Understanding DADGAD by Doug Young-For Tenor Guitar??

[JohnnySmash]

I purchased this book a few years ago in an effort to find an alternate way to play chords with a sore thumb. My hand got worse to the point that I droped guitar for two or three years. Between PT weekly and my now playing a Tenor and a Baritone Ukulele as well as looking forward to a Tenor Guitar I am now playing on four strings almost pain free. So now for my question: If I study the book Understanding DADGAD and just skip all info on strings 5 and 6 will that work for a four string instrument tuned DGAD? Or is there a better way? Open to all suggestions and comments. Thank you.

[rick-slo]

Get a book written for the instrument, e.g. https://www.ukulelemusicinfo.com/blog/ukulele-books/

[JohnnySmash]

Thank you for the reply, however, there is no book there for DGAD tuning. In fact I have been searching and have yet to find such a book. That is what made me think of my DADGAD book for guitar. Since I know DADGAD works on guitar using DGAD I want to study what is available instead of hunting all over for a few months/years. I play a lot of Irish Tunes. I can play at an immediate level on Tenor Ukulele GCEA and on Baritone Ukulele DGBE using Mike Lynch Books for Chord Melody. However, I want to play a DADGAD type tuning for the Irish Tunes. DADGAD is a great Celtic sound.

[philjs]

I'm a DADGAD player (as in DADGAD is my standard tuning) and also play an 8-string (4-course) 23" scale tenor guitar as a faux-bouzouki (a bouzar) in GDGC tuning, ie. DADG up a fourth. Pretty much everything I know in DADGAD is pretty easily transferred to the bouzar. Have you considered trying DADG rather than DGAD? Don't know what those gauges would end up being but I use 042, 032, 020w and 014 for GDGC on a 23" scale instrument.

Phil

[JohnnySmash]

Originally Posted by philjs

I'm a DADGAD player (as in DADGAD is my standard tuning) and also play an 8-string (4-course) 23" scale tenor guitar as a faux-bouzouki (a bouzar) in GDGC tuning, ie. DADG up a fourth. Pretty much everything I know in DADGAD is pretty easily transferred to the bouzar. Have you considered trying DADG rather than DGAD? Don't know what those gauges would end up being but I use 042, 032, 020w and 014 for GDGC on a 23" scale instrument.

Phil

I have never tried anything other than standard and DADGAD tuning. I tuned my baritone ukulele to DGAD by just droping off strings 5 and 6. I may try your suggestions when I get my Tenor Guitar. I need less tension and scale to make it easier for a crippled hand to fret chords. Not really crippled but just as bad since C2 thru C6 in my back are cracked/broken and doc says surgery and I say GO AWAY. I get PT weekly and pay strict attention to how and what I do with my left hand. My problem runs from my spine in the neck area to my fingertips. Instrument scale is a big part of reducing pain. When I get my Tenor Guitar it will probably be capoed a lot on frets 3 and 5. When I use a short scale instrument, such as my Tenor Ukulele, I have very little pain when I play. I sometimes think I may some day go for a Tenor or regular guitar as small as between a Baritone Ukulele and a Tenor Ukulele. The small neck of a short scale is nice when old and having hand problems.

[JohnnySmash]

Sorry Phil for a second post. I forgot to ask. Where may I get chord charts for the tunings you mentioned?

[redir]

A tenor guitar is tuned in 5ths typically like a cello or even a mandolin. You can think of it as being the last 4 strings on a guitar but upside down and in a different key. See how easy that is?

So if anything I would think your tuning would be GDAD.

You might just have to draft out on paper your own chord charts.

[philjs]

Originally Posted by JohnnySmash

Sorry Phil for a second post. I forgot to ask. Where may I get chord charts for the tunings you mentioned?

The intervals between the strings in GDGC are the same intervals as DADG so any DADGAD chart will work. Just ignore the high strings in the chord charts. You also have to transpose up in your head: a "D" chord becomes G, an "Em" becomes Am, a "G" becomes C, an "A" becomes D, etc.

If you end up capoing up on a tenor then you just adjust your transposing to suit. A capo on 5 on base GDGC would yield CGCF so a "D" chord becomes a C, etc. Capo on 7 would be DADG and the chords would sound an octave above a DADGAD guitar. I have a Gold Tone mandola (17" scale) that I keep tuned DADG...sometimes it's fun to have that high string sound.

Phil

[philjs]

Originally Posted by redir

So if anything I would think your tuning would be GDAD. You might just have to draft out on paper your own chord charts.

There are a number of GDAD chord charts. Here's just one example...

Phil

[westman]

there are other ways

[JohnnySmash]

Originally Posted by westman

there are other ways

Both vidio's are in error. Neither would open. Please send again if you can. I like old western music. I was a Hank Williams fan for the first 30 years of my life. Since then I spreaded out to other western music and on to some pop. I still hate rap, noise.

[Judson]

DADGAD without the "drone" of the top two strings is going to be missing an important element in my humble opinion. Not that great music can't probably be made with just DGAD. I don't know. Give it a try. But, what attracted me to DADGAD in the first place was the open sound of all 6 strings on practically every chord.

[BigMamaJ40]

FWIW, Irish tenor banjo tuning is GDAE to play fiddle tunes.

I tried this tuning on my tenor guitar, but I found it a bit of a stretch with the longer scale length on the guitar, even though you spend most of your time between frets 2-5.

[JohnnySmash]

I may have just solved the problem. This morning I ordered a guitalele, Yamaha GL1. If that works I can go back to playing DADGAD on strings, that is if it is not to hard on my hand. I'll know in a few days. If that works well I can buy a better model later.