This site is designed to help those interested in experimenting with alternate guitar tunings, specifically

those tunings used most often in Irish traditional music. The contents could however be useful for anyone
interested in finding out a little more about alternate tunings, their chord positions, scales and background.
The chords and scales presented are meant as a taster, there are of course a myriad of others to be
discovered and played with.

What are alternate tunings?

There are three main groupings within alternate tuning: open, regular and instrumental.
In "Open" tuning, the six strings are tuned to form a single chord when strummed without being fretted.
This makes it easy to play unusual chord progressions by using "droning" (using one tone continuously in
the background behind the tune) Open G plays a G major chord if played open. They are also perfect for
playing harmonics on all six strings at the 5th, 7th and 12th frets. E.g.
Open C C g c g c e
Open D D a d f# a d
Open G D g d g b d
Open A E a c# e a e

In the regular tunings, the strings are tuned uniformly. So chord forms can be moved along the fretboard
like bar chords or sideways which means if you know a few chord forms you know hundreds of chords.
E.g.

Minor Third C D# F# A C D#
All Fourths EADGCF
Aug Fourths C F# C F# C F#
Major Sixth C A F# D# C A

The instrumental tunings are based on the tunings of other instruments like citterns and mandolins. They
offer guitarist interesting new flavours in terms of sounds and combinations. E.g.

Cittern X D G D A d or X D G D G d
Bouzouki X X G D A d or X X G D A e

Why use alternate tunings?

Due to the layout of a fretboard, certain chords and arpeggios are difficult to play in standard tuning but
become much easier in alternate tunings. Certain guitarist also like to free themselves from the same old
chords, chord progressions and melodic possibilities found in standard tuning. Within Traditional Irish
music because the key of D is used so often the 6th string when tuned to E becomes redundant but if tuned
to D it allows for all six strings to be played. Drop D tunings such as Dadgbe, Dadgbd and Dadgad are all
covered and dealt with within this site.

Problem!
As the tuning changes the fretboard changes which means that all the familiar chords, note positions and
scales become utterly useless, its not that they don't exist anymore its just that they have moved and must
be learned again, but remember half the fun is finding new chordal possibilities and combinations on this
new fretboard.

Eadgbe
Eadgbe is the Standard Tuning used on 6 string guitars in western music. In this tuning the first string i.e.
the bottom string is tuned to "e", the 2nd tuned to "b", the 3rd to "g", 4th to "d", 5th to "a" and finally the
6th string which is again tuned to "E".
It is a tuning that dates back to the old Adgbe tuning used in the 17th century on old five string
guitars. Its interval pattern ie the number of notes between the note each string is tuned to is 4-4-4-3-4
(there is a gap of 4 notes or 5 frets between the 6th(E) and 5th(A) string.. E, f, f#, g, g#, A) and similiarly
with the other strings except for the 3rd and 2nd which have 3 between them) in this way other tunings may
look different in terms of the notes strings are tuned to but they may still have the same relationship
between with the same interval pattern between strings. This gives chord positions and patterns for
fingering in Eadgbe a sense of symmetry with simple fingering for many chords and scales without
excessive hand movement.
Eadgbe can be used for all keys and appears quite often on guitars used in Traditional Irish Music
though the fact that many Traditional Irish tunes are in the key of D means that the top E string is often
rendered useless in Eadgbe (hence the use of alternate tunings).
Leading Traditional Irish Guitarists such as Paul Brady (of Planxty fame as well as his own solo
career) has used Eadgbe often in his music, while Micheal O Domhnaill (of the Bothy Band) has also
occasionally used it in his well respected work.

Dadgad
Within Traditional Irish music Dadgad (D modal tuning) is one of the most popular tunings used. It offers
a distinctively tonal sound due to the lack of thirds. It is quite close to Open D major tuning with only the
3rd string differing In Dadgad, the first bottom string is down tuned to "d", the 2nd to "a", the 3rd, 4th and
5th are left at "g", "d" and "a" respectively while the 6th again drops down to "D". Dadgad can be used
most effectively for the keys of A, D and G. Its interval pattern takes the form of 6-4-4-1-4 (there is a gap
of 6 notes or 7 frets between the 6th(D) and 5th(A) string..D, e, f, f#, g, g#, A).
The tunings origin can be dated to the Sixties, british folk guitarists such as Dave Graham and
John Renbourn being some of the first to use it. Dadgad soon became popular due to the three open D
strings which make it easier to accompany tunes in the key of D. It also offers the player the ability to play
easily in other keys using a capo with simple chords structures. The lowered bass string, from E to D, gives
a droning sound that is suited to the tonal flavour of instruments like the fiddle and pipes and allows easy
"droning"(using one tone continously within the rhythm behind the actual tune).
DADGAD tuning is used by many Traditional Irish guitarists such as Randal Bays (US based
traditional guitarist), Ed Boyd (of Flook fame), Daithi Sproule (of Altan and Trian) as well as Mark Kelly
(founder member of Altan) amongst many others.

Dadgbd
Dadgbd or double drop d is one of the newer additions to the stable of tunings used in traditional Irish
music. Dadgbd has its 1st and 6th strings tuned to "D", the 2nd to "b", 3rd to "g", 4th to "d" and 5th to "a".
Dadgbd close to open G tuning Dgdgbd except for the 5th string which is tuned to "a" rather than "g". Its
interval pattern takes the form of 6-4-4-3-2 (there is a gap of 6 notes or 7 frets between the 6th(D) and
5th(A) string..D, e, f, f#, g, g#, A).
In terms of its sound it lies somewhere between Dadgad and Dadgbe while it offers a less modal
sound than Dadgad with more harmonics it still retains the three d notes on the 1st,4nth and 6th strings
allowing for excellent droning. Some guitarists also like the reduced need for a capo.
Traditional Irish guitarists such as Donogh Hennessey (Lunasa), Mark Kelly (Altan) and Frank
Kilkelly (Zumzeaux, The Kimbara Brothers and the Sean Keane band) have been known to often use this
tuning which has become increasingly popular with many acoustic guitarists. In the wider music scene this
tuning has found favour with artists such as Joni Mitchell and Neil Young

Dadgbe
Dadgbe or Drop d tuning is a guitar tuning common across a range of musical styles including blues, slide
guitar, rock and heavy metal but is also popular in Traditional Irish music. It is possibly the most popular
alternate tuning since most chords and scales remain the same as in standard tuning. The only difference
from standard Eadgbe tuning is that the top E string is dropped down to a D giving a 6-4-4-3-4 interval
pattern (there is a gap of 6 notes or 7 frets between the 6th(D) and 5th(A) string..D, e, f, f#, g, g#, A).
Within drop D tuning D chords have a deeper bass root note, making the tuning especially popular
for backing up fiddle tunes in the key of D.
Traditional Irish Guitarists such as Paul Brady (of Planxty fame as well as his own solo career),
John Doyle (of Solas fame), Mark Kelly (founder member of Altan) and Arty McGlynn.

Useful Theory
Within guitar music there are several useful pieces of theory that make guitar playing and the problems
therein a less complicated proposition. Many of these simple concepts can be surprisingly difficult to find
information about online.

Keys
Each instrument has certain keys to which it is most suited, in Traditional Irish Music the keys of D and G
are the most common used. There are however numerous other keys in which to play and guitarist can
move between these keys with relative ease using a simple principle based on scales.

Scales
A scale is a pattern of notes and when these notes are combined together they form chords (notes that
harmonize well together) there are numerous types of scales some more useful and popular than others.
The Major scale pattern can be seen below, it will remain the same for all of the major scales:

I II III IV V VI VII
Major minor minor major major minor diminished

The above pattern can be applied to find every Major Scale for example: the Key of A major would have a
pattern that looks like this:

I II III IV V VI VII
Amaj Bmin C#min Dmaj Emaj F#min G#dim

In the above example we can see the notes that make up the Major Scale of A major but we also have the
basic chord Progressions that make up the Key of A major.
Other scales such as the Natural Minor Scale can be identified using the same method as above but through
substituting the following Minor pattern:

I II III IV V VI VII
Minor dim major minor minor major major

So the A minor chord progression would be:

I II III IV V VI VII
Amin Bdim Cmajor Dminor Eminor Fmajor Gmajor

Transposing chords
If you have noticed above the scales are Roman numerals, these are very important because they allow for
the transposition of chords and melodies between keys. The relationship between the chords can be
retained by simply switching the chords attached to the relevant numerals. In this way a chord progression
consisting of Amaj, Bmin and F#min (I, II and VI) in the Key of A major becomes in the Key of A minor

Amin, Bdim7 and Fmaj (I, II, VI)

And in the Key of D major
Dmaj, Emin and Bmin (I, II, VI).

Chord Scales and Chord Formation

In Irish music diminished chords are not used very often so the chord in the diminished position (VII) of
the scale must undergo a change. Using a process called "Inversion" which means detaching the first note
from the scale (I) and moving it to the end of the scale. The 7th note in the scale which would normally
form part of the chord produced from the diminished position (VII) of a Major chord scale is replaced with
the next note in the scale (I). Using this method 7 alternate scales can be derived from this major scale the
"Modal Scales". The three modal scales that are worth knowing for use in Traditional Irish music are the
Dorian, Mixolydian and Aeolian scales. These are based on the 2nd, 5th and 6th notes of the Major scale.
If you know the D major scale then the other scales based on this scale can be worked out as follows using
F#min (2), Bmin (5) and C#min (6):
I (II) III IV (V) (VI) VII
D E F# G A B C#
E F# G A B C# D
A B C# D E F# G
B C# D E F# G A
Giving you the E Dorian, A Mixolydian and B Natural Minor scales.
If you know the G major scale then the other scales based on this scale can be worked out as follows:

I (II) III IV (V) (VI)VII

G A B C D E F# G
A B C D E F# G
D E F# G A B C
E F# G A B C D
Giving you the A Dorian, D Mixolydian and E Natural Minor scales.

A chord is composed of several parts that form to begin with a basic triad. This triad is built with
the Root note which is the base of the chord followed by a 3rd and a 5th (the 3rd and 5th notes in a scale
after the root note chosen). In this way the D major Scale would produce the following chords:

I II (III) IV (V) VI VII

Root: Dmaj Emin F#min Gmaj Amaj Bmin C#
3rd : F#min Gmaj Amaj Bmin C# Dmaj Emin
5th : Amaj Bmin C# Dmaj Emin F#min Gmaj (Is replaced with 'A' by use of
"Inversion", see above)

Chords Produced: D Em F#m G A Bm A/C#

The same process as shown for the Dmaj scale can be applied to all the other major scales that can be
figured out using the Dmajor scale and Gmajor scale as bases above.
To give more variety to these basic chords, notes can be added by doubling up on notes already present,
basically any combination of the triad that can be fingered is perfectly valid and can be used. Some
guitarist might want a chord to have a more or less bassy sound and so might use more or less notes on the
fifth and sixth strings. Other flavours can be given to chords by adding a 7th note in the scale just as the
3rd and 5th were added, these additions often add a jazzy feel to the chords produced. Within Traditional
Irish Music incorrect chords are often used deliberately because they are easier to play or change between
at high speed for example using D/F# instead of F#min in the D scale or G/B instead of Bm. These chords
have the flavour of the chords they are used instead of but are more convenient.

Books
“Accompanying Irish Music on Guitar” - Frank Kilkelly
“The Irish Dadgad Guitar Book” - Sarah McQuaid
“A Pocket History of Irish Traditional Music” - Gearoid O’Hallmhurain

Chord/Scale library links

www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/
www.chordbook.com
http//howdyall.com/Chords/
www.all-guitar-chords.com/
Lessons and Theory links
http://guitar.about.com/library/weekly/aa082201a.htm
www.musiclearning.com/lessoncentral/lessons.html
www.harmony-central.com/
www.guitar-jam.com/
www.wholenote.com/

Software links
www.tabledit.com/
www.astoundit.com/products/guitarshed/
www.harmony-central.com/Software/Windows/

Tabs
www.iol.ie/~davy_rogers/
www.consult-eco.ndirect.co.uk/guitar/tab.htm
http://banwarth.free.fr/engguitare.htm#tablatures
http://olga.net/dynamic/search/index.php

Traditional Irish Music Links

http://ceolas.org/ceolas.html
www.irishguitar.net/index.html
http://homehccnet.nl/h.speek/dadgad/index.html
http://alan-ng.net/irish/learning/
www.traditionalmusic.co.uk
www.cairneyhill.com/guitars.htm