Stuck in DADGAD Blues

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VikingBlues
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Stuck in DADGAD Blues

Post by VikingBlues »

For better or worse (quite possibly the latter :roll: ) I think it's time to post some sort of acoustic recording that is a bit bluesy.

As I have all my larger acoustic guitars tuned in DADGAD despite my initial intentions to have different guitars in different tunings I've had a go at playing bluesy in DADGAD. A modal tuning and more commonly used in folk I know. So extensive use of 3rd fret instead of 4th for starters.

As Blindboy mentioned parlour guitars should be good for blues so I've tried the new low budget Tanglewood TW JPE. 50:50 mix of microphone and amped signals.

:music1: http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13228976

I see I did a post back in 2011 (when I was still playing electric) where I'd tried DADGAD and couldn't find bluesy in it then. Guess I must have learned something since then!
..... Just as well! :big_smile:

The TW JPE is the third from the right on my wee family photo below - the Guitalele on the left shrunk in the wash.
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An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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12bar
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Re: Stuck in DADGAD Blues

Post by 12bar »

That sounds very interesting, bluesy yes, acoustic, too, but not Delta like. It's more like a fusion of Blues and Irish folk. However, it works! :thumbsup:

A nice collection you have btw. :handshake: :drool:
fenson
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Re: Stuck in DADGAD Blues

Post by fenson »

12bar wrote:That sounds very interesting, bluesy yes, acoustic, too, but not Delta like. It's more like a fusion of Blues and Irish folk. However, it works! :thumbsup: l:
Yep! Agree with 12bar, kinda "Scottie Bullfrog Blues" :D
12bar wrote:A nice collection you have btw. :handshake: :drool:
Starting from left, I would certainly play the second and fifth ladies!

Later,
IF
"Don't be afraid by wrong notes, it doesn't exist" Miles Davis.
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Blindboy
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Re: Stuck in DADGAD Blues

Post by Blindboy »

Sounds great! :clap:
I like the sound of the Parlour guitar (I like parlour guitars :wink: ) The DADGAD sounds very cool. I could never find anything in that tuning that I could play, but I do use DADF#AD for some slide stuff, and drop D for some alternating bass fingerstyle stuff.
Love the collection... I have a guitarlele too. :D
"Throw yo' big leg over me Mama, I might not feel this good again!"
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VikingBlues
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Re: Stuck in DADGAD Blues

Post by VikingBlues »

Thanks for the listens / comments guys. :thumbsup: I think it illustrates how important chord voicing is to the sound of the Delta Blues genre. So the best it can be in DADGAD with the voicings inevitably changed by the tuning is "bluesy". Maybe there's tricks that can be done to make the voicing of the chords fit better but I quite like the crossover aspect making it a bit different - an altered tuning I feel is there for getting a different sound. But I'm glad it works to some degree as I've been neglecting blues. :D

Chord voicing has a big impact on style generally of course - for example play standard shape chords on a Who song and it'll not sound like Pete Townshend - you need to do things like taking out the 3rd for even basic chords.

The second from the left is a Vintage Viator, Fenson - not tuned in DADGAD amazingly, but it is in Terz tuning (G,C,F,Bb,D,G) - it is a very short scale so it can take normal strings tuned upwards a bit. Gives a good contrasting higher and differently voiced sound on multitrack recordings. It has an amazingly strong voice for such a small instrument and it has a voice that is different enough to make it a good addition to a collection for variety.

I've found the guitalele to be a fun (and remarkably cheap) instrument Blindboy. I've tried ukes as my wife has a collection, and I can't get on without those missing bottom two strings - the guitalele gives quite a uke sort of tone but those bottom strings are there for full chord shapes as I know them and they allow little bass runs that seem to be so important to what I play. It's a good sound for Baroque / Elizabethan sort of music too, as per this linked video review. LCesBox7szE

I should have labelled my collection but it was just thrown into the post as an afterthought.
Line up is Yamaha GL-1 Guitalele (17" scale), Vintage Viator Paul Brett (21 1/2"), LaMancha Rubi CM53 nylon classical (21"), Gretsch Jim Dandy (24"), Tanglewood TWJPE (24 3/4"), Tanglewood TW73 (24.75"), Lowden S32 (24 3/4"). So my need for short scale has been pretty well addressed. The little finger on my left hand is almost totally out of action and my small size hands make standard length scale too painful. :tears:

The worry about my collection (apart from there being too many! :whistle: ) is how similar so many are ... no cutaway designs for example. I have had two of those but I've not found them beneficial and I feel the acoustic sound can lose out with that shape. Nearly all 12 frets to the body as well, but I tend to prefer the sound of guitars with that arrangement, and the smaller guitars tend to have that anyway to maximise body size as far as possible.

The 6 guitars to the left in total cost only 50% of the Lowden on the right, but are all worthy of also being played - shows how good the quality can be in lower priced instruments these days, remembering the terrible quality of cheaper guitars in the 70s. But the Lowden also has qualities that makes it worth that huge price hike. The Gretsch Jim Dandy (bought used off my wife who preferred her GS Mini) would be my go to choice for standard tuning blues - if it's good enough for Eric Bibb it should be good enough for the likes of me. Demo of playing the Jim Dandy by Eric Bibb from about 04:20 on this video - M9ItoZHxrNA
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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12bar
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Re: Stuck in DADGAD Blues

Post by 12bar »

Thanks for the details! I was just playing some slide and tried your tuning on my strat, but this is definitely no tuning for slide guitar :big_smile:
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HalfBlindLefty
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Re: Stuck in DADGAD Blues

Post by HalfBlindLefty »

Sounds amazing VB. That parlor guitar sounds so sweet.
And yes, you have learned quite a lot. Keep 'm comming please
A long time ago, in the old forum : Registered: Mon, 27 Nov 2006. Wonder were the other old members all went....
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