There is a whole subculture of guitarists who play exclusively in DADGAD tuning, as it lends itself well to certain types of styles (celtic music, for example). But, DADGAD has also been explored by Jimmy Page and other rock guitarists.
Tuning Tips
- Start by tuning your sixth string down a tone to D. Check the tuning with the fourth (D) string.
- Then tune your second string down a tone to A. Check the tuning with the fifth (A) string.
- Lastly, tune your first string down a tone to D. Check the tuning with the fourth (D) string.
Tab of Songs in This Tuning...
Kashmir - Led Zeppelin tune that makes effective use of the DADGAD tuning. Some really nice riffs to learn here.
Amazing Grace - From guitarlessonworld.com, a pretty, short arrangement of the standard hymn in DADGAD tuning. This will sound impressive with practice.
Black Mountainside - Another Led Zep tune, this is guitarist Jimmy Page's uncredited interpretation of the Burt Jansch DADGAD tune "Black Waterside".
Other Resources
Chords in DADGAD - A wide variety of Dmajor, Dminor, and Gmajor type chords in DADGAD tuning.
YouTube: DADGAD Video Lesson - User chade2112 provides us with a video overview of DADGAD, which includes a relatively easy song to learn. Note that some of his chord names are inaccurate, but the basic information is correct.
DADGAD Chord Shapes - More chords can be found on this informative DADGAD page.
