DADGAD tuning

DADGAD tuning notes and frequencies

Sound and genres

Strummed open, DADGAD is a Dsus4 chord: D, G and A with no third. Because there is no major or minor third built in, the same open strings sit comfortably under D major, D minor and D Mixolydian melodies, and the one or two notes you fret decide the mood.

Strings 3 and 2 are only a whole step apart (G and A), so scale notes can be split across strings and left ringing. Melodies that alternate fretted notes with open strings overlap like a harp, and the open Ds and As drone underneath.

• Celtic
• Folk
• Fingerstyle
• Acoustic
• Ambient

How to tune to DADGAD

1. From standard, three strings move, all down two semitones: string 6 from E2 to D2, string 2 from B3 to A3 and string 1 from E4 to D4.
2. Strings 5, 4 and 3 (A, D and G) stay as they are.
3. Tune each lowered string slightly flat, then bring it up to the note.
4. If the tuner reads a string you are lowering as one of its neighbors, turn Detect String off and tap that string's peg.
5. Check by ear: strings 6, 4 and 1 are D in three octaves, and strings 5 and 2 are A an octave apart. Every pair should ring without beating.
6. Finish with the final recheck pass in the tune-up checklist.

Changing from standard tuning

String by string, from standard tuning. Pick a different starting tuning to see its changes, or open the tuning changer.

Chord shapes in DADGAD

Start with three: the open Dsus4; D5, with string 3 at fret 2 doubling the A; and G, with string 6 at fret 5, string 2 at fret 2 and string 5 muted. Most DADGAD chords are partial shapes like these: fret one or two strings and let the open Ds and As drone.

For D major, add F♯ by fretting string 4 at fret 4 over the D5 shape; for D minor, fret string 4 at fret 3 instead. Leaving the third out, as the D5 does, keeps the chord open to either mood.

Keys, capos and strings

DADGAD is at home in D and works well in G, because the open strings contain G's root and fifth. With a capo at fret 2 the same shapes play in E, and at fret 5 in G with a brighter, higher voice.

Only three strings are lowered, so DADGAD is gentle on any guitar and a standard set works. It is also close to other tunings: drop D needs two strings changed, double drop D one, and open D only string 3 lowered a semitone to F♯.

Chord shapes in DADGAD

Songs in DADGAD

• Kashmir — Led Zeppelin (1975)Source: Guitar World, 2025
• White Summer — The Yardbirds (1967)Source: Wikipedia (Jimmy Page, 1977 interview)
• Poles Apart — Pink Floyd (1994)Source: Wikipedia (cites Guitar World, 1994)
• I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow — The Soggy Bottom Boys (2000), capo 3Source: Guitar World, 2025
• This Life — Curtis Stigers & the Forest Rangers (2008), capo 4Source: Guitar World, 2025