The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #174269 Message #4227336
Posted By: Robert B. Waltz
18-Aug-25 - 02:08 PM
Thread Name: Chord Req: Lizzie Lindsay in DADGAD tuning
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Lizzie Lindsay in DADGAD tuning
This may not be welcome, but a general comment on DADGAD tuning:
This is an extremely modal tuning. You use it only in the key of D, and not even in the relative minor (Bm). When I suggested above that you need only three chords in DADGAD, this is generally true -- even for songs that use more chords in other tunings.
But DADGAD isn't really a tuning where one should think in chords. Note that the basic D chord in DADGAD needs only one finger; it's chorded 000200. And this gives you the notes DADAAD. A modal D -- no third.
Which means it has drone strings everywhere. It's basically a mountain dulcimer tuning. You get maximum "Scottishness" out of it by not playing chords. You play the melody and let the strings drone.
As an experiment, I just played through two of my favorite DADGAD tunes, "Bonnie Susie Cleland" and "A Man's A Man for A' That," and was fingering only one string for about 75% of both songs. There are times when you need more (particularly for the IV chord, which is the hardest in DADGAD). But for notes that sound on the I or V chords, it's usually better to just play the melody and let the drones sound.