Message In A Bottle. Please solve this mystery.

Sting. From "The Secret Policeman's Other Ball".

Can anyone help me with this? This performance is recorded a semi-tone above concert pitch. But Sting plays the fingerings for a guitar tuned to standard pitch. This means that either the guitar was tuned up a half-step (unlikely) or it was overdubbed later, a half-step higher. Furthermore, the music file from the album (the MP3) is at concert pitch. So, are we to believe that there were two versions of the same "live" performance at two different pitches?

I'm thinking this video must have been dubbed (re-recorded later a half-step above standard pitch) but it's all a bit of a mystery. If you can play guitar, tune it to standard (concert) pitch and then try to play along with the video and you'll see what I mean. Any ideas, anyone?

Category:

Music

Tags:

• sting
• message
• bottle
• shuiyang

[Mosca144]

He's just awesome...L E G E N D !!!!!

[gavvo888]

Before I'm berated for my previous comment I should say, he absolutely nails this. Impressive. A superstar in his element.

[KYEONGTI]

@Wampaa that's what makes him a professional....millions of hours practicing!

[Wampaa]

This is a very hard guitar part to play. It's amazing how well he plays it, considering he is singing too! Not many people can do this.

[etherbingedotorg]

Nyquest is almost right. PAL is 25fps, not 24. This was shot on film, transferred at 25fps, and then cheaply transferred to NTSC at 29.97.

[whoohaaXL]

LOVE LOVE LOVE!the sustained chord voicings during the chorus! So beautiful.

[TheObknox]

Delivered with supreme confidence often mistaken for arrogance.

[Danny980223]

Great video sting can play well cuz message in the bottle has it's tricks in guitar I can play it but not like him I learned it somedays ago

[T7417]

Yes, Awsome but The Police wouldn't be The police without Stewart and Andy. Actually Stewart (in my opinion) Completed Sting's Delivery .

[fernnation]

Good ear, I am working on this song & was looking to see different versions & ways to play it. It is a fairly difficult song to play a non-amatuer version of the original clean & keep the tempo on the verses. He's playing same chords as normal, so I would have said he was tuned sharp but Nyquest seems to know his shit with fps & shit so I'll go with that. Sorry, but i think this version kinda sucks though.

[gavvo888]

The 24p transfer idea is good but I suggest the proportionate frame-rate changes would not raise the pitch by precisely a semi-tone. Why is it unlikely he tuned up mr/mrs questioner? If he wanted to make use of the pitch of certain open strings he'd have to. It is common. And Sting is vain enough IMO not to use a capo on the first fret :-)