I'm a little confused as to the very slight difference between these two tunings....
DADF#AD is obviously open D tuning...and there are plenty of songs in open D.....hell, there are even a few on the Easy Song Database...
so what exactly is DADGAD?
Taking G as the root of the triad, you'd have G(i) A(ii) D(v) which woulmake an open strum a Gsus2 chord...
Taking A as the root, you'd have A(i) D(iv) G(b7) which I don't know what to call...Asus4b7?
and with D as the root, you'd have D(i) G(iv) A(5) which would be Dsus4.........
So what exactly is DADGAD, and why would you use it instead of open D?
I said I was a little confused....actually I'm a LOT confused.....
:? :? :?
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Vic,
When Artie Traum explained DADGAD, he said he thought it was Dsus4 when played open. It's really got a Celtic sound to it with the drones. I guess it's used in alot of stuff besides Celtic music also, Artie was playing some blues in DADGAD, which sounded awesome! I'll have to give the open D tuning a try also.
"The only way I know that guarantees no mistakes is not to play and that's simply not an option". David Hodge
DADGAD is a bit more "ambiguous" than open D, that is, since the third is raised up to a fourth, the tuning is neither major or minor (Dsus4)...and hence, DADGAD is often called "D modal."
With DADGAD, it's real easy to get a "uilleann pipe" type droning sound commony heard on bouzouki...say in D using either of these fingerings:
000200 (DADAAD)
or
050200 (DDDAAD)
these chords are neither major or minor...and you can drone Ds either in the bass or treble.
Here's a simple little chord progression which uses drones...
D: 057700
C: 035500
Bb: 013300
The D, C, and Bb are the base tonality of the chords...it's not really that useful to think of the C chord above as a C 6/9 (with a D in the bass) or the Bb as a Bb Maj 7...though you can if you want to :)
With the interval of a major second (between the third string G and 2nd string A), you can get a "harp effect" by letting notes sustain together. Granted, you can do this in other tunings, but the second interval is useful...
For example, you could play F#, G, and A and let them ring together by fingers the F# on the 4th fret of the 4th string, then G on the open 3rd string, and A on the open 2nd string.
Or could walk up a D scale like this:
3rd string/open (G)
2nd string/open (A)
3rd string/4th fret (B)
2nd string/4th fret (C#)
1st string/open D
So you could let the G and A ring together, then let the B and C# ring together (even after you play the open D).
While the tuning is based on D, you can certainly play in other keys (though a lot of people just slap on a capo and always use the D chords). I've used DADGAD (with no capo) for various keys including D, Dm, G, Em, A, Am, and C.
The tuning was "invented" by English guitarist Davey Graham back in the '60s and he used it initially to play middle eastern music with oud players, and the tuning later became popular in England when Graham returned. Perhaps one of the most well known tunes is Black Mountainside (Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin) which was based on Bert Jansch's Black Waterside. Works great for flatpicking, fingerpicking, and song accompaniment.
Thanks Doug....
Hmm, that D/C/Bb progression sounds like it would be a nice way to play "All Along The Watchtower"....
I'll have to give it a try.....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Thanks Doug....
Hmm, that D/C/Bb progression sounds like it would be a nice way to play "All Along The Watchtower"....
Vic
I kind of forgot about it...about 10 years ago I played with a singer from Dublin. We used to play "All Along the Watchtower" and I played uilleann pipes at the time, as well as DADGAD guitar...and we played that exact DADGAD progression, though it might have been capoed up a few frets.
BTW - I'm working on a "Intro to DADGAD" lesson and part of my previous post came from my notes...
Vic
If you think Watchtower is a goer in this tuning please post the chords you have found for it - would be very interested in this.
Thanks
Matt - oh and I have emailed you a little something today.
Just checked the mail.....
Thank you so much for that, Matt, one of my very favourite songs....
He's sent me a tab for "Time In A Bottle".....I do hope it's going to make its way to the ESD, I reckon it'd be a very worthy addition....
(Vic leaves here, goes off to guitar room.....)
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
Vic.
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Great explanation Doug! You're the DADGAD MAN!! :D 8)
Vic, I'm also going to give "Watchtower" a go in this tuning, so any help would be great.
"The only way I know that guarantees no mistakes is not to play and that's simply not an option". David Hodge
I have been messing about all day, trying to find a nice open tuning for "Watchtower"....tried DADGAD, tried open D, tried drop D, even tried drop D with the top E tuned to D....
12 hours is enough, I quit for the day.....
I thought it'd be nice and simple, like Matt's tab for "Shelter from the Storm" on the ESD.....couple or three strings droning....
I've given up for the night....my fingers are sore, my brain cell hurts, and I've used up about half a note-pad.....
I've tried m7ths, 7ths, +9ths, I've tried everything....tried loads of different keys, I just give up on this one....
I'll stick to Am G and F.....
No smileys 'cos I'm tired, p'd off and fed up.....
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
HMMMMMM.....
just had a brain(cell)wave....
Em, D and C.....
....Em7 Dsus4 C+9
E - 3.......3........3
B - 3.......3........3
G - 0.......2........0
D - 2.......0........2
A - 2.......0........3
E - 0.......x........x
ALternative bass line, using thumb on bottom E....
E - 0.......2T......3T
If you can't get your thiumb round to play the F# and G bass notes, just mute the botttom string where it says "x".......
So the intro would be something like....
D D Em7 Em7 Em7 Em7/ D D C+9 C+9 C+9 C+9
d d...d .....u......d.....d../..d..d...d......u.....d.....d
repeated.....
and then the vocals would come in.....
(in the interest of brevity here, I'll just use C D and E, where I actually mean Cadd9, Dsus4 and Em7 respectively....)
D D (E)There must be (D)some way (C)out of here,
D D (E)Said the (D)Joker to the (C)thief,
D D.....
That's all I'm doing for now, if you like it so far, let me know and I'll finish it after some much-needed sleep.....
Hell, all I wanted to do was do something different with "Watchtower"...it's a great Dylan song, the definitive version is the Jimi version, no-one will ever beat that, I just wanted to do it a little DIFFERENTLY....
Gimme about 4 hours sleep, I'll be back.....determined to get this one right....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
oh yeah....should have added, the strumming pattern is the same all the way through the song.....
:D :D :D
Vic
PS.....Don't be too hard on me, I really, really tried to do this in an open tuning - I just haven't got the knowledge yet....now watch Ric or Kirk or the Dog come up with a great open tuning for this,,,,,,,
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Don't mean to jack the thread, but does anyone know any good music that uses drone tunings, like Led Zeppelin's aforementioned raga-esque "Black Mountainside"? All of a sudden, I feel like tuning my guitar like this 8) 8) ....
"All I see is draining me on my Plastic Fantastic Lover!"
No need to apologise, BrianK, doubtless someone will post an answer...or start another thread...hell, you could do that.....!!!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Vic,
Found a link to give you some inspiration: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3848010
Richie Havens playing "Watchtower" in an open tuning.
I tried the D/C/Bb progression in DADGAD tuning, and I thought it sounded good. Definately different. :wink:
Dan
"The only way I know that guarantees no mistakes is not to play and that's simply not an option". David Hodge
Vic, if you're looking for some inspiration for finding the chords, look here: http://looknohands.com/chordhouse/guitar/index_rb.html
Being a slider and more at home in Open D than anything, the first way I'd think of making an Emin is to barre at the second fret, fretting the third string behind the slide on the first fret. Playing on a guitar with a long enough neck (I'm often playing a 12-fretter), barring the 14th fret with the slide and fretting the first string at the 12th fret and the third string at the 13th fret gives an Emin7. Fingerpicking lets you use any parts of those you want.
I haven't been playing "Watchtower," but looking at stuff like that's a place to start.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
