A Guide to Alternative Tunings - DADGAD Tuning
- The American Guitar Academy
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
This is another tuning that really steps into its own in the realm of alternate tunings, along with open C tuning. It is simply referred to as DADGAD tuning, which should give you all of the answers for how to tune the strings.
Tuning the guitar in this way is commonly associated with acoustic guitar and genres related to that instrument. Think along the lines of folk, bluegrass, blues and country styles. However, as well as discussing the tuning itself, we will learn that some famous rock songs use this tuning too, as well as other interesting ways you might be able to incorporate it into your own playing.
The Tuning
The most closely related tuning to this one is Drop D, which is in the table below. We should be familiar with this one by now, so let us use it as a springboard of sorts.
6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
D | A | D | G | B | E |
The four thickest, lowest tuned strings are exactly the same; no adjustments are required for strings three through six. Strings one and two, however, are both lowered by a whole step (or a tone/two frets). This leaves us with the following tuning - DADGAD!
6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
D | A | D | G | A | D |
I have heard some people in the past call this a combination of both drop D and drop C tunings, however, I do not agree with this assessment - the purpose of a drop tuning is to be able to play power chords with one finger, like you can with DADGAD, but have the majority of the guitar tuned normally to allow for regular scale and chord shapes.
To paraphrase an article I read online, DADGAD should not be too daunting, as you know 50% of this tuning already (strings three, four and five are tuned the same as you would find in standard).
Famous Songs
Here is a list containing some well known examples of the tunings, of which there are many! I have tried to include a variety of styles whilst keeping things short and sweet, but if this intrigues you there are many playlists available online that feature songs written with DADGAD tuning.
Kashmir - Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin is perhaps one of the most well known rock bands of all time, having been estimated to have sold in excess of 300 million records worldwide - this puts a lot of modern artists to shame. Although, in retrospect, streaming music through services like Spotify and Apple Music was not possible in their heyday.
In a short documentary, I will link the clip in question below, guitarist Jimmy Page explains that the song was adapted from the ending of another song he had written called ‘Swan Song’. This song quickly developed, having strings and a horn section added at a later date - soon it was to be one of Led Zeppelin’s most recognisable tunes, up there with the likes of ‘Rock and Roll’, ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and ‘Black Dog’.
Given to Fly - Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam were at the forefront of the Grunge movement of the 1990s, forging path alongside bands like Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots. This song is the heavier one of the three I am discussing here.
Guitarist Mike McCready said that this song was inspired by Led Zeppelin for the use of alternate tunings. You can hear how the song utilizes to open strings in a way that is typical of songs in this tuning, and also the lower strings similarly to how you would in drop D tuning.
Everlong - Mike Dawes (Foo Fighters)
Mike Dawes has made a name for himself in recent years of being a highly skilled, versatile guitar player that focuses on the acoustic guitar (he plays electric guitar for Justin Hayward & The Moody Blues also!).
The arrangements he creates of popular songs, in this case a classic by Foo Fighters, use a percussive style - essentially, he has engineered the song to be able to cover most, if not all of the instruments, by himself. This was undoubtedly inspired by artists such as Preston Reed, Andy McKee and Khaki King. In order to facilitate the bass guitar parts, as well as give him access to notes that would otherwise be unreachable, he turns to DADGAD tuning. I would wager that it would be nearly impossible to play his version of this song otherwise.
Playing and arranging in this particular style is very specialized, and Mike has some great material online for you to learn from!
Some Helpful Tips
Drones
As this tuning has three D strings, you can easily augment your melodies with octaves. However, many people, myself included, like to use this tuning, and others similar to it, to play drones and accompany them with melodies.
A drone is a long, drawn out note that rarely has any rhythm, it just drones on as the name implies. The benefit of playing with a drone is that there is no tonality aside from what you impart through the use of scales - this allows you to be a little bit more creative as there are no theoretical restraints holding you back.
Slide
Whilst open tunings are usually associated with playing slide guitar, though you can play slide in any tuning, using this tuning for slide can give you a different set of options. Scales and melodies are often grouped quite close together when you travel across the strings.
Forces Your Mind to Think Critically
It is a great mental exercise trying to figure out new ways of playing familiar scales in new tunings. You are forced to think outside of the box, and you no longer have that safety net of familiar shapes to fall back on. See below for an interesting way of playing the D Major scale in DADGAD tuning.
The same holds true for chords. The normal open chord, barre and extended shapes, the latter of which can be quite tricky, do not apply here. The strings when grouped together make a suspended chord, conventional sounds are harder to achieve, making unusual extensions to your chords more favorable as a result. You may also find that you rely on shell voicings, or fragments of chord, more often. I find that this can give the parts that you create more of a purpose, because you have had to really think about them!
Final Thoughts
As with any of the tunings we have been learning about, you just have to try it to really get a feel for how it works. Consider it a challenge to write, learn or arrange a song in this tuning and live with it for a while, at least before you give up hope. As mentioned in my blog post about open C tuning, Devin Townsend almost uses it exclusively based on his love of Led Zeppelin (specifically the song ‘Friends’ from Led Zeppelin III) and you never know, you might love this one just as much!
While I do not think this will directly replace standard tuning, it is so called for a reason after all, it can be a great way to break the mold, using ways we have discussed. This is where having more than one guitar comes in handy; it is very useful being able to have more than one guitar, where one is tuned conventionally and another tuned to something like DADGAD. It is generally not recommended to frequently change between tunings regularly, and if you choose to have a guitar permanently tuned either this way, or in any other of the ways we have learned, then I recommend you get it set up for that specific tuning.
A good guitar teacher will be able to prepare materials and teach you about this tuning in more depth, though it is something you should request in advance. The teachers at the American Guitar Academy are well equipped to assist you in your journey, so get in touch and we can start learning together!
