Saturday, 24 May 2008
Pierre Bensusan explains DADGAD
Watch the video and you'll learn all about DADGAD tuning. Pierre describes this open tuning as 'modal'. A mode is a variation on the standard scales, for instance, what we recognise as 'do, ray, me, far' is a major scale, while if you start with 'ray'(the second note) you have a mode based on the major scale. DADGAD makes modal playing a little easier because it has no 'third'.
To understand this, you must know a little about chord theory. Unfortunately, many, if not most, beginner guitarists just learn chord shapes, that is, where to put the fingers on the fretboard without learning what the notes are. The key of 'C' has the notes C D E F G A B C and we can number them one to eight (which is why we call the gap from one C to another C an 'octave'). To play a major chord, you need the first, the third and the fifth of the scale. It's really that simple. If you've ever wondered why we chords called B maj 7 or E7 flat 9 or Asuspended4, now you know why. These chords have extra notes in addition to the three needed to make a simple chord.
Now in DADGAD, we have three Ds and two As or the three firsts and two fifths in the key of D. Knowing that the scale of D major is D E F# G A B C# D we can see that on the guitar the third(F#) is missing. The third note also defines the chord as major or minor - drop the third down a semitone, or one fret, to change the chord to minor. So DADGAD is neither major nor minor, thus making it a little easier to pick out melodies in different modes, whilst letting the open strings ring freely. Pierre talks about Scottish bagpipes and this is a good example.
To play a D major or a D minor is easy - you only need to add one note! More in my next post.
Monday, 12 May 2008
Pierre Bensusan - The DADGAD master
I'll talk a lot about Pierre Bensusan on this site - he's my favourite guitarist! I can only dreqm about having this much talent, but there are still lots of great things to play that are easier. That's the great thing about open tuning - beautiful sounds can just roll of the fingers.
About Open Tuned Guitar
Welcome to the wonderful world of open tuned guitar. On this site, you will learn how to tune your guitar differently to the standard EADGBE tuning to make the most incredible music.
If you've only been playing the guitar for a short time, you may be surprised to learn that a lot of the guitar music you hear doesn't use standard tuning. Famous rock and folk guitarists like Joni Mitchell and Jimmy Page tweak their guitars to explore and exploit the full potential of their instruments. I advise you to stick with standard tuning until you've mastered the basics, then have a look at what possiblities are available to you.
Open tuned guitar is nothing new. Even in the early days of modern classical, guitarists would re-tune their guitars in order to reproduce music that had been originally written for lute or even older instruments. To play lute music without too many difficult fingerings, the third string, G, has to be tuned down to F#. Although strictly speaking this is an alternative tuning, not an open tuning, this shows you that there is no obligation to stick with the EADGBE tuning.
What's the difference between alternative tuning and open tuning?
I would say that alternative tuning covers anything that is not standard tuning. Open tuning is a way of tuning the guitar that allows the open strings to make harmonies or very often full chords. If you're a jazz musician, any combination of notes can make a chord (!), but more generally, if by playing the open strings you can hear a three-note chord - that's open tuning.
Even the simple drop-D tuning, DADGBE gives us a two note harmony - the first and the fifth in the key of D or the first and the fourth in the key of A. Of course, even standard tuning could be described as open tuning for the sixth, third, second and first strings sound an E minor chord, while the fourth, third and second give us a G major.
So if standard tuning is an open tuning, we could say that all open tunings are alternative tunings except standard tuning.
You'll need to develop your ear in order to move from one tuning to another. Electronic tuners are useful, but it's not good to be dependent on them. I've used three or four different tunings in the course of a two hour concert - if my tuner had stopped working for any reason, I'd have been in trouble!
If you've only been playing the guitar for a short time, you may be surprised to learn that a lot of the guitar music you hear doesn't use standard tuning. Famous rock and folk guitarists like Joni Mitchell and Jimmy Page tweak their guitars to explore and exploit the full potential of their instruments. I advise you to stick with standard tuning until you've mastered the basics, then have a look at what possiblities are available to you.
Open tuned guitar is nothing new. Even in the early days of modern classical, guitarists would re-tune their guitars in order to reproduce music that had been originally written for lute or even older instruments. To play lute music without too many difficult fingerings, the third string, G, has to be tuned down to F#. Although strictly speaking this is an alternative tuning, not an open tuning, this shows you that there is no obligation to stick with the EADGBE tuning.
What's the difference between alternative tuning and open tuning?
I would say that alternative tuning covers anything that is not standard tuning. Open tuning is a way of tuning the guitar that allows the open strings to make harmonies or very often full chords. If you're a jazz musician, any combination of notes can make a chord (!), but more generally, if by playing the open strings you can hear a three-note chord - that's open tuning.
Even the simple drop-D tuning, DADGBE gives us a two note harmony - the first and the fifth in the key of D or the first and the fourth in the key of A. Of course, even standard tuning could be described as open tuning for the sixth, third, second and first strings sound an E minor chord, while the fourth, third and second give us a G major.
So if standard tuning is an open tuning, we could say that all open tunings are alternative tunings except standard tuning.
You'll need to develop your ear in order to move from one tuning to another. Electronic tuners are useful, but it's not good to be dependent on them. I've used three or four different tunings in the course of a two hour concert - if my tuner had stopped working for any reason, I'd have been in trouble!
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