C tuning (guitar)
C tuning is a type of guitar tuning. The strings of the guitar are tuned two whole steps lower than standard tuning. The resulting notes can be described most commonly as C-F-A♯-D♯-G-C or C-F-B♭-E♭-G-C. This is not to be confused with C♯ tuning, which is one and one half steps lower than standard tuning.

The tuning is commonly used by metal and hard rock artists to achieve a heavier, deeper sound. Slackening regular strings on a regular guitar to a lower pitch makes bending easier. Depending on personal playing style, some guitarists find this desirable, while others switch to heavier-gauge strings to avoid unintentional bending and to play chords in tune more easily. Another option is the use of a baritone guitar, which is built slightly longer and stronger than a regular guitar to achieve the desired pitch with heavy strings at average tensions.
Used by
    
- Abysmal Dawn
 - The Absence
 - Acid Bath
 - Akercocke
 - Alestorm
 - Al-Namrood
 - Amaranthe (this tuning and drop B-flat used on their first two studio albums)
 - Amatory
 - Amon Amarth (on the albums Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds, Once Sent from the Golden Hall, and their new album Berserker along with drop B-flat)
 - Anaal Nathrakh
 - Ani Di Franco
 - Anathema (on their recent progressive rock albums)
 - Arch Enemy (2001–present)[1]
 - Avatar (on the first three studio albums)
 - Autopsy
 - Behemoth
 - Black Sabbath (on live performances of most songs from Master of Reality and Vol. 4 since 2012, including "Into the Void", "Under the Sun", and "Snowblind") [2][3][4]
 - Blasphemy
 - Blut Aus Nord
 - Bolt Thrower (on their debut album In Battle There Is No Law!)
 - Brendon Small
 - Bring Me the Horizon
 - BroodMother
 - Burnt By The Sun
 - Called To Arms
 - Cancerslug
 - Chthonic
 - Chuck Berry (most notable songs were recorded in standard tuning)
 - Cold[5]
 - Colour Haze
 - Cradle of Filth (In "Better to Reign in Hell" from Damnation and a Day)
 - DarkWrench
 - Dawn Of Demise
 - Deadlock
 - Death (metal band) (1985)
 - Deathstars
 - Defeated Sanity
 - Dethklok
 - Devourment
 - Die Apokalyptischen Reiter
 - Dimension Zero
 - Disgorge
 - Dismember
 - Dissection
 - Dream Theater (used on "As I Am", "Honor Thy Father" and "In the Name of God" on Train of Thought, "A Nightmare to Remember" on Black Clouds & Silver Linings, and "Untethered Angel" on Distance over Time)
 - Entombed (From Clandestine onward)
 - Elder (On debut album only)
 - Electric Wizard
 - Epica (on most songs from Consign to Oblivion)
 - Evanescence on some songs
 - EyeHateGod
 - Fight (band)
 - From The Vastland
 - Full of Hell
 - George Cromarty
 - George Ezra
 - Goat Horn
 - Gorguts[6] (since Obscura)
 - Grand Magus
 - Guía Luz Negra (d bandolier)
 - Hamlet (main tuning)
 - Harvey Milk
 - Hatebreed
 - Hatesphere
 - Heaven Shall Burn
 - High on Fire
 - Hypocrisy (from Penetralia to The Final Chapter)
 - Immolation
 - Incantation
 - In Flames[7](since The Jester Race; after Reroute to Remain, they started using drop A# exclusively)
 - Into Eternity
 - Jimi Hendrix (In the song "Here My Train A' Comin' (Acoustic)")
 - John Butler
 - Judas Priest (on "Dead Meat", "Brain Dead", and "Cathedral Spires")
 - Katatonia (all albums since Viva Emptiness)
 - Kip Winger (solo)
 - Kittie
 - Kyuss[8]
 - Kreator
 - Kuthah
 - Legion Of The Damned
 - Life of Agony (on half of “Ugly”, the entirety of “Soul Searching Sun”, and some songs from "The Sound of Scars")
 - Licuation
 - Monster Magnet
 - Murder by Death
 - NAILS
 - Necrophagia
 - Nervosa
 - Neuraxis
 - Nick Drake
 - Nightrage
 - Noah And The Whale
 - One Ok Rock
 - Panopticon
 - Paradise Lost (first two albums)
 - Parasite Inc.
 - Pile
 - Porcupine Tree (in Anesthetize and Way Out of Here)
 - Punch the Klown
 - Queens of the Stone Age (used exclusively on their debut album, after which C standard, E standard and various other tunings were used)[9]
 - Royal Blood (How Did We Get So Dark?)
 - Salticid (in "Black Fly")
 - Scorpions (on "Love 'em or Leave 'em")
 - Scythrow
 - Sentenced (on their first album Shadows of the Past)
 - Septicflesh (in a few earlier songs, and in much of their recent symphonic death metal material)
 - Sepultura (on "Antichrist" and "Necromancer")
 - Six Feet Under
 - Sleep
 - Suffocation (on Effigy of the Forgotten)
 - The Black Dahlia Murder
 - The Smashing Pumpkins (in "The Everlasting Gaze" "Lucky 13" "Heavy Metal Machine" and "The Imploding Voice")
 - The Sword
 - Sibylle Baier
 - Sodom (in "Masquerade in Blood")
 - Soundgarden (occasionally on other releases)
 - Spectrum Disorder
 - Spiritual Beggars
 - Starkill
 - Static-X (all up until Shadow Zone – since then, they drop the low string to Bb)
 - Strapping Young Lad
 - Suidakra
 - Tal Wilkenfeld (open C# in Pieces of Me, among others)
 - Therion (on their early death metal albums)
 - Tiamat (on their first album Sumerian Cry)
 - Tony Iommi (on the song "Who's Fooling Who") [10]
 - Tremonti (on the songs "Arm Yourself", "Throw Them to the Lions" (performed in B tuning live), and "Make it Hurt")
 - While Heaven Wept
 - The Wildhearts (on 2009's "Chutzpah" album)
 - Witchfinder General
 - Wolfchant
 
References
    
- "Michael Amott Interview". Musisi.com. June 7, 2008.
 - Maximiliano Dickinson (2014-01-17), Black Sabbath Under The Sun ( Live... Gathered In Their Masses), retrieved 2016-01-22
 - Black Sabbath (2015-07-08), Black Sabbath - "Into The hiVoid" Live 2013, retrieved 2016-01-22
 - WORLD TOUR (2019-01-19), Black Sabbath - Snowblind (Live 2017), retrieved 2019-02-20
 - "Terry Balsamo Artist Interview Ibanez". Ibanez. January 1, 2006. Archived from the original on September 27, 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2011.
 - "Rigged: Luc Lemay of Gorguts". MetalSucks.net. MetalSucks. 4 October 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
 - "In Flames Interview". tartareandesire.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
 - "Kyuss The Guitar Cave". The Guitar Cave. October 28, 2011.
 - "10 Questions with Troy Van Leeuwen - Queens of the Stone Age". guitar.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
 - Ray H (2013-06-16), Iommi - Who's Fooling Who (Feat. Ozzy Osbourne & Bill Ward), archived from the original on 2021-12-21, retrieved 2016-04-07