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Alternate Tunings
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By Doug Young
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Octaves in DADGAD
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Introduction
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Tune Up to D A D G A D
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You may have heard the sound of octaves on recordings by jazz guitarists Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Lee Ritenour, and others. Octaves are a great way to beef up a bass line or add a distinctive texture to a melody. D A D G A D tuning not only offers many opportunities to use octaves but also allows you to play some things you simply could not play in standard tuning. In this lesson, we’ll see how easy it is to find octaves in D A D G A D and explore some musical ideas that take advantage of octaves.
One reason octaves are so useful in D A D G A D is that octaves are easily accessible on three pairs of strings. In this tuning, the sixth and fourth strings and fourth and first strings (all D notes) are an octave apart, and the fifth and second strings, both tuned to A, are also an octave apart. So no matter where you are on the fretboard, you can easily play an octave above or below any string except the G string by simply adding a note on the same fret, two or three strings over.
Example 1 below shows a single-note scale fragment in D A D G A D on the sixth string.
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Example 1
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Example 2 shows the same line in octaves; simply finger the same frets on both the sixth and fourth strings. You might try fingering the lower string with your second finger and the higher string with your third finger, although other fingerings are possible as well.
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Example 2
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Example 3 demonstrates octaves on the fifth and second strings, and Example 4 shows octaves on the fourth and first strings. Notice that there is one unused string between the octaves when you play on the fourth and sixth strings but two empty strings when playing octaves on the fifth and second strings or fourth and first strings. With a little practice, you will get used to the difference.
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Example 3
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Example 4
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Example 5 puts this all together with a two-octave D-major scale in octaves. You may also want to pick out scales in other keys.
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Example 5
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If you are playing fingerstyle, you can pick the lower note of the octave with your right-hand thumb, but you may also want to practice playing both strings with your fingers, which will free your thumb to add bass notes. You can also play these examples with a pick, but you’ll need to damp the strings in the middle with your fretting hand.
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Got a question for Acoustic Guitar's editors? Please send us an email at editors.ag@stringletter.com or snail-mail Acoustic Guitar Editorial, PO Box 767, San Anselmo, CA 94979. We regularly print reader letters in our Mail column and reader questions and tips in Q&A.
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