty comical. I am nowhere near the musicians these guys were and I can tune up to standard and get pretty damn close without a tuner. The guitar feels and plays completely different when a 1/2 step lower.

I've been playing guitar for 34 years and my guitars do not play "completely differently" 1/2 step down. It's a very minor change in string tension. The sound is slightly different. Eb is used when a singer can't hit the notes in standard tuning, ala Van Halen with DLR.

Randy, Bob, the engineers and everyone else would have noticed this if the tuner was off if they were trying to tune to standard but it sounded like 1/2 step lower.

This tuning issue took place during the writing of songs, so engineers wouldn't be involved. As for the other comment about all the guitars, basses, pianos, etc... during writing, they usually use one instrument, so it'd be simple to have this confusion.

Actually it could easily be settled..Just ask Bob on his website he is always good about answering these questions and may have in the book already..maybe i am wrong.

I'd think that the words coming from Randy's mouth on a recording would be proof enough. Here's the recording, the quote is at the 10:00 minute mark until about 10:20.



Now Shockwave, I'm not trying to argue with you. I, too, can tune pretty damn close to perfect E without a tuner, but some people swear by strobe tuners, especially back in the very early 80s when the highly accurate tuners we have now weren't so readily available.

ah alright, i have not listened to that in a long time. I always thought the rumors of the tuner being off was during the recording process, but it seems like it was during the jamming sessions. Then they actually ended up liking the 1/2 step drop and decided to use it on the recording.

good info, thanks.

[mojopin70]

There is one thing to consider though, after Bob and Lee were fired Randy signed a new contract and was told what he could and couldn't say.

[Paul Wolfe]

There is one thing to consider though, after Bob and Lee were fired Randy signed a new contract and was told what he could and couldn't say.

And Sharon told him he couldn't tell the truth about tuning down a half step?

[Stiltzkin]

There is one thing to consider though, after Bob and Lee were fired Randy signed a new contract and was told what he could and couldn't say.

And Sharon told him he couldn't tell the truth about tuning down a half step?

if she had more power during Ozzys tenure with Black Sabbath,
maybe Tony Iommi wouldn't had tuned down so much?

[GUITARIDOL5682]

There is one thing to consider though, after Bob and Lee were fired Randy signed a new contract and was told what he could and couldn't say.

And Sharon told him he couldn't tell the truth about tuning down a half step?

EH!!! what a load of bull... This info came from whom ?

[Paul Wolfe]

if she had more power during Ozzys tenure with Black Sabbath,
maybe Tony Iommi wouldn't had tuned down so much?

If she'd have had more power she'd have replaced Tony for having stubby fingers

[NicDots]

Gotta agree with Paul here. I feel like the answer is clear enough and right from Randy's mouth. Not everything RR related needs to be overly complicated, conspiracy theories, etc.

I kind of wish they tuned to Eb for Blizzard. While I love the songs and the musicianship on Blizzard, the album sounds bloated and under-water compared Diary and Tribute.