10 Bands That Use C# Tuning

Sometimes, regular E standard tuning just won’t cut it. It’s perfect in many ways, but if you want to shake the earth a little, and get awesome sludgier, ‘doomier’ sounds happening, then, well, you’re gonna have to tune down a bit.

Downtuning a guitar is a significant thing. I don’t mean a simple drop-D situation either, but tuning each string individually down by the same interval. It completely changes your relationship with notes, strings, tension…everything! It’s all different, and this is perhaps partly what’s so inspiring about it.

Today, I’m going to talk about C# standard tuning. C# standard is one and a half steps down from normal E standard, or three frets’ worth if you prefer. This drops the guitar’s pitch considerably, making it perfect for darker, moodier arpeggios and obviously for brutal metal riffing. The other bonus of detuning every string equally is that all of your chord and scale shapes will remain the same, so you don’t have to relearn any physical aspects of the instrument, aside from relearning which notes you’re playing!

C# Standard tuning is, from lowest to highest: C#, F#, B, E, G#, C#. So is it  simply a matter of grabbing your tuner and just detuning each string by a step and a half? Well, yes and no. The issue is tension, and the lack thereof. Downtuning will of course decrease the string tension significantly. Your normal gauge 9 or 10 strings will flap around a little and are almost certainly not going to intonate properly when you play a note. Now, this isn’t always a major issue - as we’ll find out soon with the guy who pretty much invented this tuning - but I’m going to presume that you are not playing with sliced-off fingertips and so are able to play with a bit of tension in the strings. 

For playing in C# tuning, I recommend restringing with gauge 11 or 12 strings, depending on your personal preference and guitar scale length (12s are better on 24.75” scale guitars, 11s on the 25.5” scale lengths. You’ll need to check action, intonation and also make sure your nut has enough space to allow the new strings to move freely without catching.

Once you’ve done all that, you’re ready for some dark, moody, heavy guitar playing! Let’s check out some bands! Some of my choices will reflect certain songs, and others are career-spanning commitment to C#. All are mighty and worth your time!

Yes indeed, Sabbath were the first band credited with downtuning to C# standard. It helped seal their sound as one of monstrous heaviness, but as I hinted at earlier, it came about for an altogether more practical reason.

Guitarist Tony Iommi famously injured himself at the sheet metal factory he worked in during the band’s early months. Slicing off the tips of two right hand fingers (Tony’s a lefty so his right hand is on the frets), Tony looked for ways to continue, despite the disability. What he landed on was a combination of false finger ‘ends’ (more than the tips, really), super light strings and…you’ve guessed it: downtuning to C# standard. The tuning part occurred after the first two Sabbath albums, so go to Master of Reality onwards for the appropriate hell-tones.

Goth rockers A Perfect Circle blend almost sacred-sounding music (thanks to Maynard James Keenan’s multilayered vocals) with a decidedly post-punk take on atmospheric metal. It’s a fantastic blend, and one that has proven influential since their inception.

A Perfect Circle is the brainchild of guitarist Billy Howerdel, who used to be a guitar tech for bands like Tool and Nine Inch Nails. It was at the end of a NIN tour - one in which they infamously destroyed around 137 Gibson Les Pauls onstage over the course of the tour -  that Howerdel was offered his choice of a few broken-and-repaired guitars. He chose a reissue of a 1960 Les Paul Classic, fixed it up once more, tuned it to C# Standard, and started A Perfect Circle.

Back when Limp Bizkit were starting out, they toured a lot with their friends Korn. Korn were (are) champions of the 7-string guitars and duly swung Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland an endorsement deal for 7-string guitars. Borland happily accepted but changed the regular tuning for…no, not C# tuning! Well, not exactly. Wes had 7 strings to cater for, so the lowest 6 strings were indeed C# tuning, and the highest string became a unison high C#, making his tuning, low to high: (C#, F#, B, E, G#, C#, C#). 

This custom tuning was used on Bizkit’s first two records, but by album number three, Borland went to 6-strings and employed C# tuning.

Thrash metal overlords Slayer aren’t necessarily known for using C# standard tuning (they already sound world-ending in Eb standard!), but Kerry King and co have been known to ocassionally venture into downtuned waters with C# tuning and even the use of 7-string guitars.

Since they aren’t welded to the tuning, I figured I’d pick out an example for you to enjoy, so here is Disciple, from the band’s 2001 album God Hates Us All.

Intense Polish satanic metallers Behemoth have used a few tunings throughout their career, but C# standard seems to be the one most commonly settled on. Frontman Nergal and guitarist Seth both use the tuning here on the opening tune from their dark masterpiece The Satanist.

It’s not all about metal with C# standard tuning. Indie rockers Sleater-Kinney use the tuning almost exclusively. Guitarist Carrie Brownstein has a great way with words regarding the subject: “We tune to C#, which creates sourness.” She says this tuning helps in “intentionally creating a sound that’s out-of-tune-adjacent”.

A refreshing attitude and also an inventive way to approach expression within songwriting.

These Springfield MA metal maniacs began their career using D standard tuning, but it was obviously not tough enough for their needs. Later records focus on C# standard, which actually does make a significant difference to their intense sound.

Phil Anselmo’s best known band that isn’t Pantera is this somewhat supergroup, Down. Comprising members of Corrosion of Conformity, Eyehategod and Crowbar, they were/are definitely more than a side project, with their debut record NOLA in particular proving to be a high point in heavy music. From the off, Down used C# standard tuning, which was later supplemented by B standard and drop A (all on six string guitars!).

Decapitated are a pair of mean Polish metal heads who have been pummelling the world with their riffs since 1996. Considered titans in the groove metal genre, Decapitated began their careers playing in D standard. Their move to C# Standard occurred a few albums in, starting with the more technical sounding album The Negation, and followed with Organic Hallucinosis. They’ve since included drop B to their sonic arsenal, which of course is the ‘drop D’ equivalent of C# standard anyway!

Lest we forget his titanic contributions to modern metal, I’d like to include Alexi Laiho and his band Children of Bodom here today. I don’t know how well known this is amongst guitar-playing Bodom fans, but the first album was recorded in C# standard. Those songs tended to be played in D standard live, but they were definitely lower on the album!

Subsequent Bodom records tended to be in either D standard or drop C, but Laiho was quick off the mark for C# standard!

When I think of C# standard tuning, I think of it as a different kind of heavy. It's still within the ranges of a regular guitar (just) but it does sit in a slightly different universe. Extended range guitars go further, and also tend to be used for slightly different flavours of heavy, if you get me?

I think Sleater-Kinney’s Carries Brownstein was onto something when she talked about the tuning being ‘sour’ and ‘out-of-tune-adjacent’: Those critical little cents of tuning discrepancy are perhaps what make this tuning feel so alive and malleable for riff writers. Using things like pitch shifters on guitars tuned to E standard can be game-changers if you use several tunings, but I’d argue that having a guitar sitting there strung and set up for C# standard will deliver more inspiration and results than digitally altering a regular guitar.

If you feel like experimenting with C# standard, it’s as simple as buying a pack of appropriate strings and spending half an hour setting your guitar up for it. Why not see where it takes your creativity?