CGDGAD is the tuning I leave my guitar in these days. I think of it as being derived from DADGAD. In DADGAD your tonic is the D note on the 6th string. If you tune the 5th string A down a tone to G, then the G becomes your tonic and you have a Gadd9 tuning.
If you’re then playing in G and you tune the D note on the 6th string down a tone to C, then you arrive at CGDGAD, with your sub-dominant away down in the bass. It’s a beautiful tuning.
I first came across the Gadd9 tuning when I learned Dave Evans’ arrangement of the Carolan tune “Hewlett”, from Stefan Grossman’s “ Solos in Open Tunings” book. I played that arrangement for many years, often to the enjoyment of people in the street.
Not long ago, I went online and bought the CD “Irish Reels, Jigs, Hornpipes and Airs” so that, after all these years, I could hear Dave Evans playing “Hewlett”. That was a revelation! The arrangement in the book provides a transcription of Evans’ basic statement of the two parts of the tune, but on the recording he goes on to develop a wonderful series of nimble and inventive variations on the basic tune. Also, his playing style is much more percussive than I'd have expected.
So lately I’ve been spending some time listening very closely to his playing on this CD, examing his variations, taking them apart and trying to reproduce them in my playing. This kind of focused listening is for me a very rewarding and fun way to spend time - to get close to the work of a great player.
If you’re then playing in G and you tune the D note on the 6th string down a tone to C, then you arrive at CGDGAD, with your sub-dominant away down in the bass. It’s a beautiful tuning.
I first came across the Gadd9 tuning when I learned Dave Evans’ arrangement of the Carolan tune “Hewlett”, from Stefan Grossman’s “ Solos in Open Tunings” book. I played that arrangement for many years, often to the enjoyment of people in the street.
Not long ago, I went online and bought the CD “Irish Reels, Jigs, Hornpipes and Airs” so that, after all these years, I could hear Dave Evans playing “Hewlett”. That was a revelation! The arrangement in the book provides a transcription of Evans’ basic statement of the two parts of the tune, but on the recording he goes on to develop a wonderful series of nimble and inventive variations on the basic tune. Also, his playing style is much more percussive than I'd have expected.
So lately I’ve been spending some time listening very closely to his playing on this CD, examing his variations, taking them apart and trying to reproduce them in my playing. This kind of focused listening is for me a very rewarding and fun way to spend time - to get close to the work of a great player.
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