tunetheory

Open tunings 101

DADGAD

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TuneTheory Pro tuning

DADGAD is the modal tuning of Celtic and modern fingerstyle guitar. The open strings give a suspended D that is neither major nor minor, which is why it suits drones, melody over a bass, and harmony that never quite resolves.

Tune to it in TuneTheory

  1. Open the Instrument tuner.
  2. Tap the capsule at the top (it reads Guitar · Standard) and choose DADGAD.
  3. The retune guide shows which way each string moves. Tune to D2 A2 D3 G3 A3 D4; each string pill turns teal when it lands.

Already close to something and not sure what? Tap What am I tuned to? and the app names the tuning from your open strings.

History and origins

DADGAD came to prominence through British and Irish players in the 1960s, above all Davy Graham with “She Moved Through the Fair,” and later Pierre Bensusan, who has played almost nothing else since. The suspended sound invites drones and moving inner voices.

Genres and artists

  • Celtic and folk accompaniment with droning bass
  • Modern fingerstyle and percussive acoustic
  • Film and world music textures built on ringing open strings

Also heard from Andy McKee, Jimmy Page (Kashmir and Black Mountain Side are in DADGAD), and a generation of fingerstyle players after them.

Core grips

Dsus4Open strings
0‑0‑0‑0‑0‑0
DAdd the third
0‑0‑4‑2‑0‑0
GTop‑string triad
x‑x‑x‑0‑2‑0
AOver the open A
x‑0‑2‑2‑4‑x

Frets run low string to high. Every chord in D major, D mixolydian, and D minor, with the notes named on the strings, is on the chord chart page.

Songs to learn

  • Davy Graham, “She Moved Through the Fair.” The DADGAD vocabulary everyone starts from.
  • Pierre Bensusan, “The Last Pint.” Harmony moving over drones.
  • Andy McKee, “Drifting.” Percussive technique in a related open tuning.

Watch

Davy Graham, who is usually credited with bringing DADGAD to the guitar.

Pierre Bensusan: melody moving over ringing drones.

Andy McKee’s percussive playing, built on open strings.

About Davy Graham

Davy Graham (1940–2008) was a British guitarist whose mix of folk, jazz, and North African music helped define modern fingerstyle. He arrived at DADGAD trying to play along with oud music in Morocco, and it gave the guitar a way to accompany modal melodies with ringing drones. Most of what followed in Celtic and fingerstyle guitar owes him something.

Further listening: She Moved Through the Fair, live (DADGAD)

Setup and practice tips

  • Let the open D and A strings ring, and voice triads on the top three strings above them.
  • An alternating bass on the 6th and 4th strings carries a melody on strings 1 to 3.
  • Twenty minutes is plenty: five on drones, ten on triad moves, five on melody.

DADGAD chord charts