Tuning Analysis: Raining Blood

The "Raining Blood" tuning is a profound dive into low-end aggression, specifically engineered for the iconic sound of heavy metal. As its name suggests, it's directly inspired by the legendary band Slayer's use in their seminal track "Raining Blood." This tuning moves significantly beyond standard drop tunings, establishing a foundation of immense power and darkness suitable for the most brutal riffage.

Verbal Analysis

This is an exceptionally deep and heavy tuning, characterized by its uniformly sharp notes and the substantial pitch drop across all strings. The resulting sound is thick, sludgy, and inherently aggressive, designed to deliver maximum impact. It creates a dark, ominous sonic landscape perfect for extreme metal genres. The sheer depth often necessitates heavier gauge strings to maintain proper tension and intonation, and to avoid a flabby sound.

Technical Analysis

The open notes for this tuning are D♯2, A♯2, F♯3, C♯4, G♯4, D♯5 (from low to high string). The intervallic structure of the open strings is as follows:

• String 6 (D♯2) to String 5 (A♯2): Perfect 5th (7 semitones)
• String 5 (A♯2) to String 4 (F♯3): Tritone (Augmented 4th - 6 semitones)
• String 4 (F♯3) to String 3 (C♯4): Perfect 5th (7 semitones)
• String 3 (C♯4) to String 2 (G♯4): Perfect 5th (7 semitones)
• String 2 (G♯4) to String 1 (D♯5): Perfect 5th (7 semitones)

Chordal Implications

Given the extreme drop in pitch and the intervallic consistency (mostly perfect fifths), this tuning is incredibly efficient for power chords.

• Open Chord: Strumming all open strings produces a thick D♯ minor 11 chord, offering a massive, dissonant foundation for riffs.
• Power Chords: The prevalence of perfect fifths means that two-finger (root-fifth) and three-finger (root-fifth-octave) power chords are easily accessible across multiple string sets by simply barring frets. For example, a single finger barred across the lower strings will yield powerful, deep chords, a staple of metal rhythm guitar.
• Minor Triads: The D♯2, A♯2, F♯3 open strings already form an inverted D♯ minor triad. By moving this shape up the neck, you can easily create other minor triads with a very heavy voicing.
• Riffing: This tuning excels in low, chugging riffs and single-note lines where the immense bottom end can be fully exploited. Its design encourages percussive, rhythmic playing over intricate melodic work, although lead lines will sound incredibly thick and dark.

Open String Notes

The guitar is tuned to the following notes, from the lowest (6th) string to the highest (1st) string:

• 6th String (Low E string position): D♯2
• 5th String (A string position): A♯2
• 4th String (D string position): F♯3
• 3rd String (G string position): C♯4
• 2nd String (B string position): G♯4
• 1st String (High E string position): D♯5

How to Tune Your Guitar

To achieve the "Raining Blood" tuning, carefully adjust each string as follows. Please note the significant drops in pitch for most strings; a heavier gauge string set is highly recommended to maintain playability, intonation, and string tension. Tuning down more than 4 semitones from standard pitch can lead to very loose strings if not using appropriate string gauges.

• 6th String: Tune down 13 semitones to reach D♯2. (Warning: This is a very significant drop. A different string gauge is strongly advised.)
• 5th String: Tune down 11 semitones to reach A♯2. (Warning: This is a very significant drop. A different string gauge is strongly advised.)
• 4th String: Tune down 8 semitones to reach F♯3. (Warning: This is a significant drop. A different string gauge is strongly advised.)
• 3rd String: Tune down 6 semitones to reach C♯4. (Warning: This is a significant drop. A different string gauge is strongly advised.)
• 2nd String: Tune down 3 semitones to reach G♯4.
• 1st String: Tune down 1 semitones to reach D♯5.