I was chatting with a new friend and I struggled when I had to describe DADGAD tuning.
This tuning is like magical place beyond words.
You need to go there to know it.
In this case going there requires lowering the lowest and two highest strings one whole step. Once you've turned these keys enjoy!
Well I will share some information I've found while living with this tuning for a month.
I was at a coffeehouse and my friend asked to borrow my guitar. I let him use it and he returned it just as he got it. With the minor exception of switching the tuning to DADGAD. I forgot he did this and I went to play during practice a week later. It was quite the surprise. With an hour left before performance I quickly learned that it is easy to make music with DADGAD.
The learning curve is nice and low.
Just repeating the same thing or guessing at what sounds good left me curious as to what other musicians had done with this tuning. I made a playlist of the videos I saw, but most videos, boiled down to some maestro playing the most beautiful music ever with no explanation of how they got there.
I take that back. There was a video by Muriel Anderson recommending you work up a scale and play around with the frets nearby.
You heard me right.
The best music teacher said, "Play around."
While I will give you a list of ways to make a similar sound to the standard tuning, it turns out that play around is the best advice.
You need to spend time with the tuning and make what you think may be mistakes. This experimental approach is all part of the process. Many of the mistakes you make in this enchanted tuning will produce marvelous sounds that would be hard to do otherwise.
| Chord | Tab |
|---|---|
| A | x02202 |
| B | x2442x |
| C | x32030 |
| D | 000200 |
| E | x2212x |
| F | 303203 |
| G | 550050 |
| Am | x02232 |
| Bm | xx0424 |
| Dm | 003200 |
| Em | x22022 |
Tips
Notice how DADGAD has three strings tuned to D and two strings tuned to A. These are easy octaves and if you have a melody, playing that melody across the octave transforms the sound to be rich and full like a rustic old cabin in the winter.
If you are like me, and are handed a guitar in this tuning, don't fret (haha). All you need is a capo and you'll be able to play in any key your band leader chooses. Start off by finding what key your song is. Find that note on the D string and move your capo there. If you are given an easy tune that just has a root, 4th, and 5th chord, you can get a way with using these tabs.
| Chord | Tab |
|---|---|
| Root | x57000 |
| 4th | 550000 |
| 5th | 770000 |
| 6th | 990000 (may come in handy) |
For example, in the key of C, your root will be C, your 4th is F, your 5th is G and your 6th is Am.
Don't be afraid to experiment. One thing I did for the composition in this post is mix together major and minor sounding chords. It has that certain je ne sais quoi that really goes well with Autumn.
The photo in the main image was made by Marcin Nowak