Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
With its evocative and enigmatic sound, DADGAD is one of the guitar’s best-kept
secrets.
“I use open and alternate tunings to get music out of the guitar,” says
fingerstyle master Martin Simpson. “Do you want to move people? You can’t
be struggling with holding down the damn strings. Alternate tunings can help
you unlock chords and melodies that might be difficult or impossible to play in
standard tuning.”
With its evocative and enigmatic sound, DADGAD is one of the guitar’s
best-kept secrets. Blues and folk guitarists often delve into open D (low to
high, D A D F# A D) and open G (low to high, D G D G B D) tunings, but only
the most intrepid pickers investigate DADGAD.
Yet Simpson, one of the world’s preeminent DADGAD players, insists that it’s
not a difficult tuning.
“Actually, it’s quite easy to get gorgeous sounds,” he says. “I’ll show you two
ways to approach DADGAD, but first, just listen to the open strings.”
These open strings are shown, from low to high, in FIGURE 1. To move from
standard tuning to DADGAD, simply drop the first and with strings down a
whole step to D, and then lower the second string, B, a whole step, to A.
FIGURE 1
—Martin Simpson
DEMYSTIFYING DADGAD
“The first thing you’ll notice,” says Simpson, “is that DADGAD is neither major
nor minor—you can go either way. Open-D and open-G tunings push you in a
particular harmonic direction, whereas DADGAD is delightfully ambiguous.
To play songs, you need I, IV and V chords, right? In DADGAD, you can play
rich harmony by merely fretting one note with your index finger [FIGURE 2].
FIGURE 2
“Now simply move your index finger over to the fourth strings and
you’ll get A7sus4—a vibey V chord that uses five strings. Again,
there’s no 3, so you have a nebulous sound. Finally move your
index finger to the fifth string and strum the same five strings.
Here we get Gsus2 with B, the 3, in the bass. This is our IV chord.”
Once you’ve moved back and forth through the chords to hear their
sound, play FIGURE 3. With little effort you can adapt this
arpeggiated IV-V-I progression to fit dozens of folk and country
ballads.
FIGURE 3
LINGERING FINGERS
FIGURE 4B
FIGURE 4C
FIGURE 6
“It doesn’t take much to embellish the three chords we’ve learned,”
he adds, playing FIGURE 7. “A simple bass line can create
momentum and keep the harmony interesting.” In bar 1, be sure to
sustain D5’s top three strings against beat two’s ornament and beat
three’s C#.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 9
“You can fret major and minor triads on the fourth, fifth and third
strings,” Simpson says. “And you don’t have to play all three
strings. Can you see where these shapes come from?” He plays
FIGURE 10A. “I’m thinking Bm, A, G and D, but I’m only playing
the top two notes of each triad.”
FIGURE 10A
To visualize these intervals as part of a triad, refer to the brackets
in this example. As you slide from position to position, keep the top
strings ringing—these recurring fourths (A-D) supply a hypnotic
drone.
“Now here’s where the tuning really opens up,” Simpson says. “In
DADGAD, we have three D strings. Whatever happens on the
fourth string can be fingered an octave lower on the sixth sting or
an octave higher on the first sting—at the same fret. ”
FIGURE 10B shows what happens when you play the previous
example but drop the fourth string’s notes down an octave, to the
sixth string.
FIGURE 10B
“Now you have several news ways to play along the fretboard in
DADGAD,” Simpson says. “Simply find your triads, and then
experiment with moving the middle note to one of the outside
strings. Imagine the possibilities!
To get a feel for this, first play FIGURE 11A, which features an
ascending chromatic line on the fifth string. Now play FIGURE 11B,
an extrapolation of this line. Notice how the notes on the fifth
string are doubled an octave higher on the second string.
FIGURE 11A
FIGURE 11B
Take the time to create your own moves on the fifth, fourth and
third strings, and then shift one or two voices to a different octave.
Be patient. Sooner or later, the sonic and visual logic will reveal
itself.
MINOR MATTERS
FIGURE 12
FINAL POINTERS
Be sure to try DADGAD with a capo. “It sounds wonderful at the 7th
fret,” says Simpson,”in the register of a high-tuned five-string
banjo.”