Since I am now a very happy owner of 2 very good guitars that I love, I plan to tune one of them to DADGAD and attempt to learn this tuning. It’s complete new to me.

Just want to get some idea from you guys with experience in DADGAD.

1. Do I need to restrung my guitar to heavier string? The strings feel kinda loose and buzz very easily when tuned down. Do I need Mediums? Heard that GHS True Medium was designed for DADGAD. Anyone have any experience with it?

2. Any books you would recommend for learning DADGAD? I think I need to learn from the scratch. I.e. Chords and scales etc.

3. Which guitar do you think should be use for DADGAD? Will my Collings OM1A suits better? Or my Kiso? My Kiso is warmer, bass heavier, and more overtones and sustain than the Collings but don’t have the clarity, balance, projection and piano like quality.

4. I have always love Pierre Bensusan especially “Wu Wei” and am now starting with this song. Should I learn this song by TAB now or should I learn the basics first just like what I did years ago when I start to learn how to play? (Chord/Scales etc.)

5. Anyone has tried the 2 DADGAD video by LJ? Are they for DADGAD beginners?

I am hoping a new tuning can explorer a new world to me.. I already have the excitement and feeling of learning a new instrument completely!

I am getting 2 of LJ's videos for Christmas, one standard tuning fingerstyle and the other DADGAD fingerstyle. I can let you know what I think in a couple weeks.

As far as learning goes, I tuned to it and just noodled around for a while, just doing my own thing. Then I found the TAB for "Different Times" at LJ's web site. For the past couple months that's all I've played, and actually, only the first page of the tab. The MP3 sample only had that much and I need the recording and the TAB. The "Different Times" CD will also be under the Christmas tree.

I posted this over at AG, but I'll copy it here because I'm proud of it. I recorded a sample of my attempts at the beginning of Different Times, a few weeks ago on my Martin 00-18 and yesterday on my Collings OM3C. The Martin is fabulous, but I had not practiced as much then. The Collings is even better than the Martin, and I had a few weeks more practice. Here's the link:
http://www.rockerbob.com/Keithmp3.html

I had never tuned to DADGAD before but tried for the first time last night. It's a whole different world for sure! I operate best when I can get a good visual of the fretboard and DADGAD puts every string in a much more musically structured layout. Once I got comfortable with this new layout it was pretty easy to come up with compositions that sound interesting, something that took a bit more work in standard tuning. I want to spend some more time with DADGAD and find out how quickly I can improve my technique because I was getting a little bored with standard tuning (most likely due to a lack of new material to play, or a lack of attempting to search for new material). Like Ed I was getting some buzzing when I got aggressive, but I actually like the sound of a D2H in general when tuned to DADGAD. FWIW, I've been using Marting SP .12s and they still sound pretty great tuned down like this.

I've now tried DADGAD on my three main acoustics Collings OM3C, Martin 00-18 and HD-28. All three sound great in this tuning. The HD-28 with mediums (.013) sound great strumming big chords. I have a new pop/rock tune in the works using DADGAD on the HD-28 for the rhythm track.

So far I haven't strayed from the key of D, but that OK. I like D just fine.

I'm learning this tuning right now. Up till now I'd only known two DADGAD tunes - Doug Smith's Renewal and Pat Kirtley's Rural Life. I've decided to learn more after re-learning them and recently learnt LJ's Bob's Your Uncle and Al Petteway's Waltz For Rebecca. Wu Wei is also on my list of DADGAD tunes to learn and I would jump right into it and just get used to the hand positions, etc. if I were you, Ed. You already play LJ's arrangement of Yesterday so you should have some familiarity with the tuning.

I'm currently using lights on my Ryan Cathedral because I also play in standard and Drop-D. Kevin Ryan does a set specially for fingerstyle. The strings are made by D'Addario and are a mixture of medium and lights and felt pretty good when I used them.

Good luck going down the non-standard path - there might be no turning back now

Gerry

Try this site

http://www.modhran.com/

I play quite a bit in DADGAD. Here's what I've found:

Most guitars seem to sound pretty good in DADGAD, including my SJ and 0002H. I've got mediums on the SJ and lights on the 000, and I've never felt the need to change strings due to the lower tension of DADGAD.

Using DADGAD shouldn't change string tension all that much...in fact, that's one of the great things about it-- the 5th, 4th and 3rd strings remain unchanged, giving you some reference points for chord formations and scale patterns.

Two books I've found useful:

The Guitar Book, by Pierre Bensusan, which is really a course of instruction in playing in DADGAD, and also includes some poems, photos and even a few recipes. (Get the wire-bound version, if you can...the traditionally bound edition won't stay open on your music stand unless you force the binding, and then it starts falling apart.)

The Irish DADGAD Book, by Sarah McQuade, has some handy chord charts for the tuning, and a lot of nice Irish tunes. Good section on how a guitarist should play when backing up Irish musicians, too. (ie, "Never back a tune you don't know," which is great advice.)

And although this isn't really a DADGAD thing, while you're exploring DADGAD, get into Martin Simpson's and El McMeen's music. Both put out tab books that feature songs in non-standard tunings.

El's favorite tuning, CGDGAD, is a fairly close relative of DADGAD, and it's an understatement to say that he's written some beautiful arrangements (check out "Star of the County Down").

Martin uses a pretty wide spectrum of tunings, including DADGAD. His arrangements and original compositions are great, and should keep you busy for quite a while. His excellent take on "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" is in DADGAD, if I recall correctly.