Why and How Eddie Van Halen Played Out of Tune

Lets set the record straight, with proof, on how, and why, the greatest rock guitarist of our time PLAYED OUT OF TUNE. He wanted it this way on purpose...not just the slack tuning for intonation but the entire guitar out of tune.

[BobbyHuff]

At around :40 in my video I failed miserably at giving Pete Thorn credit for his clip. He is a fantastic guitar player and his channel is awesome!! Go check him out here…

[kayakdog]

Eddie wasn't out of tune, the rest of the universe was.

[christianfoster]

Given that Eddie hated people copying him, I wonder if the tuning thing was partially to make it that much harder to learn his tricks by ear off the record.

[ruiplas]

Eddie just being Eddie, didn’t rely on anything else, fully trust himself. That’s how every human being should be.

[jfo]

Tuning those whammys was a bitch. He probably didn't want to spend all day tuning to A=440Hz. Been there.

[GarrettLoganGriffin]

Dimebag did this too. Makes sense as Eddie was his favorite.

[inlivinit]

Eddie was his own man. Shame he's gone, but at least we had him > twice as long as Hendrix. I feel very lucky to have had the fortune of being alive during 60's and 70's music as a kid. RIP EVH 🎸

[bertgetner]

Eddie was the most unconventional guitarist there ever was. He was unique
in his playing and search for the ultimate tone. There will never be another "Eddie".

[bertallca]

Do you want to tune your entire guitar? Guitar builder John Suhr was asked this on a podcast once, he said never to use open strings to tune, the nut is the worst part of the guitar. Use the 3rd fret note on each string to tune. Of course, set up is important: your neck relief, intonation at the bridge & action at the nut should be low enough to not pull the strings sharp when you fret closer to the nut but not too low that your open string buzzes.

For years, nay; for decades, I could never get that damn D chord to sound in tune on any guitar unless I tuned specifically to that chord, but doing that would throw the rest of the guitar out of tune. Now everything I play is in tune.

[MyKittyPercy]

The music was alive. That’s the difference between older music and music of today. It was human.

[bonitawilcox]

That's how you get to be THE GOAT....Eddie did it his way...that's why with your eyes closed and no clue. When you hear Eddie play, you know it's Eddie....he had his own special touch....there will never be another❤🙏🎸

[Sonny_AA]

Back in the early 80's when I was just a kid with no money for lessons, tuners and multiple guitars I tuned to Alex Lifeson tuning his guitar harmonically in the middle of 2112. If Eddie had put a song with him tuning up I probably would have been a bigger Van Halen fan.

[bonehead]

EVH was a modern day musical genius, the BEST EVER.there will definitely never be another like Eddie, R.I.P. Mr. Van Halen.

[icitnow]

From what I have read, and heard, EVH wasn't "out of tune." He tuned his guitar/s to Eb. Not standard 440. He tuned his B string down a bit to get sweeter Major 3rd intervals for the A shape barre chords but other than that, his guitar was not out of tune--to Eb tuning. All strings were tuned down a half-step, to Eb tuning. On songs like Unchained he used Db/C# tuning.

[jerkerjansson]

I would tune to the phone back in the 80s. In Sweden at least, if you would pick up a phone there would be a dial tone. I knew it was a slightly low A, so I listened to it and tuned the A string a little bit higher to get a good enough A.

[Herodotusjones]

Eddie specifically said, "I just tune the guitar to whatever it is" in a Guitar article in 87. He also alluded to this in an early interview when asked about his vibrato set up. Glorious! Thank you, Doc!

[TheWarriorSongProject]

Didn't EVH admit to tuning down a half step on a lot of stuff?

[MikeConde]

I love how Eddie relied on "relative tuning" rather than a tuner. What a true genius! Great video

[feelingsogood]

The best ever example of utilizing dissonance from bending a string out of tune is when Brad Gillis was doing the intro section to Believer at the 1982 irvine meadows show. It stopped ozzy right in his tracks and he marveled in awe at Gillis creativity.

[nickgodfrey]

Probably why Ed was one of the all-time greats: he played by feel, not like a machine, which is what rock n roll is all about.