What is the advantage, in your opinion, with using DADGAD tuning? My husband tried to re-tune one of his guitars but couldn't really find a reason why DADGAD would be better than the usual tuning. The chord charts we found on the internet was rather lousy too, most of the chords sounded crap.
I once suggested to a guitarist friend that he should re-tune to DDDDDD as it would save wear on his fingertips and frets and he would be just as much in harmony with the rest of us as the piper was. He thought about it for quite a while.
He was kind enough to laugh once he saw the joke.
Drop D is good enough for Arty McGlynn, I'm told by people who claim to know. Why bother re-stringing for DADGAD?
Do you really have to re-string for DADGAD? I don't for Drop D (or double Drop D), and the only additional change is also taking the 2nd string down a step.
I like the open sound of DADGAD. I like to have the tonic note of the key in the bass and prominent elsewhere, so DADGAD (and a capo!) is perfect for that. Maybe there's the capacity for more power when playing in large groups in DADGAD because you can afford to hit more strings, and open strings, because you're as close to the key. I think you have to be a REALLY good standard player to back trad and sound good though (otherwise you just end up doing the basic three chord tricks) whereas in my opinion, playing both, DADGAD is a bit easier. Also I really like the almost bouzouki style of guitar playing that's becoming prominent (e.g. John Blake) and that's a lot easier to do on an open tuned instrument.
But at the end of the day, those are just my opinions. Maybe there are no advantages and it's just a preference thing
check out the picture of Ged Lawson demonstrating session etiquette while playing DADGAD guitar: http://www.horseplay.org.uk/
It this link doesn't take you straight there, go to the 'gallery' page on the website.
I have been using DADGAD since '97 and almost always use it in sessions because 1/ the drone effect of upper striings, 2/ the lower register drop D aspect serves as the bass, 3/ I compose and arrange in this tuning almost all the time.
It can cause youtop be a bit lazy and not play full chords, which is why someone above might have mentioned it as being easier. There is soem truth in this. However, I do stil remain in love with the sonoroty of DADGAD and it allows you to pull off some sounds that are not opossible in reg tuning. I also capo a lot.
I have worked a but with the incredible Tony McManus who lives close by and he uses Drop D in sessions.
no one claiming to be a guitarist should be using light gauge strings on an acoustic guitar! if that's what you're going to do then just go get a shoebox, a broom and some fishing line, it'll save you a lot of money.
playing a low action, light gauge setup will prevent you from knowing what your guitar actually sounds like, keep your finger strength stunted, not to mention (if you've got solid wood) the diminished tone. plus it will buzz and rattle more, and be easier to bend a semitone without realizing it, even with the strings up to concert pitch. maybe i'm heavy handed??
i don't swap sets for either tuning, or double drop D, i guess, because i use them as thick as i can get and change my strings once every week or so. although if you were for some very strange reason using light strings, then you would need to swap for heavier strings in DADGAD or they'd be a quiet buzzing mess.
i like the modal qualities of DADGAD, you can play all the way up the neck in a few positions and only create more oppurtunities with a capo. don't necessarily take the chords you printed as literally as they come -- take them as positions and experiment moving them up the neck within a given tune, plus aside form the drone you've got the same note on three strings so it cuts the memory game in half. no matter where you are you've got something to work with with out having to stop and think about it.
drop D can make the three chord trick in standard tuning into a six chord trick if you're smart about it. we sed it in the bluegrass band for a few tunes, notably reuben's train nashville blues, rosewood casket.
I've played guitar for 35 years, using light gauge string, and love the sound. My cedar-topped Lowden responds nicely to Elixir lights. Different things work for different people and different guitars. The thing is to use a light touch and a fairly light pick (I use Delrin .60s right now). When I play guitars owned by my friends who play bluegrass I always feel like I'm playing a suspension bridge.
I use DADGAD exclusively for accompaniment, but only if I'm the only guitar player present. I like the bass work I can do with it, as well as the inversions and vague chord voicings, as well as the drones.
Thank y'all for your comments. The guitar we tried DADGAD on is not really a guitar, but an old Swedish guitar-tuned 6-string lute (Levin) and I think my hubby has light strings on it. Don't know about the action though. Maybe it's just a matter of not-a-suitable-instrument? I don't know.
“no one claiming to be a guitarist should be using light gauge strings on an acoustic guitar! if that's what you're going to do then just go get a shoebox, a broom and some fishing line, it'll save you a lot of money.”
Jeez there Gravelwalks how have I been able to survive the last fifty years without your omnipotent guidance?
Like dwdeacon I have been playing acoustic guitar with light strings for nearly thirty five years and have never had a fret buzz nor a complaint about the tone of my guitar but I guess according to you I am not a guitarist. Frankly my Martin with light gauge D’Addario strings and a .60 nylon pick will out voice some fiddles, the odd bodhrán, and even a button box now and then if I am not attentive to my playing volume.
I have of late considered venturing into DADGAD tuning. As I know nothing of music theory it would mean finding where the sounds live on my guitar all over again. Seems like quite an undertaking to me but based on some of the comments thus far perhaps a worthy endeavor.
Seemingly stuck in standard tuning with light gauge strings on an acoustic guitar this non-guitarist bids all good fortune and...
first of all 1) i'm not insulting your martin. i apologize if you took it that way..
secondly 2)
"maybe i'm heavy handed?? "
i meant on the instrument. i'd classify myself as a more than capable guitarist, but haven't used light gauge strings for this reason. i make them buzz and fret out in the wrong places, and when playing single notes i find them too easily to bend when i don't want them to, possibly because i've only ever played on light gauge strings, and adapt badly to them. same thing with electrics. it takes some wearing in time to get used to it.
it doesn't require any prior knowledge of theory to experiment with an open tuning such as DADGAD -- just find a position that works and slide it around with a tune on the stereo. like zina said, print out some chord forms from the internet and go from there. but again, don't take them for 'chords' in the traditional sense, a lot of them are half chords with a lot of redundant notes and harmonic drones. additionally, there are a lot of open chord forms you can play up the neck on a guitar in standard tuning as well. i figure the tuning more of a mindset than a discipline. the 'rules' are more flexible
There’s no need to apologize. I didn’t take your comment as an insult of myself or my guitar. I was just amazed at the wanton exclusionary nature of it that’s all. I did indeed notice your later comment about perhaps being heavy handed.
I learned how to play the guitar in standard tuning but that was at the earliest beginning of my destroying brain cells. In the ensuing years I may have crossed the line and not have enough of the aforementioned cells to accomplish the task. We’ll see. I certainly do enjoy listening to an accomplished player in this tuning and it does seem to add a bit more flexibility and ease in using different chord voices.
Hi my name is Ed and I may be on the verge of becoming a DADGAD tuning guitar player (notice I didn’t say guitarist as I am fairly certain I will not go to a higher gauge string ). Could this be considered the first of twelve steps?
I have played Irish music exclusively in DADGAD for twenty mumble mumble years now. I accompany tunes, do solo fingerstyle tunes and airs, and accompany songs.
I find the richness of the available drones irresistible. One of my favorite chords uses two fingers to get the notes DDDDAD. Try that in standard!
In sessions, I get lazy and use a capo a lot, so I'm only playing in the key of D. But when I am working out arrangements with "the lads," I try to refrain and change keys with the tunes.
As for DADGAD tutorials, I have found many of them to be victims of too much information. I think this stems from the fact that there really are no rules in DADGAD. It is not backed by centuries of repertoire, and until recently, there have been few books of guitar tabs for "Celtic" music. So while Sarah McQuaid may have chord diagrams that demand the use of 6 fingers, my charts may use 1, 2, 3, and yes, sometimes 4 fingers.
I also found that the tuning released my creativity. At the point I switched, I certainly did NOT want to be the 5,734,823rd person to learn a Doc Watson tune EXACTLY the way Doc Watson played it. I had the opportunity to create my own style instead.
The emphasis in accompaniment for me is more on chord shapes up and down the neck, while in standard tuning, most of the chord progressions were in first position.
I use Elixir light/mediums on my guitar. I have only had it in standard tuning a few times in the last 11 years, and it sounded like &#$^. So guitars seemingly DO get used to a tuning. I do keep telling myself that I need to revisit drop-D, but so far, it hasn't happened.
I've been using DADGBD for Irish tunes backup for some time now. (35 years on STD) The only difference with DADGAD is that I left the B string remain as it is in the STD tuning. This gives advantages for an expericend STD guitar player as you don't need to relearn all the chords and have the nice bass lines of DADGAD also available. As I alsp play the 5-string banjo all the chords are also intechangable with DADGBD.
Light Gauge/Medium Gauge/ hybrid/mix sets. It depends on your touch. I find Pierre Bensusan has a fairly heavy touch and probably uses medium sets while some other stunning players are much lighter on the strings and get away with lighter set ups. For DADGAG, 13-56 does it fine for me. I have a mod to heavy attack so the meds work. I also tune the E as low as a C (for CGCGCD and CGDGBD) and still fret notes on the E string with great success.
One of the reasons why people use it is because there are lots of ways to avoid playing thirds, which make playing tunes in modes easier as you don't have to actually know about what chords go into what mode (ie if someone played a tune in F# phrygian). It's effectively reducing the number of notes you play on the priciple that the fewer notes there are the less chance one will clash with the melody (cynics viewpoint). In my opinion, the intervals between the strings are inefficient for playing tunes on (specifically the G - A bit). I also find it limiting in finding 7ths etc, if the root of the chord in the the bass E string, the 7th is "behind" the root (ie closer to the nut), which I don't like. Personally I prefer standard, it links back to my jazz playing days, but provided people don't try to convert me I'm happy to let them get on with it.
Gravelwalks, I'm slightly disapointed that someone "claiming to be a guitarist" as presumably you are doesn't realise that there is nothing modal about DADGAD, every scale/mode has thirds in it, it's just easier not to play them in DADGAD.
I'm no guitarist, although I play guitar (you know what I mean), and I've never found anything lacking in the normal EADGBE setup. You can play any chord you like with it, and the bar chords are easy.
But then, I've never tried anything else...
The best ITM guitarist I know plays drop D. Other guitarists I meet at Irish sessions are fine chaps but not all ITM exponents, EADGBE, DADGAD, DADGBD or whatever. Some seem to come just to exercise their strumming arm.
Perhaps there are too many strings on the guitar and this drives players toward inserting unnecessary or conflicting thirds, fourths and God knows what else, when (if you believe what some purists tell us) a decently pulsed tune on a melody instrument needs no more than a drone to help it along.
From my position as a habitual victim of well-meaning accompanists, bouzoukis seem to offer the best compromise between a 12-string guitar and nothing at all. Not too many thirds and lots of zing. The player still needs to know the tune though.
I don't care for sessions where there's no fretted accompanist at all.
Lots of things are appealing about DADGAD:
Lots of open D notes for drones
Lots of easy unisons for fat drones
Lots of easy ways to play passing dissonances, like C# against D
Lots of easy sus 2's and sus 4's
Lots of easy chords without thirds, which also facilitates the sus 2's and sus 4's
The tuning, especially with the adjacent G and A strings, facilitates the "harp effect"
All the open strings sound okay in most of the common keys, so fewer "mistakes" are available
The overall effect of these DADGAD tricks has come to define the sound of Irish/Scottish/Breton (can I just say Celtic?) guitar playing for a lot of people.
Most of these things can be done in standard tuning or Drop-D, but it's usually a bit more work. I like DADGAD, but I don't use it much because I hate retuning. I've worked up a few tunes to play (melody) in DADGAD, but mainly it lures me into improvising, which I love. For melody playing, I think the only advantage DADGAD has over Drop-D is the easy harp effect. It has the disadvantage of making you shift positions to reach the high A.
I feel that there are merits to both standard and DADGAD tunings for ITM accompaniment; the one thing I cannot stand is two guitars going at it at once ! ( Unless one is in each tuning ). What you do need for DADGAD is a quick-action capo, as it really only suits playing in D, and if you get an A Mixolydian tune after one in D then you need to be up on the 7th fret PDQ.
That's why I now only take a 'zouk to sessions.
A serious point was raised re weight of stringing - I'm old enough to remember when amplification was unknown in folk music, and to play a guitar aginst a fiddle or two you needed heavy strings - had the opportunity to play Martin Carthy's guitar back when he was first working with Swarbrick, and he had strung it with telegraph cables ( well, it felt like that anyway ). Most people now use much lighter strings then were common in my youth, and there is less projection possible from them, and you can't thump them for more volume, they'll simply rattle and bend, especially if you have dropped a few strings into DADGAD or whatever; the only antidote to this is to have a very good resonant guitar in the first place, and the general standard of guitars available has certainly improved enormously in the last 40 years.
DADGAD players are heretics, and should be avoided at all costs!
zinacef, don't let yourself be drawn in by their talk of the droning nature of Celtic music, the allure of unique chord voicings, and the evil of thirds. It might sound interesting at first, but by the time you realize what is REALLY going on, it is too late!
It is time that we faced up to this insidious danger in our midst!
And after that, we can address the problem of people who think that using light gauge strings is a sign of weakness!
I have no problem with what tuning people use. We have DADGAD, DADF#AD, dropped D, open G, and Standard.
The only thing that matters to the melody player is that the accompaniment is sympathetic to the music and gives it lift and depth.
I as happy with a good DADGAD player as any of the rest and people like Paul McSherry or Maurice McHugh provide great service in DADGAD. I am just as happy with Brian Harte on open G or dropped D, or Paul Airey on standard, or Jim Byrne on DADF#AD.
So, as far as I am concerned, you can stop piling those sticks around the bottom of that stake now Al.
chords i use in dadgad are
050700 D *
000200 D
057000 D
550000 G *
55X400 G
707000 A
707600 A *
77X600 A
X02200 A
X02230 Am
77X500 Am
707500 Am *
222000 Em *
X79900 Em
99X700 Bm *
10.10.0000 C
X32030 C
X35500 C *
33X200 F *
000203 Dm *
880000 Bb
Ones marked * are used by lots of DADGAD players and are the most common type I've seen played and heard some people use the variant of
555400 as opposed to
55X400 for a G chord but it involves more practice using your pinky and can be hard work I hope this helps. As for DADGBE tuning I use the same shapes but avoid hitting the 1st and 2nd strings
X meaning muted string of course
I know what you mean about bad sounding chords as Ive seen loads of sites that allegedly know all the chords yet they dont.
This is a perennial debate and all I can say is that I learned to play guitar in standard tuning, and by the time I got exposed to ITM it was a bit late to change (though I do know one or two people who have done it.....)
I use DADGAD sometimes, mainly for variation, but it can be very limiting unless you have taken the time and trouble to figure out ALL the chotds available. And here's the thing...the more complicated DADGAD chords can be DAMNED awkward....
I also use dropped D which gives the D bass so prized by the DADGAD only players. Re-tuning nowadays is a doddle with modern electronic tuners.
The answer of course is to use what you think is best - I always get a buzz out of people asking me what tuning I use, the trick in any tuning is to know what voicings sound well, many of these are "modal" which is why DADGAD has "that sound" which is so attractive.....
For me...Dropped D for backing, DADGAD for fingerstyle tunes. I find for backing that DADGAD sounds too much the same in different keys, just personal taste. I like the cross between DADGAD Drones and standard you get in Dropped D, besides, you rarely need to dig for a capo. I can play in F without a capo but like the sound better in D configuration capoed on third fret...it's about the only time I use one.
Also I find Dropped D incredibly easy to play in for backing this music, but it's all a matter of taste and what you're used to. I do a lot of noting as well as chording, just as the mood strikes, and this is easier in dropped D somehow...I am musically illiterate, a total ear player so can't quite articulate it, but you can drop the chord and pick a few notes with ease. Likely someone used to standard tuning could do that too, but I find I can fly in dropped D better than I ever could in standard.
And as for strings....I love the Martin phosphor bronze lights. I think they are a tad heavier than other lights. I tried DRs recently, lights, they were too light and I got those bad effects gravelwalks spoke of, so maybe it depends on the strings. I am a fingerstyle backer, but fairly strong on the attack, so I bend and pull and kill the strings, somewhat in the way Martin Carthy will, and can get great volume, so I am a string murderer, but still love those lights by Martin.
It depends too how your instrument is set up. When I had the DRs on, I cranked up my truss rod a bit to get the buzz gone. Switched back to the Martins a few days after and had to lower the rod again. Up, down, here there..... lots of variables cause buzz, not just light strings.....but gravelwalks, I agree at least from my perspective TOO light is trouble.... but not for a real gentle player maybe, which I am not. Martin makes Medium Lights too. I actually like the sound on my guitars better with lights than mediums...a little brighter, not shoe box at all. Sometimes I have used a medium low E...tuned down to D...and I go back and forth about liking it or not...right now I don't....too bassey, my guitars are deep enough without it.
Ed....your guitar sounds lovely with the lights. It's a big dreadnaught with a lot of depth to begin with, and the lights make it ring like a bell without getting too heavy.
“Re-tuning nowadays is a doddle with modern electronic tuners.”
That’s true, but it’s not so much the actual retuning that annoys me. It’s the settling in after retuning, especially after tuning down. When you tune a string down a whole step, it wants to slowly creep back up ever so slightly. I think there’s some subtle thermodynamics involved. Or gremlins.
Some guitars are optimized, intentionally or not, for either light or medium strings. Most dreadnaughts seem to like mediums.
Iris, I’ve suspected that some string brands don’t accurately state the tension. D’Addario and Martin report the same tensions on their light gauge strings, but when I go from Martin to D’Addario, I suddenly get a lot of buzzing and rattling.
Hi. my name is Paul, and I'm a DADGAD tuning guitar player. Sometimes. But I use medium gauge strings! (I break lights...and yes, I'm heavy-handed.)
I actually have one guitar I keep tuned STD and one tuned DADGAD. It's just easier for me. The two guitars provide two different sounds with the different tunings, so it's a whole other color for the music. Some songs just sound better played with a DADGAD-tuned guitar rather than STD. Dunno...again, preference. I've also experimented with drop-D (still use it on occasion) and some other really odd tunings.
I also agree that learning the new chord convensions (going from STD to DADGAD) is rough, but I'm expanding my chord base as I learn more songs. Still, I use my STD guitar for most music and dig out the DADGAD guitar when I want "that sound" on a song.
Bottom line is there's really no right answer, I believe...other than to use/play whatever works best for you.
These hipshot xtenders are a must have for anyone like myself who goes in and out of drop d tuning throughout a session. Its nice to go back to the standard tuning for the Em tunes of course which there are many of.
AaaaL!! Who made you the authority on how to tune a guitar?
I wasn't aware that EADGBE was a tuning that "GOD" made for the guitar!
"HERITIC - a person who holds controversial opinions, especially one who publicly dissents from the officially accepted dogma of the Roman Catholic Church."
To each his own and if someone likes the sound of DADGAD or any other tuning over standard - so be it!
I've heard too many say they can't convert from standard to DADGAD (FIND IT TOOOOOO!!! HARD).
I've a lot of experience playing guitar, to be honest I have been playing for over 35 years. Even though I'm self-taught, I was lucky enough to avoid many of the bad habits that people get into, including, bad fingering of standard chords and not using the correct posture and hand position.
When people are learning they often ignore these issues but they gradually come home to roost of you don't pay attention to them. My sons attend classical lessons and I've belatedly learned a few things, most of them simply reinforcing good habits I've picked up. And classical training involves almost exclusively standard tuning.
My conclusion is that while standard tuning may not have been God-given, it is BY FAR the most commonly used, and there is a good reason for this. It offers the best compromise for all-round guitar playing. Every tuning involves compromise.
The vast majority of classical music (and a lot of other styles) is composed in standard. DADGAD an other alternative tunings emerged from genres such as folk and blues where musicians deliberately attempted to simplify the basic playing style by tuning the instrument to a chord (or a near-chord). For example, the basic D chord in DADGAD is achieved with one finger.
So alternative tunings were originally geared towards simplicity - I accept that they have been complicated by some people but that is their business.
Incidentally, what makes tunes easier to play in DADGAD? It's perfectly possible to play them in standard tuning. I'm obviously missing something, please enlighten me.
“[Standard tuning] offers the best compromise for all-round guitar playing.”
Most definitely! But if your only interest is modern Celtic band music, you can live exclusively in DADGAD and be happy as a june bug and popular, too.
”Incidentally, what makes tunes easier to play in DADGAD?”
Tunes? Well, I wouldn’t say they’re easier, just that it’s easier to get certain effects, if that’s what you want. Tunes in keys other than D and A can even be harder in DADGAD. Accompaniment can be a lot easier in DADGAD.
“It's perfectly possible to play them in standard tuning.”
I agree - with the addition of dropped-D as an extension of standard. It’s even possible to get a lot of the same cool effects. I don’t think I would ever advise a beginner to start out with DADGAD. It’s already beginning to hit the discount bins in the guitar style shops.
Hmmmm ...I don't believe open tunings are geared only for simplicity but for a fuller sound. Many old fiddlers tuned to open A I believe, and I think for a fuller sound.
I get a fuller sound backing in dropped D. It is easier for this music as well, but if standard tuning sounded better to my ear I would have stuck right with it 100%.
It's not easy to learn standard and then switch your brain pattern to something else, whether DADGAD or Dropped D. It requires a good working out the kinks period lest some fiddler poke you with a bow, or worse.
I am self taught, 43 years at it now, still learning, and started in standard. I think standard is a really good basis. In about 1976 I truly believed I invented dropped D, LOL....for myself I did....but lucky I didn't brag about it like Gore inventing the internet! I quickly learned others invented it too! I liked the fuller bodied sound I could get playing this music. If I didn't like the sound so much I wouldn't have put in all the practice hours to ingrain it in my brain and finger memory.
I find that I can fly around better and faster while backing, and like the sound better. The one trouble I have is the intonation goes off a bit on the low string in dropped D, if you press too hard. Using a Medium helps that a bit, but as I am going to build my third guitar next month I am wondering if my teacher and I can "invent" some sort of compensated saddle that will prevent this. Maybe it just had to do with the string itself. I suspect it would, when open lose the intonation there..... he is very creative so we'll see. Possibly a custom string could be made, low D?
By using dropped D you can get a lot of the positive aspects of DADGAD and retain a lot of flexibility - NB some classical pieces are written in dropped D. As far as I know some of the big names use dropped D as a choice. Even the great Mark Kelly doesn't use DADGAD as far as I know.
Here's a neat trick when playing in G (standard tuning) - put capo on 3rd fret and play in E - think MODAL and think OPEN strings, thinl laterally and DON't use basic chords. It really works and sounds great, I have used this on recordings and people assume it's DADGAD.
Inventing dropped D in 1976.... LOL!! You must live in a tree, Iris, as we once might have said.
I am heavy handed as a player, but thought light guage strings might be better, and ordered ten sets. My old Martin D28 suddenly went dead. I thought it had died, and then thought, ...hey, maybe it doesnt like light gauge strings? How could that be? Put mediums back on it -- PRESTO! The loudest guitar on the block again....
anyone got a use for 9 sets of Martin light guage strings?
I am new to irish music, and love it, but never used dadgad. I use standard, dropped D and what is called open D -- DADF#AD. I wanted to play King of the Pipers, and settled on open D, but cant get it up to speed, either finger picking or flatpicking. I now tried DADGAD, since you irish blokes use it and expected a revelation.... but dont see the advantage.
What do you folks suggest? (no, I aint gonna sell the martin..)
DADGAD guitar - why using it?
DADGAD guitar - why using it?
What is the advantage, in your opinion, with using DADGAD tuning? My husband tried to re-tune one of his guitars but couldn't really find a reason why DADGAD would be better than the usual tuning. The chord charts we found on the internet was rather lousy too, most of the chords sounded crap.
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by zinacef
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
I once suggested to a guitarist friend that he should re-tune to DDDDDD as it would save wear on his fingertips and frets and he would be just as much in harmony with the rest of us as the piper was. He thought about it for quite a while.
He was kind enough to laugh once he saw the joke.
Drop D is good enough for Arty McGlynn, I'm told by people who claim to know. Why bother re-stringing for DADGAD?
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by millionyears_bc
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
Do you really have to re-string for DADGAD? I don't for Drop D (or double Drop D), and the only additional change is also taking the 2nd string down a step.
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by kkrell
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
I like the open sound of DADGAD. I like to have the tonic note of the key in the bass and prominent elsewhere, so DADGAD (and a capo!) is perfect for that. Maybe there's the capacity for more power when playing in large groups in DADGAD because you can afford to hit more strings, and open strings, because you're as close to the key. I think you have to be a REALLY good standard player to back trad and sound good though (otherwise you just end up doing the basic three chord tricks) whereas in my opinion, playing both, DADGAD is a bit easier. Also I really like the almost bouzouki style of guitar playing that's becoming prominent (e.g. John Blake) and that's a lot easier to do on an open tuned instrument.
But at the end of the day, those are just my opinions. Maybe there are no advantages and it's just a preference thing
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by tbag
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
Oh, and I don't restring my guitar. But I'm lazy and swap between tunings... maybe you should, I dunno!
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by tbag
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
check out the picture of Ged Lawson demonstrating session etiquette while playing DADGAD guitar:
http://www.horseplay.org.uk/
It this link doesn't take you straight there, go to the 'gallery' page on the website.
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by patsy
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
I have been using DADGAD since '97 and almost always use it in sessions because 1/ the drone effect of upper striings, 2/ the lower register drop D aspect serves as the bass, 3/ I compose and arrange in this tuning almost all the time.
It can cause youtop be a bit lazy and not play full chords, which is why someone above might have mentioned it as being easier. There is soem truth in this. However, I do stil remain in love with the sonoroty of DADGAD and it allows you to pull off some sounds that are not opossible in reg tuning. I also capo a lot.
I have worked a but with the incredible Tony McManus who lives close by and he uses Drop D in sessions.
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by Bob MacLean
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
Whether or not you need to use heavier 1,2 and 6 strings for DADGAD will depend on (1) the gauge of strings you use and (2) the setup of your guitar.
Lighter strings and low action are more likely to result in poor tone and/or excessive fret buzz if you tune down.
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by DaveL35
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
no one claiming to be a guitarist should be using light gauge strings on an acoustic guitar! if that's what you're going to do then just go get a shoebox, a broom and some fishing line, it'll save you a lot of money.
playing a low action, light gauge setup will prevent you from knowing what your guitar actually sounds like, keep your finger strength stunted, not to mention (if you've got solid wood) the diminished tone. plus it will buzz and rattle more, and be easier to bend a semitone without realizing it, even with the strings up to concert pitch. maybe i'm heavy handed??
i don't swap sets for either tuning, or double drop D, i guess, because i use them as thick as i can get and change my strings once every week or so. although if you were for some very strange reason using light strings, then you would need to swap for heavier strings in DADGAD or they'd be a quiet buzzing mess.
i like the modal qualities of DADGAD, you can play all the way up the neck in a few positions and only create more oppurtunities with a capo. don't necessarily take the chords you printed as literally as they come -- take them as positions and experiment moving them up the neck within a given tune, plus aside form the drone you've got the same note on three strings so it cuts the memory game in half. no matter where you are you've got something to work with with out having to stop and think about it.
drop D can make the three chord trick in standard tuning into a six chord trick if you're smart about it. we sed it in the bluegrass band for a few tunes, notably reuben's train nashville blues, rosewood casket.
try the DADGAD again. it's worth it.
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by gravelwalks
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
I've played guitar for 35 years, using light gauge string, and love the sound. My cedar-topped Lowden responds nicely to Elixir lights. Different things work for different people and different guitars. The thing is to use a light touch and a fairly light pick (I use Delrin .60s right now). When I play guitars owned by my friends who play bluegrass I always feel like I'm playing a suspension bridge.
I use DADGAD exclusively for accompaniment, but only if I'm the only guitar player present. I like the bass work I can do with it, as well as the inversions and vague chord voicings, as well as the drones.
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by dwdeacon
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
Thank y'all for your comments. The guitar we tried DADGAD on is not really a guitar, but an old Swedish guitar-tuned 6-string lute (Levin) and I think my hubby has light strings on it. Don't know about the action though. Maybe it's just a matter of not-a-suitable-instrument? I don't know.
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by zinacef
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
“no one claiming to be a guitarist should be using light gauge strings on an acoustic guitar! if that's what you're going to do then just go get a shoebox, a broom and some fishing line, it'll save you a lot of money.”
Jeez there Gravelwalks how have I been able to survive the last fifty years without your omnipotent guidance?
Like dwdeacon I have been playing acoustic guitar with light strings for nearly thirty five years and have never had a fret buzz nor a complaint about the tone of my guitar but I guess according to you I am not a guitarist. Frankly my Martin with light gauge D’Addario strings and a .60 nylon pick will out voice some fiddles, the odd bodhrán, and even a button box now and then if I am not attentive to my playing volume.
I have of late considered venturing into DADGAD tuning. As I know nothing of music theory it would mean finding where the sounds live on my guitar all over again. Seems like quite an undertaking to me but based on some of the comments thus far perhaps a worthy endeavor.
Seemingly stuck in standard tuning with light gauge strings on an acoustic guitar this non-guitarist bids all good fortune and...
Peace,
Ed
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by ejsant
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
first of all 1) i'm not insulting your martin. i apologize if you took it that way..
secondly 2)
"maybe i'm heavy handed?? "
i meant on the instrument. i'd classify myself as a more than capable guitarist, but haven't used light gauge strings for this reason. i make them buzz and fret out in the wrong places, and when playing single notes i find them too easily to bend when i don't want them to, possibly because i've only ever played on light gauge strings, and adapt badly to them. same thing with electrics. it takes some wearing in time to get used to it.
it doesn't require any prior knowledge of theory to experiment with an open tuning such as DADGAD -- just find a position that works and slide it around with a tune on the stereo. like zina said, print out some chord forms from the internet and go from there. but again, don't take them for 'chords' in the traditional sense, a lot of them are half chords with a lot of redundant notes and harmonic drones. additionally, there are a lot of open chord forms you can play up the neck on a guitar in standard tuning as well. i figure the tuning more of a mindset than a discipline. the 'rules' are more flexible
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by gravelwalks
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
There’s no need to apologize. I didn’t take your comment as an insult of myself or my guitar. I was just amazed at the wanton exclusionary nature of it that’s all. I did indeed notice your later comment about perhaps being heavy handed.
I learned how to play the guitar in standard tuning but that was at the earliest beginning of my destroying brain cells. In the ensuing years I may have crossed the line and not have enough of the aforementioned cells to accomplish the task. We’ll see. I certainly do enjoy listening to an accomplished player in this tuning and it does seem to add a bit more flexibility and ease in using different chord voices.
Hi my name is Ed and I may be on the verge of becoming a DADGAD tuning guitar player (notice I didn’t say guitarist as I am fairly certain I will not go to a higher gauge string
). Could this be considered the first of twelve steps?
Peace,
Ed
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by ejsant
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
I have played Irish music exclusively in DADGAD for twenty mumble mumble years now. I accompany tunes, do solo fingerstyle tunes and airs, and accompany songs.
I find the richness of the available drones irresistible. One of my favorite chords uses two fingers to get the notes DDDDAD. Try that in standard!
In sessions, I get lazy and use a capo a lot, so I'm only playing in the key of D. But when I am working out arrangements with "the lads," I try to refrain and change keys with the tunes.
As for DADGAD tutorials, I have found many of them to be victims of too much information. I think this stems from the fact that there really are no rules in DADGAD. It is not backed by centuries of repertoire, and until recently, there have been few books of guitar tabs for "Celtic" music. So while Sarah McQuaid may have chord diagrams that demand the use of 6 fingers, my charts may use 1, 2, 3, and yes, sometimes 4 fingers.
I also found that the tuning released my creativity. At the point I switched, I certainly did NOT want to be the 5,734,823rd person to learn a Doc Watson tune EXACTLY the way Doc Watson played it. I had the opportunity to create my own style instead.
The emphasis in accompaniment for me is more on chord shapes up and down the neck, while in standard tuning, most of the chord progressions were in first position.
I use Elixir light/mediums on my guitar. I have only had it in standard tuning a few times in the last 11 years, and it sounded like &#$^. So guitars seemingly DO get used to a tuning. I do keep telling myself that I need to revisit drop-D, but so far, it hasn't happened.
So that's my HO
Rosa
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by rosamerlot
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
I've been using DADGBD for Irish tunes backup for some time now. (35 years on STD) The only difference with DADGAD is that I left the B string remain as it is in the STD tuning. This gives advantages for an expericend STD guitar player as you don't need to relearn all the chords and have the nice bass lines of DADGAD also available. As I alsp play the 5-string banjo all the chords are also intechangable with DADGBD.
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by Risto
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
Light Gauge/Medium Gauge/ hybrid/mix sets. It depends on your touch. I find Pierre Bensusan has a fairly heavy touch and probably uses medium sets while some other stunning players are much lighter on the strings and get away with lighter set ups. For DADGAG, 13-56 does it fine for me. I have a mod to heavy attack so the meds work. I also tune the E as low as a C (for CGCGCD and CGDGBD) and still fret notes on the E string with great success.
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by Bob MacLean
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
One of the reasons why people use it is because there are lots of ways to avoid playing thirds, which make playing tunes in modes easier as you don't have to actually know about what chords go into what mode (ie if someone played a tune in F# phrygian). It's effectively reducing the number of notes you play on the priciple that the fewer notes there are the less chance one will clash with the melody (cynics viewpoint). In my opinion, the intervals between the strings are inefficient for playing tunes on (specifically the G - A bit). I also find it limiting in finding 7ths etc, if the root of the chord in the the bass E string, the 7th is "behind" the root (ie closer to the nut), which I don't like. Personally I prefer standard, it links back to my jazz playing days, but provided people don't try to convert me I'm happy to let them get on with it.
Gravelwalks, I'm slightly disapointed that someone "claiming to be a guitarist" as presumably you are doesn't realise that there is nothing modal about DADGAD, every scale/mode has thirds in it, it's just easier not to play them in DADGAD.
# Posted on July 15th 2006 by Andy V
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
I'm no guitarist, although I play guitar (you know what I mean), and I've never found anything lacking in the normal EADGBE setup. You can play any chord you like with it, and the bar chords are easy.
But then, I've never tried anything else...
# Posted on July 16th 2006 by Joe CSS
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
Voicings Voicings Voicings
# Posted on July 16th 2006 by P.browne
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
Athough,drop D is generally sufficient.
Tony Byrne and Martin Dermody do a good job in standard.
Don't know many that dare,
voicings,
P
# Posted on July 16th 2006 by P.browne
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
The best ITM guitarist I know plays drop D. Other guitarists I meet at Irish sessions are fine chaps but not all ITM exponents, EADGBE, DADGAD, DADGBD or whatever. Some seem to come just to exercise their strumming arm.
Perhaps there are too many strings on the guitar and this drives players toward inserting unnecessary or conflicting thirds, fourths and God knows what else, when (if you believe what some purists tell us) a decently pulsed tune on a melody instrument needs no more than a drone to help it along.
From my position as a habitual victim of well-meaning accompanists, bouzoukis seem to offer the best compromise between a 12-string guitar and nothing at all. Not too many thirds and lots of zing. The player still needs to know the tune though.
I don't care for sessions where there's no fretted accompanist at all.
# Posted on July 16th 2006 by millionyears_bc
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
Lots of things are appealing about DADGAD:
Lots of open D notes for drones
Lots of easy unisons for fat drones
Lots of easy ways to play passing dissonances, like C# against D
Lots of easy sus 2's and sus 4's
Lots of easy chords without thirds, which also facilitates the sus 2's and sus 4's
The tuning, especially with the adjacent G and A strings, facilitates the "harp effect"
All the open strings sound okay in most of the common keys, so fewer "mistakes" are available
The overall effect of these DADGAD tricks has come to define the sound of Irish/Scottish/Breton (can I just say Celtic?) guitar playing for a lot of people.
Most of these things can be done in standard tuning or Drop-D, but it's usually a bit more work. I like DADGAD, but I don't use it much because I hate retuning. I've worked up a few tunes to play (melody) in DADGAD, but mainly it lures me into improvising, which I love. For melody playing, I think the only advantage DADGAD has over Drop-D is the easy harp effect. It has the disadvantage of making you shift positions to reach the high A.
# Posted on July 16th 2006 by Bob himself
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
I feel that there are merits to both standard and DADGAD tunings for ITM accompaniment; the one thing I cannot stand is two guitars going at it at once ! ( Unless one is in each tuning ). What you do need for DADGAD is a quick-action capo, as it really only suits playing in D, and if you get an A Mixolydian tune after one in D then you need to be up on the 7th fret PDQ.
That's why I now only take a 'zouk to sessions.
A serious point was raised re weight of stringing - I'm old enough to remember when amplification was unknown in folk music, and to play a guitar aginst a fiddle or two you needed heavy strings - had the opportunity to play Martin Carthy's guitar back when he was first working with Swarbrick, and he had strung it with telegraph cables ( well, it felt like that anyway ). Most people now use much lighter strings then were common in my youth, and there is less projection possible from them, and you can't thump them for more volume, they'll simply rattle and bend, especially if you have dropped a few strings into DADGAD or whatever; the only antidote to this is to have a very good resonant guitar in the first place, and the general standard of guitars available has certainly improved enormously in the last 40 years.
# Posted on July 16th 2006 by Guernsey Pete
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
DADGAD players are heretics, and should be avoided at all costs!
zinacef, don't let yourself be drawn in by their talk of the droning nature of Celtic music, the allure of unique chord voicings, and the evil of thirds. It might sound interesting at first, but by the time you realize what is REALLY going on, it is too late!
It is time that we faced up to this insidious danger in our midst!
And after that, we can address the problem of people who think that using light gauge strings is a sign of weakness!
# Posted on July 17th 2006 by AlBrown
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
I have no problem with what tuning people use. We have DADGAD, DADF#AD, dropped D, open G, and Standard.
The only thing that matters to the melody player is that the accompaniment is sympathetic to the music and gives it lift and depth.
I as happy with a good DADGAD player as any of the rest and people like Paul McSherry or Maurice McHugh provide great service in DADGAD. I am just as happy with Brian Harte on open G or dropped D, or Paul Airey on standard, or Jim Byrne on DADF#AD.
So, as far as I am concerned, you can stop piling those sticks around the bottom of that stake now Al.
# Posted on July 17th 2006 by breandan
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
chords i use in dadgad are
050700 D *
000200 D
057000 D
550000 G *
55X400 G
707000 A
707600 A *
77X600 A
X02200 A
X02230 Am
77X500 Am
707500 Am *
222000 Em *
X79900 Em
99X700 Bm *
10.10.0000 C
X32030 C
X35500 C *
33X200 F *
000203 Dm *
880000 Bb
Ones marked * are used by lots of DADGAD players and are the most common type I've seen played and heard some people use the variant of
555400 as opposed to
55X400 for a G chord but it involves more practice using your pinky and can be hard work I hope this helps. As for DADGBE tuning I use the same shapes but avoid hitting the 1st and 2nd strings
X meaning muted string of course
I know what you mean about bad sounding chords as Ive seen loads of sites that allegedly know all the chords yet they dont.
# Posted on July 17th 2006 by Ripthecalico
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
This is a perennial debate and all I can say is that I learned to play guitar in standard tuning, and by the time I got exposed to ITM it was a bit late to change (though I do know one or two people who have done it.....)
I use DADGAD sometimes, mainly for variation, but it can be very limiting unless you have taken the time and trouble to figure out ALL the chotds available. And here's the thing...the more complicated DADGAD chords can be DAMNED awkward....
I also use dropped D which gives the D bass so prized by the DADGAD only players. Re-tuning nowadays is a doddle with modern electronic tuners.
The answer of course is to use what you think is best - I always get a buzz out of people asking me what tuning I use, the trick in any tuning is to know what voicings sound well, many of these are "modal" which is why DADGAD has "that sound" which is so attractive.....
# Posted on July 17th 2006 by lysaghtm
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
For me...Dropped D for backing, DADGAD for fingerstyle tunes. I find for backing that DADGAD sounds too much the same in different keys, just personal taste. I like the cross between DADGAD Drones and standard you get in Dropped D, besides, you rarely need to dig for a capo. I can play in F without a capo but like the sound better in D configuration capoed on third fret...it's about the only time I use one.
Also I find Dropped D incredibly easy to play in for backing this music, but it's all a matter of taste and what you're used to. I do a lot of noting as well as chording, just as the mood strikes, and this is easier in dropped D somehow...I am musically illiterate, a total ear player so can't quite articulate it, but you can drop the chord and pick a few notes with ease. Likely someone used to standard tuning could do that too, but I find I can fly in dropped D better than I ever could in standard.
And as for strings....I love the Martin phosphor bronze lights. I think they are a tad heavier than other lights. I tried DRs recently, lights, they were too light and I got those bad effects gravelwalks spoke of, so maybe it depends on the strings. I am a fingerstyle backer, but fairly strong on the attack, so I bend and pull and kill the strings, somewhat in the way Martin Carthy will, and can get great volume, so I am a string murderer, but still love those lights by Martin.
It depends too how your instrument is set up. When I had the DRs on, I cranked up my truss rod a bit to get the buzz gone. Switched back to the Martins a few days after and had to lower the rod again. Up, down, here there..... lots of variables cause buzz, not just light strings.....but gravelwalks, I agree at least from my perspective TOO light is trouble.... but not for a real gentle player maybe, which I am not. Martin makes Medium Lights too. I actually like the sound on my guitars better with lights than mediums...a little brighter, not shoe box at all. Sometimes I have used a medium low E...tuned down to D...and I go back and forth about liking it or not...right now I don't....too bassey, my guitars are deep enough without it.
Ed....your guitar sounds lovely with the lights. It's a big dreadnaught with a lot of depth to begin with, and the lights make it ring like a bell without getting too heavy.
# Posted on July 17th 2006 by irisnevins
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
“Re-tuning nowadays is a doddle with modern electronic tuners.”
That’s true, but it’s not so much the actual retuning that annoys me. It’s the settling in after retuning, especially after tuning down. When you tune a string down a whole step, it wants to slowly creep back up ever so slightly. I think there’s some subtle thermodynamics involved. Or gremlins.
Some guitars are optimized, intentionally or not, for either light or medium strings. Most dreadnaughts seem to like mediums.
Iris, I’ve suspected that some string brands don’t accurately state the tension. D’Addario and Martin report the same tensions on their light gauge strings, but when I go from Martin to D’Addario, I suddenly get a lot of buzzing and rattling.
# Posted on July 17th 2006 by Bob himself
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
Hi. my name is Paul, and I'm a DADGAD tuning guitar player. Sometimes. But I use medium gauge strings! (I break lights...and yes, I'm heavy-handed.)
I actually have one guitar I keep tuned STD and one tuned DADGAD. It's just easier for me. The two guitars provide two different sounds with the different tunings, so it's a whole other color for the music. Some songs just sound better played with a DADGAD-tuned guitar rather than STD. Dunno...again, preference. I've also experimented with drop-D (still use it on occasion) and some other really odd tunings.
I also agree that learning the new chord convensions (going from STD to DADGAD) is rough, but I'm expanding my chord base as I learn more songs. Still, I use my STD guitar for most music and dig out the DADGAD guitar when I want "that sound" on a song.
Bottom line is there's really no right answer, I believe...other than to use/play whatever works best for you.
# Posted on July 17th 2006 by pn5jn
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
These hipshot xtenders are a must have for anyone like myself who goes in and out of drop d tuning throughout a session. Its nice to go back to the standard tuning for the Em tunes of course which there are many of.
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.kandashokai.co.jp/hipshot/photo/gt2_c.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.kandashokai.co.jp/hipshot/guitar.htm&h=155&w=201&sz=6&hl=en&sig2=Kd7bQgEBsbK8kdfMVDS4Tw&start=5&tbnid=W1ZSa7imnrIsKM:&tbnh=80&tbnw=104&ei=MRi8RO-YBorOQcnyndUB&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhipshot%2Bxtender%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN
# Posted on July 18th 2006 by Ripthecalico
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
"Heritics!!!!!!!"
AaaaL!! Who made you the authority on how to tune a guitar?
I wasn't aware that EADGBE was a tuning that "GOD" made for the guitar!
"HERITIC - a person who holds controversial opinions, especially one who publicly dissents from the officially accepted dogma of the Roman Catholic Church."
To each his own and if someone likes the sound of DADGAD or any other tuning over standard - so be it!
I've heard too many say they can't convert from standard to DADGAD (FIND IT TOOOOOO!!! HARD).
# Posted on July 18th 2006 by Shtrum
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
I wasn't aware that EADGBE was a tuning that "GOD" made for the guitar!
Well, duh! Of course not! God plays in open G. She likes those Joni Mitchell songs.
# Posted on July 18th 2006 by Bob himself
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
Have to respond!!
I've a lot of experience playing guitar, to be honest I have been playing for over 35 years. Even though I'm self-taught, I was lucky enough to avoid many of the bad habits that people get into, including, bad fingering of standard chords and not using the correct posture and hand position.
When people are learning they often ignore these issues but they gradually come home to roost of you don't pay attention to them. My sons attend classical lessons and I've belatedly learned a few things, most of them simply reinforcing good habits I've picked up. And classical training involves almost exclusively standard tuning.
My conclusion is that while standard tuning may not have been God-given, it is BY FAR the most commonly used, and there is a good reason for this. It offers the best compromise for all-round guitar playing. Every tuning involves compromise.
The vast majority of classical music (and a lot of other styles) is composed in standard. DADGAD an other alternative tunings emerged from genres such as folk and blues where musicians deliberately attempted to simplify the basic playing style by tuning the instrument to a chord (or a near-chord). For example, the basic D chord in DADGAD is achieved with one finger.
So alternative tunings were originally geared towards simplicity - I accept that they have been complicated by some people but that is their business.
Incidentally, what makes tunes easier to play in DADGAD? It's perfectly possible to play them in standard tuning. I'm obviously missing something, please enlighten me.
# Posted on July 18th 2006 by lysaghtm
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
“[Standard tuning] offers the best compromise for all-round guitar playing.”
Most definitely! But if your only interest is modern Celtic band music, you can live exclusively in DADGAD and be happy as a june bug and popular, too.
”Incidentally, what makes tunes easier to play in DADGAD?”
Tunes? Well, I wouldn’t say they’re easier, just that it’s easier to get certain effects, if that’s what you want. Tunes in keys other than D and A can even be harder in DADGAD. Accompaniment can be a lot easier in DADGAD.
“It's perfectly possible to play them in standard tuning.”
I agree - with the addition of dropped-D as an extension of standard. It’s even possible to get a lot of the same cool effects. I don’t think I would ever advise a beginner to start out with DADGAD. It’s already beginning to hit the discount bins in the guitar style shops.
# Posted on July 18th 2006 by Bob himself
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
Hmmmm ...I don't believe open tunings are geared only for simplicity but for a fuller sound. Many old fiddlers tuned to open A I believe, and I think for a fuller sound.
I get a fuller sound backing in dropped D. It is easier for this music as well, but if standard tuning sounded better to my ear I would have stuck right with it 100%.
It's not easy to learn standard and then switch your brain pattern to something else, whether DADGAD or Dropped D. It requires a good working out the kinks period lest some fiddler poke you with a bow, or worse.
I am self taught, 43 years at it now, still learning, and started in standard. I think standard is a really good basis. In about 1976 I truly believed I invented dropped D, LOL....for myself I did....but lucky I didn't brag about it like Gore inventing the internet! I quickly learned others invented it too! I liked the fuller bodied sound I could get playing this music. If I didn't like the sound so much I wouldn't have put in all the practice hours to ingrain it in my brain and finger memory.
I find that I can fly around better and faster while backing, and like the sound better. The one trouble I have is the intonation goes off a bit on the low string in dropped D, if you press too hard. Using a Medium helps that a bit, but as I am going to build my third guitar next month I am wondering if my teacher and I can "invent" some sort of compensated saddle that will prevent this. Maybe it just had to do with the string itself. I suspect it would, when open lose the intonation there..... he is very creative so we'll see. Possibly a custom string could be made, low D?
# Posted on July 19th 2006 by irisnevins
Here's a good trick in standard
By using dropped D you can get a lot of the positive aspects of DADGAD and retain a lot of flexibility - NB some classical pieces are written in dropped D. As far as I know some of the big names use dropped D as a choice. Even the great Mark Kelly doesn't use DADGAD as far as I know.
Here's a neat trick when playing in G (standard tuning) - put capo on 3rd fret and play in E - think MODAL and think OPEN strings, thinl laterally and DON't use basic chords. It really works and sounds great, I have used this on recordings and people assume it's DADGAD.
# Posted on July 19th 2006 by lysaghtm
Re: DADGAD guitar - why using it?
Inventing dropped D in 1976.... LOL!! You must live in a tree, Iris, as we once might have said.
I am heavy handed as a player, but thought light guage strings might be better, and ordered ten sets. My old Martin D28 suddenly went dead. I thought it had died, and then thought, ...hey, maybe it doesnt like light gauge strings? How could that be? Put mediums back on it -- PRESTO! The loudest guitar on the block again....
anyone got a use for 9 sets of Martin light guage strings?
I am new to irish music, and love it, but never used dadgad. I use standard, dropped D and what is called open D -- DADF#AD. I wanted to play King of the Pipers, and settled on open D, but cant get it up to speed, either finger picking or flatpicking. I now tried DADGAD, since you irish blokes use it and expected a revelation.... but dont see the advantage.
What do you folks suggest? (no, I aint gonna sell the martin..)
# Posted on August 6th 2006 by RSteve