The DADGAD Chord Primer: How to Build Chords in DADGAD Tuning Version 2.2 By: Mark Parnis www.markparnis.com mark@markparnis.com
DADGAD is essentially a variant on open D tuning, DADF # AD. The subtle but profound difference between the two lies in the fact that DADGAD lacks a third from the D chord, whereas DADF # AD has an F #, which immediately reinforces the key of D major. DADGAD lacks either an F # or F, the presence of which would reinforce D major or D minor respectively. As a result, DADGAD is an ideal tuning for accompanying instrumental tunes that move between D major and D minor, or that are in other modes such as D Mixolydian (F #, C natural) or D Dorian (all naturals) as found in some Celtic fiddle tunes. DADGAD is highly favoured for guitar accompaniment in Celtic style music for this reason. In particular, chordscales involving chord movement with ascending or descending sequences of scale tones are very useful for filling in longer stretches of single chords with a dynamic sounding alternative to relieve harmonic boredom. DADGAD is also a versatile tuning for both finger style and rhythm chord based accompaniment. My preferred strategy for chord construction with DADGAD is similar to the approach I take with other open tunings. This is to use the treble strings as drone or sustained notes while moving between chords to glue the sound together. The top two treble strings in DADGAD play the tonic and dominant tones of the D scale which are common to D major, D Mixolydian, D Dorian and D natural minor keys. Their repeated sounding gives a sense of groundedness to the song which is not unlike the drone notes of the bagpipes. As well, their colour changes as the chord changes, so that more interesting sounding chords emerge, often by chance. It is useful to begin thinking about DADGAD for songs in some sort of D key, even though DADGAD is also nearly as simple to use in other closely related keys such as A or G. To begin, let me introduce my basic strategy for building chords in DADGAD. The idea behind my approach is to retain as many open strings in the upper tones of the chord as possible, to help glue the chords together. 2
Here s the basic approach for any chord you like: 1) Determine whether the root tone of the chord lies on the 6 th or 5 th string in the area of the fret board in which you want to play the chord. If the root is on the 6 th string, choose that note and the note on the fourth string at the same fret. Exclude the open 5 th sting if it s not the fifth of the chord by damping it, or fret it at a convenient place in the chord to make another root or fifth. If the root is on the 5 th string, choose that note, and leave the 6 th string out since any note lower than the intended root tone will generally sound like the actual root. Turn the 4 th sting into either the root, third or fifth tone of the chord if convenient, or leave it out. 2) From the remaining three or four stings, leave open any of the strings that is an acceptable tone for the chord in question. For any typical chord, it will for sure be the root, third, or fifth. Other tones that might be nice sounding are the sixth (major), seventh (minor or dominant), ninth (major, minor, or dominant) and eleventh (minor or dominant). Let your ear be the guide. If it sounds good in the song, it is good. Fret any strings that have unacceptable open tones, at a convenient fret that produces an acceptable chord tone, usually a root, third or fifth. That s it! 3
Let s give this a try with a standard D major chord: 1) The root of a D chord is the note D, and it lies on the open 6 th string. Choose the open 6 th string and the open 4th string. The open 5 th string is actually an A note, which is the fifth of a D chord, and can be included. 2) The remaining three strings are G, A and D. A and D are chord tones (fifth and root) and so the 1 st and 2 nd strings may be played open. Only the 3 rd string contains an 11 th which sounds bad in a major chord. The simplest solution is to fret the G string at the second fret to make an A, and now all your strings are playing a nice clean D chord: DADAAD 0 0 0 2 0 0 D power chord In fact, this chord contains neither the major nor minor third of D, i.e. there is no F# or F, it is equally useful for D major, minor, mixo, or any D chord with a perfect fifth. I like to think of this as a D power chord. 4
If you want a true blue D chord, major third (F#) and all, you can fret the 4 th string at the 4 th fret to get an F#, and obtain my second choice D major chord: 0 0 4 2 0 0 D major 5
How about a standard G major chord: 1) The root of a G chord is the note G, and it lies on the 6 th string at the fifth fret. Fret the 6 th and 4 th strings at the fifth fret, or leave the 4 th open to get the fifth tone D. The open 5 th string is an A note, which is not the fifth of G (i.e. not a D) so we will damp it out with our fingers and not sound it. 2) The remaining three strings are again G, A and D. G and D are chord tones (root and fifth) and so the 1 st and 3 rd strings may be played open. Only the 2 nd string is a questionable tone. The 2 nd string tone is a ninth (A) and often sounds ok. So, if we leave it, we have two possible G chords: GXDGAD and GXGGAD 5 X 0 0 0 0 5 X 5 0 0 0 G major 9 6
The A and G sounding together is a bit touchy, and as well we have no third, which may or may not be an issue for you. A cleaner and clearer G chord has the third tone (B) on the 3 rd string, to a clean G chord, which we will see is a moveable chord form : 5 X 5 4 0 0 Moveable G major The G chord can actually be played a bit differently, since the open 4 th string is the fifth of G, i.e. D, and therefore would have also been an acceptable chord tone in the bass. So we could also play this chord, which uses all six strings, including a D on the 5 th string at the 5 th fret, to get my favorite G chord: 5 5 0 4 0 0 G major 7
Here is another one finger wonder chord, like the D power chord, great for really rapid chord changes in fiddle tunes. I use this chord a lot, especially when bass tones move through a B tone on a G chord. X 2 0 0 0 0 G/B We can also use the open 6 th string as a D bass tone, and get a really simple useful G type chord, which is really G/D, since the bass stresses D. This one is also great for rapid changes where subtlety is abandoned for speed: 0 2 0 0 0 0 G/D 8
The three main chords in the key of D major are D, G and A major, so let s look at A major next: 1) The root tone A lies on the open 5 th string. Choose the open 5 th string and dampen the 6 th string (D is the 4 th of A and not a good bass tone). 2) The remaining tones are DGAD. D is the 11 th of A and sounds ok if the A is acting as a dominant chord, which is the function of an A chord in the key of D (the dominant chord). G is the dominant seventh of A and could be left as well, so that our simplest chord would be just to play all the strings except the 6 th open. However, this doesn t sound so good. The 4 th string D still sounds like a bass note and muddies up the chord. Better to make it an E, and get a perfect fifth tone in the chord: X 0 2 0 0 0 A dom 11 This is the simplest A chord, and another one finger wonder. It allows us to use a sequence of one finger chords to play tunes in D, namely: D power chord G/B chord A dom 11 chord D power chord Try this sequence strumming, trying to stress the D, B and A tones respectively in the bass of the chords. Voila! Serviceable chord progression with one finger! 9
You might want a more straightforward A major chord, in which case you ll want to get rid of the G and the D. Let s start again and make a very clean A major chord by building a chord on a higher fret root. This will give us another use of the moveable G chord: 1) Use the A root on the 6 th string at the 7 th fret. Double it on the 4 th string. Leave the 5 th string open since it s an A as well. 2) The remaining tones are GAD. Make the C# by fretting the 4 th string at the 6 th fret. Leave the A and D open, to get an A major 11. This has the same form as the moveable G major chord. Fret the 1 st string at the seventh fret and get a pure A chord, but with a high tone on the top: 7 0 7 6 0 0 7 0 7 6 0 7 5 5 A major A major 11 chord 11 A major 10
Now, you will of course want to make other chords than these three, and their variants. Let s make some of the other chords commonly used in D. The first is Em: 1) The root tone E is the second fret of the 6 th string. Start building by including the 6 th and 4 th strings fretted at the second fret. Damp out the 5 th string, since it is an A which is not a root or fifth in the bass. 2) The remaining tones are G, A and D. G is the minor third of E, so it s really needed to give a minor sound. A is the eleventh, and is not a bad tone for a minor chord. You could leave it, or turn it into a B, the fifth of E minor, by fretting the 2 nd string at the 2 nd fret. The 1 st string is D, the minor 7 th of Em, so that s a fine tone for an Em7 chord. Let s look at these choices. 2 X 2 0 0 0 2 X 2 0 2 0 E min 11 E min 7 11
The next diatonic chord in D major (chord built in thirds on a scale tone) would be F#m. However, in most Celtic style and folk/pop music, the more common choice for an F# bass tone is D/F#, that is, a D chord with it s third, F#, in the bass. Let s build that chord: 1) F# is found on the 6 th string at the 4 th fret. Double it on the 4 th string at the 4 th fret. The 5 th string open gives an A, which is the fifth of D major, so we can leave that too. 2) The remaining tones are G,A, and D. A and D are from the D chord, so they are good as is. G is the fourth of D major, and is not acceptable. So, let s raise it to another A by fretting at the second fret. 4 0 4 2 0 0 D/F# 12
Carrying on up the D major scale, we have our D, EM, D/F#, G, and A chords. Remaining are Bm and C#dim. Usually Bm is not used, but instead G/B is used for a cleaner sound. C#dim is rarely used, but more likely to be A7/C#. Let s have a look at G/B: 1) The B tone is found on the 5 th string, 2 nd fret. The open 6 th string is a D, which is the fifth of G major, so we can leave that open, as well as the open 4 th string. However, better not to play the very lowest D on the 6 th string, as it will make the chord sound like G/D 2) The remaining tones are G, A and D. the G is the root of G major, and D is the fifth, so both can be left open. A is the ninth, and a bit unusual although not unusable. More likely it would be turned into the third of G major, B by fretting this string at the 2 nd fret: X 2 0 0 2 0 G/B 13
Now and then we will actually need B min instead of G/B. To get this we need the F# tone to reinforce the B minor chord and also reduce the number of G tones in the chord. This is easily done by fretting the 4 th string at the 4 th fret to get F#. We also can eliminate the 3 rd string G by making it a B at the 4 th fret. The open 2 nd string gives us a nice minor seventh of B to make a Bm7 sound to get: X 2 4 4 0 0 B min 7 For speed, you can leave the 4 th string open (and 6 th ) to have a simpler Bm7, albeit with more D sound in the bass, like a Bm7/D: 0 2 0 4 0 0 B min 7/D 14
The last D major chord, A7/C#: 1) C# is the 4 th tone of the 5 th string. The open 6 th and 4 th the eleventh of A, so no good for the bass. Leave the 6 th string out, and make the 4 th into an E. 2) For the remaining three tones, G is the dominant seventh of A, and is ok as a tone on a dominant chord. The A is of course fine. The D is interesting since it is a a suspended third. This would not be acceptable except for a dominant type chord, which A7 happens to be in the key of D. In that case, it can sound rather interesting and pleasant: X 4 2 0 0 0 A7sus4/C# 15
Playing in other keys or other modes than D major requires other chords, and there are certainly lots of them! For example, D minor generally requires G minor, and D Mixolydian needs a C major to reinforce the flat seventh. In general, chords built on the tones of the D minor pentatonic scale, i.e., D, F, G, A and C are going to crop up in any music in D that has a bluesy feel, since these tones reinforce the D blues scale: D F G Ab A C D. Here s a selection of these other chords used in D modes: C major: 1) The root is on the 5 th string at the 3 rd fret. Leave the 6 th string out, and bring the 4 th up to an E at the 2dn fret or G at the 5 th. The G is better, since this is a borderline bass tone and the fifth is always cleaner than the third. 2) Remaining tones G, A and D are all good tones in C major, as the fifth, sixth and ninth. The fifth and sixth right next to each other is perhaps a bit jarring, so why not make that a C at the third fret as well. Our simplest chord is: X 3 2 0 2 0 C major 9 16
A minor: 1) The open 5 th string has the root, so that s easy. Leave out the 6 th string, and make the 4 th string the fifth of A (an E) at the second fret. 2) Of the remaining G, A and D tones, G is the minor seventh, and is a very nice tone, but could also be an A at the second fret. A is the root, so it s good too, but could be a C at the third fret. The D is ok as an eleventh in a minor chord, but might be cleaner as an E at the second fret, giving several choices. All the chords without a C have no third and if they have a D they sound like sus4 chords, neither major, minor nor dominant: X 0 2 0 0 0 X 0 2 0 3 0 X 0 2 0 0 2 A sus 4 A min 11 A sus 4 X 0 2 2 0 0 A sus 4 17
F major: 1) The root is on the 6th string at the 3 rd fret. The open 5 th string is an A, which would be ok in an F chord, but too low in the chord tonality to really sound good. So, damp it instead. There is no other useful tone on the 4 th string except the F octave, so double the F in the bass on the 4 th string at the 3 rd fret. 2) From the remaining tones G, A and D: G is the ninth of F, so could sound ok, but it would be cleaner if we turn it into an A at the second fret, which reinforces the major sound of the chord. The 2 nd string may be left open as A also. The D on the 1 st string is ok as a major sixth, which is a common addition to a major chord. This gives us a form that is also the same as the moveable G major chord form: 3 X 3 2 0 0 F major 6 18