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A guide to DADGAD
by NIGEL JONES
Please visit Nigel at myspace
Ok so you have all
heard the wonderful tones of DADGAD now its time to take
a look at how the tuning works, i.e. how you would find
notes and also how to build chords. I'm going to start
at the very beginning, so if you a more advanced player
you may already be familiar with some of the ideas I'm
going to talk about, it is still well worth reading the
whole article, just in case you pick up something you
may have over looked.
Ok then the beginning;
to start with the guitar is tuned low to high D A D G
A D, we are now going to look at how to pitch different
notes, to do this we will use the chromatic order, the
chromatic order is a musical alphabet, its always the
same know mater what instrument you play.
The Chromatic Order:
A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#
So how do I use
this to work out notes on the guitar?
Ok then
you have already tuned your first string to D, so therefore
you know when you strike this string it will ring the
note of D, when you play the string with the first fret
held down it will now be the note of D#, this is because
D# is the next note in the chromatic order after D, so
when you hold down the second fret it will now produce
the pitch of E, the 3rd will then be F, 4th F# when you
get to the G# you just start the chromatic order again.
If you run all the way through this order on the D string,
when you get to the 12th fret this also should be sounding
the note of D but an octave higher, if this is the case
you have followed the order correctly.
The order works the
same on each string; you just have to start on the relevant
note of the chromatic order, i.e. if your on the A string
you start on the A note of the chromatic order. With this
knowledge you should be able to work out every note on
every string of your guitar, whatever tuning your in,
if your still in any doubt use the notation provided this
should clear the matter up.
Making Chords
Again when
it come to building chords we will start with a bit of
theory, Major chords are made up of 1 3 5 of the Major
scale, as we are in DADGAD tuning we will first try to
make the chord of D Major. Use the D major scale and find
notes 1 3 5, the notes you have found should be D F# A,
so all you need to do is find these notes on three different
strings and hey presto you have a D major chord. You have
access to 6 strings so double notes where you can and
experiment with different notes on different strings,
to enhance tonal qualities.
Now I will spell out
all the notes from the 7 chords that fit in to the harmonised
D Major scale, for your reference the notes of the D Major
scale are; D E F# G A B C#.
Chord 1 D Major: D
F# A
Chord 2 E Minor: E G B
Chord 3 F# Minor: F# A C#
Chord 4 G Major: G B D
Chord 5 A Major: A C# E
Chord 6 B Minor: B D F#
Chord 7 C# Diminished C# E G
See if you can find
different voicing or shapes for all of these chords, then
put them in to a pattern, like the one provided.
D Major / / / A Major
/ / / G Major / / / B Minor / / /
I have also provided
some chord voicing ideas for all the chords within the
key of D Major, this can be found in the notation provided.
Also a full piece in DADGAD tuning for you to have a go
at; the piece is also in the key of D Major. Enjoy!
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