Exploring DADGAD Tuning for Guitar

Let's explore DADGAD tuning.

http://guitarteacher.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/kashmir-dadgad-tuning/

http://hspeek.home.xs4all.nl/dadgad/examples.html

http://www.guitarlessonworld.com/lessons/dadgad.htm

http://www.guitarchordsmagic.com/guitar-chord-finder.html

http://www.celticguitarmusic.com/dadgad.htm

http://mystro2b.edublogs.org/category/dadgad/

http://www.thebradyacademyofmusic.com/blog/2011/06/26/DADGAD-chord-chart-PDF.aspx

Some great Websites to Help with Music Theory and Songwriting

These are two websites I'll be referencing a lot. The first of which is an awesome site with a great chord and scale finder. What I really like about this particular tool is that you can easily changing the tuning of the guitar and this utility shows you the new scale and chord voicings for that tuning.

Guitar Chords Magic - Guitar Chords Finder.

Here is a D Major Chord in Standard Tuning EADGBE.

Here is a D Major Chord in Open G Tuning DGDGBD.

How this has really been helpful to me as a novice guitar player is helping to learn the scales of the key I am playing in, which brings me to my next goto website.

Bob Craypoe's Dr.Psychotic, Strike A Chord.

Here specifically I'm looking at Bob's overview Chords in the Key Of G Major. Below you can see how Bob breaks down the Key of G Major and the chords in it!

So, now I take the Chords in the Key of G Major, pick two and practice to come up with a simple rhythm track. In the example above, I've chosen the chords A Minor and D Major (these are two of the primary chords used in the song "In God's Country" by U2).

Once I've got that recorded I go back to Guitar Chords Magic - Guitar Chords Finder. I now select the scale of G Major to see what notes I can play as a solo or melody on top of the Amin/Dmaj rhythm part I just played and looped. I can play any of the notes on the fretboard below and be "in tune" with the rhythm part I just played of the two chords Dmaj and Amin.

And so finally, I'll copy and paste the Scale from Guitar Chords Magic into the Chord Sheet from Bob Craypoe for a one page "cheat sheet" for playing in the Key of G major.

The result of this exercise is the song in the Soundcloud and YouTube links below, "Manhattan Sunset." In another post I'll discuss the production of the song (such as it is).

Sonar X1 : The "0" Bar and Markers Problem

I've been using Sonar recording software since version 6 in 2007. I really enjoy it and in fact find it to be a largely underrated platform for music creation. I tend not to be evangelical or obsessive about software or platforms (mac or pc). To me, these are all just tools and one should use the tools that best get the job done and aid in productivity and inspiration.

One of my pet peeves with Sonar is that projects start on the "1" bar, so any song that requires a soft lead in before the down beat of the first note is truncated. The obvious solution would be to just start on bar number "2" but this brings with it the awkwardness of having to constantly compensate for bar counts. For example, instead of 16 measures ending at bar 17, I'd have to remind myself that the first 16 measures actually end on bar 18. And, if I want to add four bars to that, instead of landing on bar 24 as would be normal, I now am ending on bar 25. Although this is not the end of the world, it is also a hassle I don't want to have to do throughout an entire project.

The second pet peeve in Sonar is the lack of song markers that are common in other programs to help quickly and easily see the different sections of a song, such as verse and chorus. By having these clear and easy to see markers the song writing processes is a lot more fluid by having a visual reference to the song parts.

Well, lucky day. In a couple of quick steps it's more/less easy to visually solve both of these problems.

1) Record just a second of audio, in any track. 
2) Insert a Midi Track as Track "One" in your project.
3) Drag the audio clip to the midi track.
4) Using the trim tool extend the audio track.
5) Using the trim tool now truncate or trim the head of the audio track so no audio waveform is visible. 

You now have a basic marker from which you can copy/past for each part of your song and then colot code using the clip info in the tab.

In this first screen cap you can see the colored song parts start on bar #2 and represent the 8-16 measure parts of the song. Clicking on any of the "maker blocks" allows for quick and easy looping of that section.

In this second screen cap you can see a close up of the project starting on bar 1, however the markers start on bar 2. Because the markers are in sections that can be easily looped and are also in standard counts of 8-16 measures they make navigating the non-standard count of the project starting on bar 2 simple.

I hope that if you are Sonar user you find this tip helpful on your own projects. I find the use of markers in this way to be a more elegant solution than Sonar's stock marker tool.

It's Not Cheating, It's Music...

I've always found it interesting this idea of "cheating" in music. The idea that there's one way to do things and if you don't do it that way, you are are cheating. I understand this if one is to be a conservatory trained professional musician. There should be standards and there is a right way of doing things. This should be celebrated.

However, there is another reality, that has it's origins in the DIY and Punk movements. Just go for it, make some beautiful noise. Have a humble beginning. I've always been a fan of Brian Eno's non-judgmental approach to music. I've read quotes of him saying that he's not a "musician" but rather an audio experimentalist. I like that. It's liberating.

The reason I bring this up is there are many different ways to approach music. Not all of us are going to be gifted players. Some of us need all the help we can get the squeeze what talent we have from our fingertips. Therefore, I don't really believe in musical cheating. It's music. We all have limitations.

To this degree, and reference again back to Brian Eno I believe there is an Oblique Strategy card that states something to the effect of, "Honor thy mistake as hidden intention." I'll take that a step farther and say, "Honor thy limitations as deliberate intention." This is liberating. Work aggressively within your limitations.

I say use the tools available. Modern computers make it possible to record in short pieces. Some argue this makes us lazy, and as much as that may be true, it also makes us inventive (hopefully). But more so than the aid of modern technology, I say reduce the infinite possibilities to only recording on 8 tracks. Use that limitation to force growth in other areas. Danish filmmaker Lars Von Trier created an entire cinematic movement by enforcing creative limitations with his Dogme 95 Rules.

As a beginning guitar player making liberal use of alternate tunings, capo's, and other tools can aid in the enjoyment of making music while possessing modest skills. From modest foundation of these tools we can build a greater understanding and enjoyment of music itself.

So as I write more posts I'll be making note of these tools. Mostly these are my discoveries, on my journey of playing and recording. Maybe they will be of some use to you as well in demystifying your own learning process.