Spice Up Your Playing With DADGAD

By Ben BlakesleyGeorges Music

You know what's cool? Alternate tunings.

Don't get me wrong, I love standard E A D G B E tuning and spend 99% of my time there. But every now and then, I find myself needing a fresh palette of options. An ice breaker to help pull me out of the standard tuning doldrums.

For my money, there is no better alternate tuning for a quick fix than DADGAD.

Call it D Modal Tuning or Celtic Tuning, the fact is that it's easy to get into and easy to play because by simply strumming the open strings you've got a D suspended 4th chord that doesn't really feel major or minor. It's kind of somewhere in between and therefore, limitless.

So how do you do it? Easy.

Tune the first (high E), second (B), and sixth (low E) strings down a whole step. You've now got, from lowest to highest, D A D G A D.

The most compelling part of DADGAD is that it makes it easy to play 'moveable chords' that utilize open or drone strings. It can really fill out your sound when playing solo.

You can also get your Jimmy Page on with DADGAD on Zeppelin classics like "Kashmir."

So tune down, start strumming, and get creative with DADGAD tuning!

Ben Blakesley is in charge of Marketing and Technology at George's Music and is often found strumming open chord DADGAD tuned guitars in the corner of the office for hours at a time.