How to Tune Your Guitar in DADGAD and 8 Awesome Things to Play

In this lesson, we are going to learn how to tune your guitar in DADGAD and how to play 5 awesome, musical ideas with this tuning.

To tune your guitar in DADGAD lower the 6th string E a whole-step down to a D, the 2nd string B a whole-step down to A, and the 1st string a whole-step down to a D. Keep the 5th, 4th, and 3rd string in standard tuning.

It will take a little bit of time for the guitar to remain tuned. The strings you lowered wants to go back to their previous note so the 6th, 2nd, and 1st string will sound slightly sharp for a while. Just keep tuning until the strings stabilize.

The DADGAD tuning is one of the most popular alternate tunings on guitar. It was popularized by Irish players who used it to strum chords. Over the past years, it became more and more popular in modern fingerpicking playing.

Today we are going to explore musical ideas in DADGAD and how to get started with this awesome alternate tuning.

You will learn:

What’s the DADGAD tuning?
Is DADGAD better than standard tuning?
Example 1. Your first chord shape in DADGAD.
Example 2. How to play scales in DADGAD?
Example 3. C major chord progression in DADGAD.
Example 4. D minor chord progression in DADGAD.
Example 5. D major chord progression in DADGAD.
Example 6. Strumming vs. fingerpicking.
Example 7. Awesome licks in DADGAD.
Example 8. Common chords in DADGAD.

What’s the DADGAD tuning?

The DADGAD tuning can be considered an altered version of the open D tuning. The difference between “Open D” and DADGAD is that the “Open D” is tuned with DADF#AD, which is, in essence, a D major chord.

The “Open D” isn’t different than playing an E major chord a whole-step down, played with the open strings. This alternate tuning was used a lot by Joni Mitchell in songs such as “The Magdalene Laundries” and “Cherokee Louise.”

It’s a great alternate tuning, but it’s also really limiting if you want to play in minor keys.

It was Davey Graham, a British guitar player, that introduced the DADGAD tuning to the world in 1964. As Tony McManus explained in one of his video “Davey Graham came up with a brilliant idea which was “Forget about the 3rd and tune this up to a perfect 4th”. The DADGAD tuning was born.

Check the difference between Open D and DADGAD below.

Is DADGAD Better than Standard Tuning?

With the DADGAD tuning, you can play a Dsus4 chord by strumming the open strings, so it does favor specific keys above others.

Check the difference between standard tuning and DADGAD tuning in the picture below.

When the guitar is in standard tuning, the open strings sound harsher. The chord you would play with the open string is an Em11 chord which doesn’t sound good at all. However, with the DADGAD tuning, you will be able to play a beautiful chord by simply strumming the open strings.

Listen to the difference between the standard and DADGAD.

Standard tuning vs. DADGAD tuning.

So, is DADGAD better than standard tuning? Well, I don’t know the answer to be honest. I think you can write beautiful music with both of them. With DADGAD you will be more likely to play music in D major and D minor but also G major, E minor, and even Bb major. The standard tuning is more versatile and, probably, easier to learn the basics.

I hope this lesson will help you figure out if you like DADGAD tuning.

Example.1 – Your First Chord Shape in DADGAD

In the first exercise, we are going to explore simple chord shapes in DADGAD that can be played with one finger only.

It’s almost inevitable to play extended chords. Even a simple D chord, will become a Dsus4 in DADGAD. For this reason, I wouldn’t worry too much about which type of chord you are playing. Instead, focus on the shape and sound of the chord.

You can learn the chord shape by checking the chord diagram below. Either strum or pluck the strings to your preference.

Once you familiarize yourself with the chords, learn the chord progression played with the fingerpicking.

Example.2 – How to Play Scales in DADGAD

Scales are a big part of playing in DADGAD.

The reasons why I love playing scales in this tuning is because of the interval between the 3rd and 2nd string. There is a whole-step interval between the G and A string, which makes it easy to reorganize the scales effortlessly.

This is a D major scale played in Standard tuning.

You can play the same D major scale in DADGAD which looks and sound completely different. Notice how symmetrical the scale looks like with the fingers always in the same fret. Also, over-ringing makes the scale more melodic, rhythmic, and beautiful.

We can easily transform the scale into a beautiful melody. Let me show you a straightforward melody played with the D major scale.

Example 3. C Major Chord Progression in DADGAD

Let me show you a beautiful chord progression in C major played in DADGAD.

When you use alternate tuning, it’s vital to experiment with different keys and chord shapes so that you don’t end up always playing the same music.

The question is, “Does C major key sound good in DADGAD tuning?” Yes indeed!

In this example, we are going to play the same chord progression in two different ways — the first time with simple triads and the second time with extended chords.

The chord progression goes as follows: C | G | Am | F.

This is how you play the basic chords in C major.

Now, playing basic chords in DADGAD isn’t exciting. We can use the alternate tuning to spice up the chord progression easily and transform the basic chords into extended chords.

Now the chords have changed into Cadd9 | G | Am(add11) | Fadd9(6) which is indeed an insanely beautiful chord progression.

This is how we play the chords.

Example 4. D minor chord progression in DADGAD

The D minor is one of my favorite keys on guitar. One of the things that I like a lot about playing in DADGAD is to have a deeper bass note on the low E string. Tuning the E string down to D makes the guitar deeper, heavier, e more dynamic.

In this example, the chord progression goes as follows: Dm | Cadd9 | Bbmaj7 | Cadd9.

Now, in an open tuning such as this one you wouldn’t expect a chord like Bb to sound good at all. I was really surprised when I hit this chord and realized how beautiful it was.

The chord progression is played with the fingerpicking technique. Again, guys, fingerstyle makes it easy to create simple chord progressions.

Follow the tab below.

Example 5. D Major Chord Progression in DADGAD

Chords in D major sound awesome in DADGAD. There is also a lot of material online showing you examples in D major.

So, why should I show examples in such an exploited key?

The reason for this is “Parallel lines.” In D major key the DADGAD tuning offers you a lot of horizontal harmonic and melodic possibilities that we must explore.

The “Parallel lines” are only possible in D major key because of the Dsus4 chord that this tuning offer.

Just think about it. Any note of the D major scale sounds good in D major. If in DADGAD I can strum a Dsus4 with jus the open strings, adding a note of the D major scale in any fret or position will not change the sound of the open string.

Let me give you a practical example.

Learn the D major scale on the D string just like shown in the diagram below.

Now, strum all the strings. For each strum, change the note of the scale.

I don’t know you, but I can’t hear a lot of difference.

But if I decide to emphasize the movement with more notes and rhythm, then I can create beautiful sounding “Parallel lines” which are both rhythmic and melodic.

This is an example with the same notes on the D string.

You could also take it up a notch and create a melody out of the scale using the “Parallel lines.”

One of the greatest points of playing in DADGAD is that you want to take advantage of the open strings to create unusual melodies and rhythmically interesting patterns that are only possible with this alternate tuning.

Example 6. Strumming vs. Fingerpicking

One of the questions I get asked a lot is whether or not DADGAD works better with strumming or fingerpicking technique.

But why would people think that there is a better way at all?

Both strumming and fingerpicking are great guitar techniques that allow you to express yourself in different ways. With a versatile tuning such as the DADGAD, it would be a mistake to ditch one of the two techniques.

If you’ve never played fingerstyle before, I recommend that you start right now with the DADGAD tuning.

Let me show you a simple example of a chord progression and melody played in fingerstyle.

Quick Note! With the fingerpicking technique, we can single out some of the notes of the chord and treat them like a melody.

The strumming is more intuitive and straightforward, and it works magically for rhythm and chords.

I find that rhythms in six work better with this tuning, probably because they are used in Irish music from which the DADGAD tuning gets its inspiration from.

This is a simple example of a strumming rhythm in six plays with beautiful open chords.

Example 7. Awesome Guitar Licks in DADGAD

Let me show you some of the most common licks, fingerpicking phrases, and common melodic ideas in DADGAD.

There are many guitar licks that you can play in this tuning. Some of them take advantage of the symmetrical shapes that this tuning offers.

Let’s explore three different licks in DADGAD

Lick #1 – The Fret 2 And 4 Rule

This is a lick in D major played in the first position of the neck.

In DADGAD everything you play on fret two and four sounds awesome. If you also add the open strings, it becomes simple to write beautiful licks.

Lick #2 – The Pedal Tone

In the next example, we are going to play a melody on one string using the pull-off technique.

Open tuning makes it easy to create licks like this one where the melody is played on one string only while we keep the same bass note. This technique is called “Pedal tone,” which is a technique in which we follow the same bass note throughout while playing different chords on the top strings.

This is how it sounds.

Lick #3 – The Rock

This lick is a riff in D minor played on the 6th, 5th, and 4th string.

I like to play this riff with a guitar pick or the “Percussive thumb technique.” Each note is played with a downstroke or by striking the strings with the side of the thumb. With both techniques, you can easily create a very percussive sound which is perfect for creating rhythmic, heavy, and Rock acoustic riffs like this one.

Here is how you play it.

8. Common Chords in DADGAD

Let’s talk about the most common chords in DADGAD and how to play them. We already explored a few options in D minor, C major, and D minor key but there are a ton of chords that you can play in this tuning.

We will narrow it down to 10 different chords. There is an example for each chord so that you can hear how it sounds with other chords too.

Make sure you learn one chord at a time before writing your ideas.

Chord #1 – Am(add11)

This is one of my favorite chord in both standard tuning and DADGAD.

The reasons why I love this chord so much is because of how easily it’s played. The Am(add11) must be performed without the 6th string so if you strum the chord, mute the 6th string with the left-hand thumb.

We can use the Am(add11) chord in the A minor key along with the C major, G major, F major, E minor, and D minor chord.

This is the chord diagram

The chord progression goes as follows: Am(add11) | Cadd9 | Dm | F6 |

Chord #2 – D major

Indeed the most common chord in DADGAD the D major chord opens up a lot of harmonically interesting chords.

In this chord progression, we are going to play a chord progression using the same chord shape with a different bass note. This is a fascinating approach that works perfectly in DADGAD.

This is the chord diagram

Let me show you how we can use this chord to create an amazing and simple chord progression.

Chord #3 – Bbmaj7(6)

One of my favorite chord in DADGAD, the Bbmaj7(6) can be easily played by fretting the 6th and 5th string on fret 8. Strum all the strings and enjoy this awesome chord.

This shape works perfectly in D minor key. Use it in a chord progression such as D major| Bbmaj7(6) |

This is the chord diagram.

This is the musical example.

Chord #4 – Aadd11

Let me show you another awesome chord shape that can be easily transposed up and down the fretboard.

The Aadd11 can be easily played by pressing down the 7th fret on the D string and the 6th fret on the G string. You can then move this chord in different positions as shown in the example below.

Chord #5 – Em(add11)

What a great chord! The Em(add11) is both easy to play and beautiful.

You can incorporate this chord in any chord progression in G major or E minor key, as well as D major or B minor key.

I love the sound of the Em(add11) in DADGAD tuning because it resonates more than if the chord was played in Standard tuning.

Just think about an A major chord shape played on the 6th, 5th, and 4th string plus the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st string open. This chord can be played with strumming or fingerstyle.

Check the example below to learn the chord shape.

Let’s Wrap This Up

As you were able to see the DADGAD tuning is one of the most awesome alternate tunings on guitar. There are so many chord shapes and melodies that can be played with this tuning that it feels overwhelming sometimes.

Learn the examples in this lesson before writing your chord progressions and melodies.

Take things step-by-step and have fun along the process.

Good luck with this lesson.

Marco.