DADGAD backup chord patterns and demonstrations

Trad Irish Music
1

Hi y’all,

To help out the neophyte session DADGAD backup player, I’ve put together a
little summary of the chord patterns I typically use for backup and
posted it, along with some MP3 demonstration files on:

http://members.cox.net/eskin/DADGAD.html

The charts show the basic chord shapes I use for major, dorian, and
mixolydian modes as well as a few “cool tricks” and single finger
stuff for quiet backup of higher keyed tunes (jigs in G or A major,
for example).

I typically use a capo for keys other than D major/minor and B minor,
but of course it is useful to be able to play backup for all keys with
no capo for those tunes that change key or mode between parts.

Note that the charts are shown using I, IV, VI, style chord notation,
and are relative to the current capo position.

Of course, one still has to be able to hear the root key and mode by
ear, and know how the tunes go to anticipate the key and mode changes.
Every session backup player should also be a melody player IHMO.

Enjoy and let me know if its useful to you! So far, it seems to be
working for me and the rest of my session buddies here in San Diego.

Cheers,

Michael Eskin
http://www.michaeleskin.com

2

Well done, Eskin. It’s all Greek to me, as I’m just one of those people who get a tune in their ear and reproduce it through various bits of wood or metal with holes bored in them. But we do get people asking from time to time what they should do to accompany the tunes, and I now have somewhere to point them towards that looks pretty credible to my untutored eye.

3

Well, I suppose we can continue this thing here, but, well, I’ll be the first to admit that I tend to read only the whistle board… wouldn’t have seen it otherwise.

Thanks again. I’ve run through the scales in that PDF… very nice work. Now if I could just get those chords drilled in enough that I could play along with something…

  • Ben
4

Just had a quick look and I like what I see and hear. Thanks eskin. For a guitar style which seems to be used a lot these days, there is very little good material to help someone who wants to learn but needs a good guide and good explanations.

I really liked that you chose only a few very useful chords rather than everything under the sun.

I also liked that you recommended the capo for keys other than D. Quite a few players and tutors recommend that you play everything without capo. I frankly can’t see the point of that. One reason you play in DADGAD is to get lots of sympathetic resonance and useful drones which can be easily mixed with major, minor or 3rd-less chords. You get none of this if you play in, say, F major without capo. So, why bother? You might as well stay in standard tuning.

This might be outside your brief, eskin, but I wish someone would say why we play in DADGAD. People sometimes mumble a few things along the lines I’ve just mentioned but I haven’t seen anybody spell out the other reasons. I think there are two reasons that have to do with mixing melody and counterpoint with chordal work. First, it’s really easy to play melody in octaves all over the neck whilst still getting useful drones and/or resonance. Second, it’s really easy to play melody in unison on adjacent G and A strings, again with useful drones and/or resonance. I think that’s about it, but what further reason would you need? No other tuning would give you this unless based on the same principles.

I think this really useful and sensible tuning has had about it an air of mystery that is confusing and thoroughly unhelpful. Great to see that you are doing your bit to make it accessible eskin.

[ This Message was edited by: Wombat on 2003-01-28 09:57 ]

5

Hi Wombat,

I’ve always loved the sound of DADGAD backup for exactly the reasons you describe. The chords generally drone against the root pedal tone of the tune, providing a harmonic floor to the music, much like the drones of the Uilleann pipes.

My hands are fairly small and I found the standard EADGBE tuning chord shapes too hard on my fingers. The DADGAD shapes are very simple in comparison, I think. Of course I know many people who back with standard tuning, both have their place.

I came to DADGAD guitar from the irish bouzouki, tuned GDAE, and am already a melody player on several instruments, which I think is mandatory for anyone taking up session backup. The zouk chords also tended towards the no-thirds open 5ths, so it was mostly a matter of taking the same idea and putting it on the guitar, with the help of other friends who play and useful sites like Han Speek’s.

Glad its useful to someone!

Cheers,

Michael

6

Nice page, Michael. Very useful info there. I’ve been exploring DADGAD for about 2 years now. While I’m called on to play with traditional tuning most of the time, I’ve been finding a that a shortcut capo lets me play in psuedo DADGAD (EBEABE) tuning at the drop of a hat. I’ve been using a drop D capo, too.

I know this is a trad forum, however I play mostly sacred music. Have you seen any DADGAD arrangements of sacred music anywhere? Maybe you could point me to them. Thanks.

7

As I am someone absolutely new to the guitar, I bought a good used guitar as my Christmas present to myself, and knows almost nothing of playing, either in western classical playing or DADGAD, I would like to thank Michael for posting this page.

Michael, I have gone to your website many a time looking for things and have enjoyed your patience and thoughtfulness and knowledge towards playing music. But I will have to teach myself DADGAD, no one plays that tuning in this area, and it’s Irish dance music I will someday be accompanying.

Wombat thanks for asking my question, you put it better than I could, and Michael I would also like to know “why” you would play with such a tuning verses thee other tuning.

Again thanks for posting this information.

MarkB

8

So to answer the question “Why play DADGAD at all” here’s an explanation.

With DADGAD, in general, the chords have the bottom string ringing out the root of the chord. Hard to get that same sound, for example on a D chord (the most common chord in Irish music) with EADGBE. Take a listen to what John Doyle does on Solas albums. He’s using drop D generally is my understanding (DADGBE) and uses the damped D string to give the music that pulse, like a bodhran tuned to D. Drop D has its advantages as well for combined backup and melody playing.

Lets take a look at some of the chord shapes I use, for example for D Major backup:

D Major -
Fretted: 050020
Notes: DDDAAD

So that’s a power D chord with no third. How handy, can use that for both major and minor, sound great.

For the G chord (IV):
Fretted: 550000
Notes: GDDGAD

So that’s a G chord with no third and a high A (giving a 9th suspension that sounds great). Lots of D strings reinforcing the D tonal root of the tune. You can also fret the A string at 2 if you want a full G chord, but I like the sound of the A in the chord, reinforces the D drones.

For the A chord (V):
Fretted: 777000
Notes: AEAGAD

Wow, all kinds of stuff going on here. Its an A chord, again, no third, with a G giving a 7th sound and the high D drone keeping some continuity of the tonal center on D. If you want a full A chord, you can fret the G string at 6, giving a C#, but that tends to be dissonant against the high D, so I leave it out.

If you write out the rest of the shapes, you’ll see that have similar attributes. They tend to leave out the third, and generally have either 7 or 9s added for color and coolness.

Of course, with the capo, you can put these same sounds in any key. Notice the nearly complete lack of thirds in the chords and the droning strings reinforcing the tonal center of the tune.

Here’s the same thing for a dorian pattern.

D minor :
Fretted: 050020
Notes: DDDAAD

Looks familiar, no?

C major:
Fretted: 035500
Notes: DCGCAD

That’s a C chord, no third, droning against an open 5th D chord.

B-flat major:
Fretted: 01 33 00
Notes: DBbFBbAD

or

Fretted: 8 88 700
Notes: BbFBbDAD

Both are Bb major chords sounding against a droning D power chord with no third. How convenient that the D is also the third of the Bb chord.

Again, notice that there is always a D drone throughout all the patterns, reinforcing the pedal tone of the tunes.

One could do the same thing with standard tuning with more complicated chord shapes and fingerings, but DADGAD make this really easy and sounds very appropriate for modal scale based Irish music.

Hope that makes things a bit more clear… :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Michael

9

On 2003-01-28 11:10, MarkB wrote:


Wombat thanks for asking my question, you put it better than I could, and Michael I would also like to know “why” you would play with such a tuning verses thee other tuning.

Again thanks for posting this information.

MarkB

Mark, I think that Michael’s reasons are pretty much the ones I gave. He’ll soon tell us if they’re not. What you might have missed though is the connection with bouzouki. I mentioned as an advantage over regular tuning the ability to play octaves and unisons with great ease. Now, since a bouzouki is strung in courses, you always get unisons on the bottom two courses and either unisons or octaves on the top two, depending on how you choose to string them. So, Michael was pointing out that the melody advantages I mentioned are intimately related to the ability of DADGAD to mimic this aspect of the bouzouki. I hope this clears things up a bit Mark.

Just one other point on the connection between DADGAD and bouzouki. Although I am familiar with standard GDAE 'zouk tuning from playing mandolin, and find it really good on the mandolin for melody playing, on 'zouk I prefer GDAD tuning which gets those pipe-like drones going there as well. That’s nice I think whether you’re playing chords on 'zouk or counterpoint. I think a lot of Irish players share my preference.

Gentle nudge Michael: why not add a few paragraphs on your site to clear up the points we’ve been agreeing on? I think newcomers would really appreciate it. I know I would have. I had to play melody and chords together in DADGAD and analyse my arrangements before it dawned on me why this tuning works so well. I had no idea why none of the books or web sites I was familiar with could tell me.

Hint for beginners. Richard Thompson has a CD and instruction book on Homespun. Just learn and analyse his brilliant and beautiful arrangement of Banish Misfortune and anything you don’t follow in what Michael and I have been saying will be a lot clearer.

10

Thanks Wombat, I’m not buying a Zouk!! But it does help. What I will do at the session tonight is ask the guitarists that show up if they use DADGAD or not, and take it from there.

So that’s the ringing sound I hear on CDs

I have order MadforTrad’s CD-ROM on Irish guitar and a Mel Bay book/CD on Irish Guitar accompaniment. Usually pretty good a figuring things out over time.

Thanks again Micheal, and Wombat.

MarkB

11

Here is some more DADGAD chords → http://www.geocities.com/celtictunes/chords1.htm

…and a useful chord chart for standard tuning → http://www.guitarnotes.com/guitar/notes2/ultimate.pdf

INSERT GENERIC SEGUE WARNING HERE ~~~~~~~

Since Bouzouki was brought up, have you guys seen these sexy electric e-zouks by Green Man Humming? → http://www.greenmanhumming.com/lutherie/catalog.html

Gary - suffering from E-zouk GAS.

12

On 2003-01-28 13:15, Gary wrote:


Since Bouzouki was brought up, have you guys seen these sexy electric e-zouks by Green Man Humming? → > http://www.greenmanhumming.com/lutherie/catalog.html >

Gary - suffering from E-zouk GAS.

Gary, in about a week I take delivery of a handmade 'zouk that looks very much like the no 2 model here but which is wired like a Stratocaster. Get’s my GAS going something terrible too. The guy who built mine, Graham McDonald has supplied Donal Lunny with 'zouks I believe.

13

Wombat, I am green with envy!

That is VERY cool!

14

OK zoukheads, take it outside… this here is a DADGAD thread… :slight_smile:

Michael

15

Sorry guys but another zoukplayer here- I’ve just mailed my check to Phil Crump ( http://www.pwcrumpco.com ) for my new zouk which should be here in a week or so. He originally forcast delivery in August or so… I can’t wait. I absolutely love GDAD tuning for backup- its hard to make myself re-learn dadgad on a guitar since im so used to standard! Thanks for taking the time to make the site- I’ll most definately be using it in the future. Cheers, William

16

On 2003-01-28 12:04, eskin wrote:
Take a listen to what John Doyle does on Solas albums. He’s using drop D generally is my understanding (DADGBE) and uses the damped D string to give the music that pulse, like a bodhran tuned to D.

I think there’s something else going on in John Doyle’s playing, Michael. I’ve heard that he substitutes a bass guitar D string for a guitar string on the 6th string. Cheaper than paying a bass player, I suppose.

Now, remember, you were the one who introduced the bouzouki to this thread. :slight_smile: Yes, I know, back then it was on topic. We 'zoukis did get a bit unruly there for a while. :wink:

Now, Michael, what about that hint? Those of us who are into DADGAD have probably collectively said enough on this thread to explain to newbies why we do it. That information would look very nice on your site.

cheers,
John

17

On 2003-01-28 20:53, theweirdscotsman wrote:
Sorry guys but another zoukplayer here- I’ve just mailed my check to Phil Crump ( > http://www.pwcrumpco.com > ) for my new zouk which should be here in a week or so.

Congratulations! You"ll love it. He makes great instruments. I would like to have one.

Steve

18

Back on topic…

I sometimes do fills in standard tuning using this as a basis for a major scale:

e-023
b-013
g-02
D-X
A-X
E-X

This example in is G. But, just barring the 3 strings at the 5th fret gives you a major scale in C, 7th fret D, etc. It makes playing in any key familiar territory. Can you post any scales & patterns for DADGAD?

Gary



[ This Message was edited by: Gary on 2003-01-29 12:27 ]

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On 2003-01-29 12:23, Gary wrote:
Back on topic…

I sometimes do fills in standard tuning using this as a basis for a major scale:

e-023
b-013
g-02
D-X
A-X
E-X

Gary, you can easily extend that pattern down through the bottom three strings giving you two octaves without having to move your hand. The scale finishes on E—3

20

On 2003-01-29 12:36, Wombat wrote:
Gary, you can easily extend that pattern down through the bottom three strings giving you two octaves without having to move your hand. The scale finishes on E—3

Yes, I know that and do that. I was just pointing out the basic scale concept for example. Presently, I do not have time to ‘fret’ over mapping out the DADGAD fretboard. I have a week to learn FIVE new songs and that’s my priority at the moment.

My worship pastor (bless his heart) is a merciless task master! He gave me a CD, piano/melody charts and I have to work out my own guitar parts by Feb 8. :frowning:

Oops, sorry! That was OT.

Gary

A society wedding band is getting it together on the stand, waiting for the crowd to come in.

The leader is taking the time to exercise his authority.

"I'm sick of you guys showing up at the last minute. When I say eight o'clock, I want the music to start at eight. I don't want you walking into the room at eight!"

The drummer gives him a "rim shot".

"And I also expect you morons to dress like you want to be here. Tuxedo means tuxedo, not the upper half of an old black suit with a bow tie."

The drummer gives him a "rim shot".

"... and shoes;  Not black sneakers!"

"rim shot"

"... and a clean shirt and a shave.  I don't want any bums on my band!"

"rim shot, crash".

"And if I find out who's making that noise, he's fired!"