Acoustic Guitar Open Tuning
DADGAD and other similar tunings
There are times when each of us as musicians feels a little musically ‘stale’. The general tendency for most of us is to put our instrument down and find something a bit more stimulating to do – that is anything except music. These times in our musical life may possibly be signposts to expand out of our limited musical habits. Most of us fear change; this is probably one of the greatest stumbling blocks that we as humans seem to be burdened with. The most difficult thing as an artist of any medium to do is to balance the ‘creative aspect’ with the ‘practical side’ that gives us the necessary tools to develop technique. When we’re not feeling creative it’s the perfect opportunity to look for building blocks to help us expand our musical vocabulary. Not for the sake of being artistically clever but to develop a broader creative palette to draw from and venture out and explore new musical directions.
One of the beautiful virtues of the guitar is its diversity, its ability to adapt to various genres and roles ie solo, accompaniment or improvisation. If we stay only within the same musical parameters all our life it is quite possible that we are missing out on a part of our untapped musicality that is wanting to get out. In fact, the times when we are feeling ‘stale’ are often only a call from within to expand.
For some years now there have been many guitar players exploring the alternative tunings for guitar. People like the great (late) Michael Hedges, Pierre Bensusan, Joni Mitchell, and John Renbourn to name a few. They have given us a taste of the potential of harmonic variation that is available by dropping out of normal tuning. Any one that has explored the open tunings will have some inkling about how easily it can help us to break down some of the long built up patterns that we have formed. Listed below are few simple building blocks that you might like to explore & have fun with.
A good place to start is the various D tunings.
The two E’s (6th & 1st) are dropped a whole tone down to D;
the B (2nd) goes a whole tone down to A
the G can either step down a ½ tone to F#, a whole tone to F or remain as a G.
Which one is the most suitable depends on the texture you wish to create.
String 6 5th 4th 3rd 2nd 1st
Eg 1 D A D F# A D
Eg 2 D A D F A D
Eg 3 D A D G A D
Eg1 Is a D major tuning that is very good for blues and fantastic for ‘fattening’ up recordings of tunes in the key of D. You get a very BIG sounding D chord by playing the strings unfretted. To play a G chord just lay your first finger over the 5th fret; A is up a whole tone on the 7th fret.
Eg 2 Is a D minor tuning. Many of the classical composers wrote music in D minor because it tends to be the saddest of all keys; it’s beautiful for open tuned guitar, it doesn’t necessarily have to sound sad. For this tuning you could use a standard Harmonic minor scale D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C# D
Download the D minor tuning scale PDF
Eg3 Is a very good & practical tuning because you are not bound by the 3rd string being a natural (F) which is minor or a sharp (F#) which is major. Pierre Bensusan is a great exponent of this tuning.
With this tuning you might like to try an Eastern sounding mode such as D, Eb, F#, G, A, Bb, C#, D
Or for a very Japanese effect try D, Eb, G, A, Bb, D.
Download DADGAD tuning D Major flat 5 scale PDF
What can make the open tunings sound so strong is the use of the repetitive drone notes, in this case the 1st (D) and the 5th interval (A) doubled up on other open strings. When these notes are played together with no other chordal tone it creates a very Eastern / Middle Eastern drone type of effect.
In Indian music there are no chords used, only the ‘SA’ (1st) and ‘PA’ (5th). Some say this is so the chords don’t interfere with the beauty of the melodies and rhythms. Anyone that has explored the laws of harmonics will give you some very fascinating theories on the velocities of soundwaves and how they can clash and create tension if used incorrectly. Yehudi Menhuin, one of the great classical violinists once said that Indian musician Ali Akbar Khan was the world’s greatest musician, this may give you a hint about the complexity of this form of music. To open up and draw from other musical sources could very well be a way to help you develop your own unique style.
A handy hint: It really helps if you know the names of the notes on the fretboard; it will save you hours of work, if you learn one string a day then you can have Sunday off.
originally written dec 2000 - Tony Hogan (C)
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