What’s a good DADGAD song to start with?

[TBman]

Al Petteway sells the tab for Sligo Creek for $5 on his website. There's a few good covers of it on YouTube also. Doug Young has an excellent book on understanding Dadgad, btw. I have to get the discipline to keep one in DADGAD and work my way farther into his book.

[Dru Edwards]

Wow, that was fantastic.

Originally Posted by M19

I'd suggest Al Petteway's "Sligo Creek." It's the recurring theme from the National Parks Ken Burns documentary*. Al sells the tab for $5 on his (and Amy's) site. I didn't search out a tutorial.

* It is on Al's Mountain Guitar album, which is fantastic.

Larry Pattis' version of "Ashokan Farewell" is also a favorite of mine.

[TBman]

This is a good cover to follow to learn it.

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by TBman

This is a good cover to follow to learn it.

Appreciate it. Thanks.

[Pdubs76]

Andy mckee’s drifting is a fun tune to learn if you want to get a little funky with the percussions and slap harmonics. He does a tutorial on YouTube that’s pretty easy to follow.

[Ed66]

Mark Hanson did an excellent version of Little Martha; technically it's DADF#AD but its close enough to count. I think it was in Acoustic Guitar magazine a few years ago.

[TRose]

I too have an interest in learning some tunes in DADGAD. I really enjoy Remy64’s playing in alternate tunings. Go to the “Show and Tell” section of the forum and check it out. After watching the following video and the one of Lagan Love I’ve ordered lots of reference material and soon start that part of my journey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9ehp-tR1QQ

Good luck!

[jklotz]

Originally Posted by TBman

This is a good cover to follow to learn it.

That would be a great tune to start with IMHO. I bought the book/sheet music "Caledon Wood" by Al Petteway a while back. There are a bunch of DADGAD gems in there. The tune that got me to buy the book though, was not in DADGAD, but is well worth the time.



https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title...AaAsmuEALw_wcB

[TBman]

Roslin Castle is a good place to start too.

[Don W]

Pete Hutlinger has some great pieces that are good for beginners...they were for me.

[Doug Young]

If anyone is interested in a basics, intro to DADGAD Zoom class, let me know. I've been doing monthly (more or less) workshops online, most of which are focused on DADGAD. Most of the attendees are well into DADGAD at this point, so we're learning tunes, and more advanced stuff, but I've taught an intro class at lots of guitar shows and so on. If there's interest, I'd be glad to back up and do one that starts from the beginning.

[DevilsFan]

Mark Hanson has a couple of tunes in his "Art of Solo Fingerpicking" book. One is an arrangement of "Twin Sisters" in DADGAD. The other is a piece he wrote called "Strawberry Curl" in DADGBD. Both are pretty challenging but are great pieces to learn.

[NormanKliman]

Originally Posted by DevilsFan

Mark Hanson has a couple of tunes in his "Art of Solo Fingerpicking" book. One is an arrangement of "Twin Sisters" in DADGAD...

Yeah, that's a really good one, although I don't know how it compares to others as an introduction to DADGAD. It's the only thing I ever learned to play in that tuning, and I haven't played it in almost 20 years, but I still remember liking how the melody is arranged on the strings, how it picks up momentum and builds to the finish. Very satisfying to play.

Something about that tuning scratches a very deep itch.

[DevilsFan]

Originally Posted by NormanKliman

Yeah, that's a really good one, although I don't know how it compares to others as an introduction to DADGAD. It's the only thing I ever learned to play in that tuning, and I haven't played it in almost 20 years, but I still remember liking how the melody is arranged on the strings, how it picks up momentum and builds to the finish. Very satisfying to play.

Something about that tuning scratches a very deep itch.

It's a difficult piece, no doubt. I never did learn to play all of it, primarily because of all the harmonics in it. I could never get those to sound the way they should. Plus, I only owned one guitar and dropping to DADGAD all the time was a pain. If you want to learn to play DADGAD well, you really need another instrument dedicated solely to that tuning.

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by Ed66

Mark Hanson did an excellent version of Little Martha; technically it's DADF#AD but its close enough to count. I think it was in Acoustic Guitar magazine a few years ago.

Mark’s original Drake’s Passage is another one that sounds wonderful, is not difficult, and is super fun to play. You can get the tab at www.markhansonguitar.com. AGF’er Wrighty recently posted an excellent performance of it on the Show and Tell forum.