In the days of recording to tape (which was often sped up), no 440 except with tuning forks, turntables with 10% tolerance in speed, cassettes with even less precise speeds, my answer is, "Who cares".

Learning songs from recordings by ear meant adjusting the pitch of your instrument first.

In my early career, we tuned to the piano that was on every stage, and they were hardly ever at 440. There were no guitar tuners, so the guitars were tuned by from the 6th string to match the piano, and then by ear, making it a bit like just tuning, instead of equal temperament.

Then came strobe tuners, followed by digital, and I don't really know if that's an improvement or not. Some of those old 60s recordings with slightly out-of-tune guitars would not be improved if they were tuned perfectly.

As far as I'm concerned, if it sounds good to me, it is good.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫


Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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