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DADGAD Primer?


Glenn F

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If you want to pay, Homespun has an excellent downloadable DVD by Al Petteway centered around Celtic tunes that I recently purchased for about US$25.00. Several months worth of stuff right there, including a basic primer on DADGAD.

 

Listen to any of the DADGAD recordings by Davey Graham and Bert Jansch. Leo Kottke is a master of DADGAD 12 string. There are lessons on Youtube that are helpful, but not long enough to be truly useful. Homespun has other lesson DVD's on DADGAD as well.

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After an adult lifetime of playing standard and open chords -- and not 'getting' DADGAD the handful of times I made the tiny jump from open D -- I was watching Rory Gallagher (in the last vid of him, a quiet little interview done, I think, by the BBC) and he was talking about the evolution of blues in the 20th century and demonstrating some things in DADGAD (which appeared to simply be what the guitar was tuned to)... and I thought, man, if DADGAD is good enough for Rory, then I probably ought to get to the bottom of why folks like it.

 

It must have been just the right alignment of planets and stars, because, for whatever reason, that day it just started making sense.

 

I haven't studied anyone else's technique or even watched any DADGAD performance or other vids, I've just kind of probed and noodled. (I probably ought to, though.)

 

One thing I've noticed -- and I'm not sure if it's just because I'm learning something new and it forces me to be a little more analytical -- or maybe because there are so many of the same tones (an octave apart) so it makes it a lot easier to keep track of what's going on -- after all, if you've got 3 D strings, and two A's, and the G, you only have to keep track of three harmonic values instead of five. Anyhow, for whatever reasons, I find myself often knowing what scale value I'm playing at a given time, or at least being able to suss it quickly on the fly.

 

I've gotten pretty good at transposing things into it in a couple of modalities -- but every once in a while I find myself comparing what I'm doing in standard on a given song and what I'm doing in DADGAD on the same thing and realizing that, all too often, my note movements and such are the same, even as the fingering changes. OTOH, it definitely does open up some interesting things, but you have to watch out for 'droniness.'

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Listen to any of the DADGAD recordings by Davey Graham and Bert Jansch. Leo Kottke is a master of DADGAD 12 string.

 

 

What does Kottke play in DADGAD? He does a fair amount in open D (DADF#AD) and lots in open G (DGDGBG), plus the smattering of open C, all tuned down of course, but I wasn't aware of anything in DADGAD

 

I know that Michael Hedges did a fair amount of DADGAD. And while I don't play anything in that tuning, at a recent jam a buddy put one of my resonators into it and did some wonderful Hedges style slapping and tapping that really sounded cool on the tricone.

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If you want to pay, Homespun has an excellent downloadable DVD by Al Petteway centered around Celtic tunes that I recently purchased for about US$25.00. Several months worth of stuff right there, including a basic primer on DADGAD.


Listen to any of the DADGAD recordings by Davey Graham and Bert Jansch. Leo Kottke is a master of DADGAD 12 string. There are lessons on Youtube that are helpful, but not long enough to be truly useful. Homespun has other lesson DVD's on DADGAD as well.

 

Thanks! I can get the Petteway DVD online here. I am wondering A) how far will it take me and B) what level do I need to be already to get me there?

 

Please, keep the suggestions coming! :)

 

Glenn

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Please, keep the suggestions coming!
:)

I haven't used the Al Petteway materials, though he is known as a DADGAD player. Pierre Bensusan plays exclusively in DADGAD.

 

When you ask "how far will a book take you?" it makes me realize that you are looking for instructional guidance. There are numerous DADGAD chord charts online if that helps. I have TAB books by different people like Martin Simpson, David Wilcox, El McMeen, etc who include certain songs tabbed in DADGAD but I don't recall that they have much to say about it.

 

I used to get a journal called "Fingerstyle Guitar" magazine. I kept several years of them (each came with a CD) and there are DADGAD pieces scattered throughout them (the TAB, the interview with the artist, and the accompanying song on the CD). So, I kind of backed into it that way, but without any formal "DADGAD theory".

 

It's a good excuse to own more than one acoustic guitar: you just have to keep one tuned in DADGAD all the time!

 

Greg

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Thanks! I can get the Petteway DVD online here. I am wondering A) how far will it take me and B) what level do I need to be already to get me there?


Please, keep the suggestions coming!
:)

Glenn

 

Laurence Juber is another DADGAD master. He also has in instructional DVD on Homespun, as does Pete Huttlinger. The stuff on the Petteway DVD isn't too hard, but challenging enough if you are a decent player and not a beginner or early intermediate. Like I said, there also several segments that constitute a DADGAD primer.

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It's a good excuse to own more than one acoustic guitar: you just
have to
keep one tuned in DADGAD all the time!


Greg

 

Yes... but it's such an easy tuning to hit quickly from standard; just drop the 6, 2, and 1 a step and there you go; and because, harmonically, it's 1st, 4th, and 5th, it's quite clear when things are in shape.

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I got into DADGAD years ago. It's not really that hard to pick out a tune without a lesson.

 

I also use a variation: DADF#AD. Dropping the G a half step gives you a cool two finger bar chord playable anywhere on the neck. And as an open tuning, DADF#AD will give you a nice tuning that lends itself well to Celtic music.

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  • 9 months later...
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I play most irish and english folk tunes, old-time gospel and bluegrass tunes. I play in D, a lot. I read about DADGAD a few months ago, switched to and have never gone back. It just fits what I am learning to play. That low D drone just sounds awesome on my Dobro Hound Dog Deluxe.

 

I also play a few klezmer tunes. Playing Ahava Rabba mode out of DADGAD is dead simple. D-minor blues scale also sound great with the 3 octaves of D.

 

Also, playing chords in D with so many D's on the board give you a lot of options. With one finger, you have a DADAAD chord. Two different D7 chords exist, with different tones to them. Dminor is also just one finger away. Gm is one finger. Cminor is one finger. Simple chords, mind you. I plan on sticking with DADGAD for the long-term. I simple works for the songs I am playing.

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