(aka derrymacash, guesting cos I'm at work)

Every sympathy there! My wife used to like folk music till she married me and realised that I have a tendency to spend every available moment (and some that shouldn't be available!!) noodling away on my mandolin or bouzouki (mildly annoying) or tenor banjo (completely maddening).

Now and again I get one of my guitars out (blow dust off) and there's a huge sigh of relief.

Never tried the GDAD tuning (use GDAE on all my four-coursers). But it's great that you've recently taken up the zouk. The world needs more folk and traditional musicians!!

If you DID decide to try out GDAE, there's a wealth of tunes tabbed out on www.mandolincafe.com which you wouldn't need to adapt.

Good on ye!