Has anyone come up with an alternative to standard or DADGAD tunings for backing tunes on guitar? It's a good-un but it'd be great to hear some other ideas - I once tried DGDGAD, and it weren't too bad but had just as many idiosyncrasies...
I'm no longer an active participant on thesession though I still read it.
Another tuning for backing that works well is DADEAE; Paul de Grae of Kerry uses this. It has the advantage of the bottom 3 strings of DADGAD or Dropped-D (hence provides bass lines, drones, etc), while have EAE as the top lets you use many of the same fingerings as fiddlers or mandolinists. Very handy for switching off b/w melody and accompaniment.
De Grae has a manual on this called "Traditional Irish Guitar" which is very good.
Katie
Try DADF#AD.
The 3rd string being a semi tone lower means you can finger an 'A' on it a fret higher. This means a modal D chord is available using the first and ring finger of the left hand. ( And they only have to stretch over 3 frets )
Having the pinkie free to add melody notes is a great advantage, in my experience.
Tho I don't use it for backing tunes.
Check out Sonny Condell and Scullion ( "Eyelids in the Snow" )for the kind of sound this tuning can give you.
Hi Pat! Good luck with the Fleadh weekend (if that's you) - and cheers to Chris too. I don't know how many cans of worms we can open on this subject, and I might just land back on DADGAD again, but here goes... I've found that the DGDGAD tuning lets you play solidly in G but the chord voicings become very strange. Have a crack at playing in G minor with it - it throws up some pretty spooky chords, especially if you use parallel octaves and fifths; this one messes with my head a fair bit, which is always fun.
DADEAE tuning sounds like a great plan - has anyone tried tuning their guitar DADAAD at all? It sounds a bit silly, and it probably is, but what the hey.
Why keep searching for other tunings? I am curious as to what you find lacking in the more commonly used ones.
Standard tuning is still a viable option and works for some of the best players - it's more about how you use it. DropD is my preferred option because it has the low D on the bottom to give the drone where needed and all the familiar chord shapes on the top 3 strings as well as being comfortable for flatpicking tunes.
Double dropped D (first and 6th dropped down from E to D) is getting used more often and has a great sound to it - Donogh Hennessy, Jim Murray.
DADGAD is certainly the flavour of the month at present still. It does have it's limitations but again in the right hands it can sound as varied as any other tuning.
In my opinion the other tuning options work well for only certain tunes, much in the way that Tony McManus swops tunings frequently to find the right one for a particular tune (fingerstyle).
Good luck in your search
Cheers Donough - I agree that there's no real need to search for another tuning. Got pretty excited about signing onto the website for the first time and needed an excuse to start a discussion! ; )
I'm well into big, fat, rockin sounds on guitar behind tunes but want to be able to play it like a bouzouki at times. DADGAD can be great for the kind of space that that sound needs; I reckon I've found a bunch of DADGAD sweet spots and it's great to think about where the sweet spots lie in other tunings. Cheers for the ideas!
Oops... Fleadh... Ceol Aneas.... spot the Aussie. xx
Katiebee - didn't realise you had just arrived so to speak. How remiss of me not to welcome you to this site. I'm sure you will succeed in wasting (enjoyably) untold hours here in the future.
Mafia? Oy! Thanks for the welcome Donough - look forward to wasting time with you. Anyway, how do you fellas all know each other? I thought this thing was anonymous... you know, like a confessional for frenetic choon nuts or summat...
G'day dow! How's the bazooka going? Sorry about the pike factor, I was visiting my pa and breaking my vegeaquarianism (he he!!). I'm heading back home again today but will see you at the mega bb & bno session on the 18th.
Betcha don't know how I know it's you. Man, I think this is going to be fun!
Everybody appears "nice" on the mustard board compared to Dow.
I met up with Dow & bb in Sydney last year for a session.
BTW what is a vegeaquarian.
"Betcha don't know how I know it's you. Man, I think this is going to be fun!"
I take it this is directed at Dow not me. Assuming I am right it seems hard to believe there would be more than one of him (Dow) around.
Hi Katie-I tried switching a few years back to dropped D but found myself getting mixed up switching back and forth all the time.I know it's an excuse for laziness but I just switched back to DADGAD and try not to use the capo.You can play most tune chords DADGAD and it gives a different sound to the other keys rather the samey capo thing-capo be gone........
Although it'd be handy to have a 2nd guitar slave to bear your other tuning one for mid sesh-my strings kept breaking tuning back up-or maybe that was my thrashing.I'm sure when you're recording though it's nice to throw in different tunings for different sets.
G'day Horaldo! D'ya like your new whistle? : ) Had tunes with Jamie a few weeks ago in Canberra - we're missing you guys! ; )
Yep, I think you're right about the guitar slave idea - I hardly ever break strings but the last one I broke was the low D string (very strange!) and I wasn't really prepared for that. I've started trying to lose the capo - how do you deal with the ringing strings thing, especially when you're playing in whacko keys like F? Do you just mute 'em?
Oh - and "vegeaquarian" is a very silly way of saying that you're a vegetarian who eats fish too. I was being a bit silly. Sorry!
Katiebee the new whistle is a beautie-it's only starting to get "blown in" as it were-Trace has been back home for the last few weeks so I've been putting up the chickenwire at the front garden while I'm practising-the locals are already chucking bottles at me.Yeah I just mute the lower strings with the base of my hand or just use 6ths/7ths a lot-not ideal I know.Sounds like you guys are going well though.
I know Donough-I had noticed the am shift usually still has one or two late night stragglers from the other hemisphere for a wee while till it becomes an OzKick Murphia Xtravaganza once again -hooray.
So that's why the Aussies are all out and about! Der Freddy - I'm a bit slow. Donough - Erm, I'm a temporary Canberran, although I was brought up there. I usually live in country Victoria, just a bit out of Melbourne. I know Alex but I haven't seen her for years - hopefully she'll pop up for a tune somewhere along the line!
Horaldo, I've sent you an email.
So - erm, who wants to tune a guitar anyway? Doesn't make any difference...
Hi Guys
Kiwi shift kicking in. DADGAD is greta tuning but try FIGJAM as a tuning. Thats perfect for every session and no strings get broken although yu may need to pull a few strings to stay in the session, especially if you want to sing songs eh Dow.....Dow....where are you..Wakey wakey.....
Hi Katiebee, great to see you getting into it here on the session. Was good to catch up for those tunes a few weeks ago. I learnt some of those jigs you mentioned and love em. Have been passing them around. Am just now trying to learn that Kitty Lie Over jig, its great. How's the boy fried? oops meant boy friend! heard last night that you might be heading south again soon...little birdies every where. Catch up soon.
PS Will be in Sydney next week if anyone wants a few tunes????email me......not you Dow.......
Could somebody email me a lumpy jumper with a cello? Mine has gone away for the summer. I suppose Trevor will do, but I'll want to see how he looks in a jumper first.
Kiwi-man! Been playing those jigsies you taught us - have you got any names for them? And how's the Iris de Ment going? That ain't a bad song for DADGAD...
Katie,
The singer Robbie O'Connell uses an open D tuning which seems pretty nifty, and he has a bunch of information about it on his website, which I don't have a link to, but you could probably find it pretty quickly with a Google search. For myself, I find that good old EADGBE works the best.
_this mysteriously, underplayed (and underrated) open tuning is just waiting to be burst into the trad guitaring ciircles, working equally well on tunes & backing, and a handsomely matched driver for 5-string fiddle (also with a low C)
i did leave my acoustic in DADGAD once (for nearly 6 months) but never struck up a 'natural feel' for it, so didn't force it; and if asked, my favourite is still that simle 'drop D', the first for most in ''opening up'' the guitar's great potential
i've never bothered with any of these ''recorded'' forms, but for those of you who like a challenge :
Well lissaniska kinda named most realistic tunings and a few less realistic as well. Doesn't leave too much to say. Some will obviously be more useful than others. Personally, for backing, I stick to just DADGAD. I dont find it that bad in F capo-less. As long as you learn the moveable chords then most keys should be achievable. I must confess to having a bit of a problem with E however. It is more useful than Open D (DADF#AD) because it is easy to switch from major to minor keys. Open D can be tricky in this respect. Paul Brady had a similar problem with open G (DGDGBD) until he found that by dropping the base D down to a C (CGDGBD) it made minor keys a lot more easy to achieve.
One tuning that has not been mentioned yet is DADGAE, one I saw being played on Sunday. It is much like DADGAD but, I am told, makes it easier to play melody, and certainly the guy playing it was an outstanding flatpicker of tunes.
Certainly CGCGCD (Open Csus2 - if anyone is interested) is becoming more popular now. It is nice and has more notes within the fretboard than many tunings. It is used a bit by Dougie Maclen in his songs although he tends to stick more to straight open C (CGCGCE) as well as standard and DADGAD and so forth.
All of the tunings have something interesting to offer, but retuning is such a pain in the butt (being in tune is important to me) that I rarely use anything other than standard and Dropped D. Maybe once or twice a month I use DADGAD.
A lot of the cool voicings that come easily from special tunings are available in standard tuning and Dropped D if you take the time to understand what makes them cool. You might need to use more fingers (or not) and occasionally stretch a bit, but there’s a lot that can be done outside of the chord book fingerings.
As an interesting exercise, I recommend trying to play some familiar tune or song accompaniment (in standard tuning) without using a single standard chord fingering, or using only two-finger chords but playing maybe three or more strings. If you stick with it a while, you’ll discover some interesting possibilities.
I’m certainly not against using non-standard tunings. If I had a dozen guitars, I probably keep eight of them in different modal tunings. But I don’t and life is too short to spend half of it tuning guitars.
Jed Foley is a big proponent of CGCGCD capo'ed on the 2nd Fret to DADADE (if you tuned straight to DADADE, you'd be breaking a lot of stings). He suggested D'addario Bluegrass strings withstood the tenion well and weren't "floppy" on the bottom end.
I tried a couple permutiations of tuning with GDAE on the high side (sometimes capo'ed up to that) to try and walk over to melody... but I found it a royal pain. It just seemed ill-suited. Now I just pack a mandolin with me as well.
(Though DADGAD eats Standard's lunch in "D", I think Standard gets its own back in Em/Edorian.)
For flatpicking, I use DADGAE as this give me DGAE on the top 4 strings, I can treat them as D_AE and play my mandolin fingerings without having to relearn all new fingering for guitars. Plus, its a simple drop tuning so I put it quickly on any borrowed guitar in a session.
"Could somebody email me a lumpy jumper with a cello?"
Ask and ye shall receive. I was just walking down the street and there she was, busking the Bach Cello Suites. Lovely lass, lovely cellist, who can already fiddle the thing a bit, so she's open to getting together to do some folky stuff.
And she's going away in a month. God can be cruel with his gifts.
For playing gigs in no-alcohol venues, tune to CAFFEE...
For busking, turn to BEGGED,
Playing cumbersome guitar? Go BAGAGE
And if you are worn out, tune FADEDD.
alternatives to DADGAD
alternatives to DADGAD
Has anyone come up with an alternative to standard or DADGAD tunings for backing tunes on guitar? It's a good-un but it'd be great to hear some other ideas - I once tried DGDGAD, and it weren't too bad but had just as many idiosyncrasies...
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by katiebee
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Katie:
I'm no longer an active participant on thesession though I still read it.
Another tuning for backing that works well is DADEAE; Paul de Grae of Kerry uses this. It has the advantage of the bottom 3 strings of DADGAD or Dropped-D (hence provides bass lines, drones, etc), while have EAE as the top lets you use many of the same fingerings as fiddlers or mandolinists. Very handy for switching off b/w melody and accompaniment.
De Grae has a manual on this called "Traditional Irish Guitar" which is very good.
chris smith
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by coyotebanjo
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Katie
Try DADF#AD.
The 3rd string being a semi tone lower means you can finger an 'A' on it a fret higher. This means a modal D chord is available using the first and ring finger of the left hand. ( And they only have to stretch over 3 frets )
Having the pinkie free to add melody notes is a great advantage, in my experience.
Tho I don't use it for backing tunes.
Check out Sonny Condell and Scullion ( "Eyelids in the Snow" )for the kind of sound this tuning can give you.
DADF#AD has kept me up late a lot.
Pat
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Pat Higgins
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Hi Pat! Good luck with the Fleadh weekend (if that's you) - and cheers to Chris too. I don't know how many cans of worms we can open on this subject, and I might just land back on DADGAD again, but here goes... I've found that the DGDGAD tuning lets you play solidly in G but the chord voicings become very strange. Have a crack at playing in G minor with it - it throws up some pretty spooky chords, especially if you use parallel octaves and fifths; this one messes with my head a fair bit, which is always fun.
DADEAE tuning sounds like a great plan - has anyone tried tuning their guitar DADAAD at all? It sounds a bit silly, and it probably is, but what the hey.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by katiebee
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Why keep searching for other tunings? I am curious as to what you find lacking in the more commonly used ones.
Standard tuning is still a viable option and works for some of the best players - it's more about how you use it. DropD is my preferred option because it has the low D on the bottom to give the drone where needed and all the familiar chord shapes on the top 3 strings as well as being comfortable for flatpicking tunes.
Double dropped D (first and 6th dropped down from E to D) is getting used more often and has a great sound to it - Donogh Hennessy, Jim Murray.
DADGAD is certainly the flavour of the month at present still. It does have it's limitations but again in the right hands it can sound as varied as any other tuning.
In my opinion the other tuning options work well for only certain tunes, much in the way that Tony McManus swops tunings frequently to find the right one for a particular tune (fingerstyle).
Good luck in your search
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Donough
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Oh yes Pat - good luck with Ceol Aneas this year. Hope it goes well for you.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Donough
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Cheers Donough - I agree that there's no real need to search for another tuning. Got pretty excited about signing onto the website for the first time and needed an excuse to start a discussion! ; )
I'm well into big, fat, rockin sounds on guitar behind tunes but want to be able to play it like a bouzouki at times. DADGAD can be great for the kind of space that that sound needs; I reckon I've found a bunch of DADGAD sweet spots and it's great to think about where the sweet spots lie in other tunings. Cheers for the ideas!
Oops... Fleadh... Ceol Aneas.... spot the Aussie. xx
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by katiebee
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Katiebee - didn't realise you had just arrived so to speak. How remiss of me not to welcome you to this site. I'm sure you will succeed in wasting (enjoyably) untold hours here in the future.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Donough
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Hey Katiebee where were you last night, you should've been @ the Gaelic Club having tunes with us!
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Dr. Dow
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
So Katiebee is no relation of bb(ee). Is the sting all they have in common
So the Oz mafia grows.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Donough
Hrmph
Mafia? Oy! Thanks for the welcome Donough - look forward to wasting time with you. Anyway, how do you fellas all know each other? I thought this thing was anonymous... you know, like a confessional for frenetic choon nuts or summat...
G'day dow! How's the bazooka going? Sorry about the pike factor, I was visiting my pa and breaking my vegeaquarianism (he he!!). I'm heading back home again today but will see you at the mega bb & bno session on the 18th.
Betcha don't know how I know it's you. Man, I think this is going to be fun!
btw donough, I thought I was being nice! Dang.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by katiebee
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Were there tunes at the Gaelic Club last night? Where was I?
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Tish
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Everybody appears "nice" on the mustard board compared to Dow.
I met up with Dow & bb in Sydney last year for a session.
BTW what is a vegeaquarian.
"Betcha don't know how I know it's you. Man, I think this is going to be fun!"
I take it this is directed at Dow not me. Assuming I am right it seems hard to believe there would be more than one of him (Dow) around.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Donough
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Tish - if you don't know where you were, how do you expect us to be able to answer that for you.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Donough
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Well, *somebody* must know!
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Tish
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Hi Katie-I tried switching a few years back to dropped D but found myself getting mixed up switching back and forth all the time.I know it's an excuse for laziness but I just switched back to DADGAD and try not to use the capo.You can play most tune chords DADGAD and it gives a different sound to the other keys rather the samey capo thing-capo be gone........
Although it'd be handy to have a 2nd guitar slave to bear your other tuning one for mid sesh-my strings kept breaking tuning back up-or maybe that was my thrashing.I'm sure when you're recording though it's nice to throw in different tunings for different sets.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by horaldo
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Oops! Yep, that comment was for Dow - sorry, that must've seemed a bit odd. Am I right in guessing that we're all Aussies?
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by katiebee
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Well, all resident here, anyway - a few ex-pats in there from the looks of it.
bb hasn't bundy-ed in for the Mafia shift yet though. Maybe she doesn't know where she is either.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Tish
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
G'day Horaldo! D'ya like your new whistle? : ) Had tunes with Jamie a few weeks ago in Canberra - we're missing you guys! ; )
Yep, I think you're right about the guitar slave idea - I hardly ever break strings but the last one I broke was the low D string (very strange!) and I wasn't really prepared for that. I've started trying to lose the capo - how do you deal with the ringing strings thing, especially when you're playing in whacko keys like F? Do you just mute 'em?
Oh - and "vegeaquarian" is a very silly way of saying that you're a vegetarian who eats fish too. I was being a bit silly. Sorry!
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by katiebee
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Horaldo - you go to the back of the class for trying to keep the discussion on topic. It really not the done thing around here.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Donough
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Katiebee the new whistle is a beautie-it's only starting to get "blown in" as it were-Trace has been back home for the last few weeks so I've been putting up the chickenwire at the front garden while I'm practising-the locals are already chucking bottles at me.Yeah I just mute the lower strings with the base of my hand or just use 6ths/7ths a lot-not ideal I know.Sounds like you guys are going well though.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by horaldo
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
So Katiebee are you a Canberran or were you just passing through. Do you know Alex - flute player - there?
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Donough
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
I know Donough-I had noticed the am shift usually still has one or two late night stragglers from the other hemisphere for a wee while till it becomes an OzKick Murphia Xtravaganza once again -hooray.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by horaldo
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Jack is the last one to go to bed usually on the other side, so he is still sometimes hanging around during "OzKick Murphia Xtravaganza".
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Donough
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
I've been having a perusal the last few days and it's been good banter it has to be said.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by horaldo
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
"I've been having a perusal"
Did that hurt much? It does help if you relax.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Donough
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
So that's why the Aussies are all out and about! Der Freddy - I'm a bit slow. Donough - Erm, I'm a temporary Canberran, although I was brought up there. I usually live in country Victoria, just a bit out of Melbourne. I know Alex but I haven't seen her for years - hopefully she'll pop up for a tune somewhere along the line!
Horaldo, I've sent you an email.
So - erm, who wants to tune a guitar anyway? Doesn't make any difference...
Just trying to stay on topic...
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by katiebee
Re: perusal
it's easier if you stand on your tiptoes
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by horaldo
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Hi Guys
heard last night that you might be heading south again soon...little birdies every where. Catch up soon.
Kiwi shift kicking in. DADGAD is greta tuning but try FIGJAM as a tuning. Thats perfect for every session and no strings get broken although yu may need to pull a few strings to stay in the session, especially if you want to sing songs eh Dow.....Dow....where are you..Wakey wakey.....
Hi Katiebee, great to see you getting into it here on the session. Was good to catch up for those tunes a few weeks ago. I learnt some of those jigs you mentioned and love em. Have been passing them around. Am just now trying to learn that Kitty Lie Over jig, its great. How's the boy fried? oops meant boy friend!
PS Will be in Sydney next week if anyone wants a few tunes????email me......not you Dow.......
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by kiwi
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
It's okay I've got better things to be doing with my time than e-mailing anglo concertina players anyway.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Dr. Dow
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Try BEGAD for a 5-string.
Trevor
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Trevor Jennings
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Could somebody email me a lumpy jumper with a cello? Mine has gone away for the summer. I suppose Trevor will do, but I'll want to see how he looks in a jumper first.
KFG
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by KFG
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Kiwi-man! Been playing those jigsies you taught us - have you got any names for them? And how's the Iris de Ment going? That ain't a bad song for DADGAD...
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by katiebee
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Katie,
The singer Robbie O'Connell uses an open D tuning which seems pretty nifty, and he has a bunch of information about it on his website, which I don't have a link to, but you could probably find it pretty quickly with a Google search. For myself, I find that good old EADGBE works the best.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by AlBrown
Re: mystery C , 'King of Trad'
CGCGCD
_this mysteriously, underplayed (and underrated) open tuning is just waiting to be burst into the trad guitaring ciircles, working equally well on tunes & backing, and a handsomely matched driver for 5-string fiddle (also with a low C)
i did leave my acoustic in DADGAD once (for nearly 6 months) but never struck up a 'natural feel' for it, so didn't force it; and if asked, my favourite is still that simle 'drop D', the first for most in ''opening up'' the guitar's great potential
i've never bothered with any of these ''recorded'' forms, but for those of you who like a challenge :
CCCGCE, CGCGCE, CGCGCF, CGCGAE, CGDGBC, CGDGBD, CGDGBE, CGEGBD & CB*CFB*F.
DGDDAD, DGDFAB*, DGDG*BD, DGDGB*D, DGDGBD (open G), DGDGBE (G6), DGDGAD, DACGCE, DADDAD, DADEAD, DADG*AD*, DADG*AD (open D), DADGCD, DADGCE*, DADGCE, DADGDG, DADGAG*, DADGBD (double drop-D) & DAEEAA.
ECEGCD, EEEEBE, EADEAE, EADG*BE (lute), EADGCF, EAEEAE, EBDGAD, EBEGCE, EBEGAD, EBEGAE & EBEGBE.
FACCGB*, FADGBE & FB*CFAD.
AADGBE & ABEG*AD.
BG*D*DAD & BADGAD.
note : the * = flat (eg. for G* read F sharp); and the source : Hanson (1991) 'The Alternate Tunings Guide for Guitar'
now good luck with your ''chosen''
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by lisaniska
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Oh, crikey.
Guitars.... can't.... possibly.... do..... all of that...... wow, I think I just broke a string in my brain. Twang!
Thanks lissaniska - the C tuning sounds like a mighty idea. I'll have to go off and try it!
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by katiebee
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Well lissaniska kinda named most realistic tunings and a few less realistic as well. Doesn't leave too much to say. Some will obviously be more useful than others. Personally, for backing, I stick to just DADGAD. I dont find it that bad in F capo-less. As long as you learn the moveable chords then most keys should be achievable. I must confess to having a bit of a problem with E however. It is more useful than Open D (DADF#AD) because it is easy to switch from major to minor keys. Open D can be tricky in this respect. Paul Brady had a similar problem with open G (DGDGBD) until he found that by dropping the base D down to a C (CGDGBD) it made minor keys a lot more easy to achieve.
One tuning that has not been mentioned yet is DADGAE, one I saw being played on Sunday. It is much like DADGAD but, I am told, makes it easier to play melody, and certainly the guy playing it was an outstanding flatpicker of tunes.
Certainly CGCGCD (Open Csus2 - if anyone is interested) is becoming more popular now. It is nice and has more notes within the fretboard than many tunings. It is used a bit by Dougie Maclen in his songs although he tends to stick more to straight open C (CGCGCE) as well as standard and DADGAD and so forth.
Best of luck in your explorations.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Just for a while there I thought this was the script for 'home and away' or 'neighbours'.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by curlew
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
All of the tunings have something interesting to offer, but retuning is such a pain in the butt (being in tune is important to me) that I rarely use anything other than standard and Dropped D. Maybe once or twice a month I use DADGAD.
A lot of the cool voicings that come easily from special tunings are available in standard tuning and Dropped D if you take the time to understand what makes them cool. You might need to use more fingers (or not) and occasionally stretch a bit, but there’s a lot that can be done outside of the chord book fingerings.
As an interesting exercise, I recommend trying to play some familiar tune or song accompaniment (in standard tuning) without using a single standard chord fingering, or using only two-finger chords but playing maybe three or more strings. If you stick with it a while, you’ll discover some interesting possibilities.
I’m certainly not against using non-standard tunings. If I had a dozen guitars, I probably keep eight of them in different modal tunings. But I don’t and life is too short to spend half of it tuning guitars.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Bob himself
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Jed Foley is a big proponent of CGCGCD capo'ed on the 2nd Fret to DADADE (if you tuned straight to DADADE, you'd be breaking a lot of stings). He suggested D'addario Bluegrass strings withstood the tenion well and weren't "floppy" on the bottom end.
I tried a couple permutiations of tuning with GDAE on the high side (sometimes capo'ed up to that) to try and walk over to melody... but I found it a royal pain. It just seemed ill-suited. Now I just pack a mandolin with me as well.
(Though DADGAD eats Standard's lunch in "D", I think Standard gets its own back in Em/Edorian.)
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Schy
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
For flatpicking, I use DADGAE as this give me DGAE on the top 4 strings, I can treat them as D_AE and play my mandolin fingerings without having to relearn all new fingering for guitars. Plus, its a simple drop tuning so I put it quickly on any borrowed guitar in a session.
# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by Michael Eskin
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
"Could somebody email me a lumpy jumper with a cello?"
Ask and ye shall receive. I was just walking down the street and there she was, busking the Bach Cello Suites. Lovely lass, lovely cellist, who can already fiddle the thing a bit, so she's open to getting together to do some folky stuff.
And she's going away in a month. God can be cruel with his gifts.
KFG
# Posted on June 3rd 2005 by KFG
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Though not a guitar, I tune my Cittern, ADGCE.
Somtimes, ADF#BE and GDACE.
Brad
# Posted on June 3rd 2005 by Ani Trec-Noc
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
I use a strabge tuning EADGBE, pronounced Ed Ga Bah
and sumtims Dad Ga Bah gets a turn out !
# Posted on June 3rd 2005 by BegF
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
And there's always BAGDAD tuning, if you want to get a bit of an eastern sound.
KFG
# Posted on June 3rd 2005 by KFG
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
For playing gigs in no-alcohol venues, tune to CAFFEE...
For busking, turn to BEGGED,
Playing cumbersome guitar? Go BAGAGE
And if you are worn out, tune FADEDD.
Taxi!
# Posted on June 3rd 2005 by Janek
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
BAGAGE - excellent
# Posted on June 3rd 2005 by BegF
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
This thread is going to go south in a real hurry...
# Posted on June 3rd 2005 by Schy
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
Are you ABBFAB?
I heard a guitarist back a song in the wrong key... of course the tuning was GAFFEE.
Do you rush through the songs? Try DECAFF
Alternate busking tuning: CADGED
Somebody stop me... (these are actually the better ones I thought of)
# Posted on June 3rd 2005 by Schy
Re: alternatives to DADGAD
thanks for that Alistair and Schy
_so to recap on the open C tunings :
CGCGCE (open C) & CGCGCD (open C sus 2)
i'd say go for second one and you will not be let down . . .
# Posted on June 5th 2005 by lisaniska