D-A-D-F-A-E

• OVERVIEW •

A spacious Open Dm variant, which retains Standard’s E1str tone to give a minor 9th open harmony. Great for chord voicings which combine intricate high extensions with robust bass structures – with note-shuffling added by the tuning’s irregular interval sequence (a 4th, min. 3rd, and a maj. 3rd, sandwiched by two 5ths). Hear how the tighter 1str stands out.

Like its major counterpart (D-A-D-F#-A-E: Yvette’s Dadd9), this layout retains many of the Open D family’s strengths – including one-finger power chords across 6-5-4str, dextrous harmonic possibilities on 4-3-2str, and general low-side solidity – while also opening up a variety of new shapes. See how the wide jump at the top recolours your improv…

Pattern: 7>5>3>4>7

Harmony: Dmin(add9) | 1-5-1-b3-5-2

• TUNING TONES •

—Home | Menu | About—

• Support ad-free, AI-free musicology by joining my PATREON. And to intensify your six-string imagination, try some online lessons: get in touch to book a free taster session!

---

ragajunglism

157

Guitar & global musicology on Instagram:

Multi-step meend in Raag Bageshri: some riyaz improv in one of my all-time favourite ragas

#raga #jazzguitar #indianmusic #icm #londonmusic

Sep 30

Open post by ragajunglism with ID 18012154757957600

E8 Boogie (Squarepusher): @sqpusher did I get them right? Tried to work out guitar voicings for this curious chord sequence in E8 Boogie (…originally at the request of a student!)

Original: Squarepusher/Tom Jenkinson (from 1997’s Hard Normal Daddy)

#jungle #jazzguitar #warprecords #idm #dnb @warprecords

Sep 27

Open post by ragajunglism with ID 17946658527301581

Raag Jaiwanti Todi (SrgmPDnS): An Ahiri-prakriti raga introduced by Maharaja Jaiwant Singh Waghela (1904-1980): the hereditary ruler of Sanand who gained wide renown as a spiritual teacher, vocal educator, and generous patron of the nascent Mewati gharana (also the creator of Gyankali and other ragas). Sung here by his student Pandit Jasraj – a bandish I’ve always loved, especially the ferocious taan and colourful harmonium accompaniment…

—Original: Pandit Jasraj (khayal); Appa Jalgaonkar (harmonium); Nizamuddin Khan? (tabla)

#raga #khayal #indianmusic #worldmusic #icm

Sep 22

Open post by ragajunglism with ID 18082629848701854

Raag Prabhateshwari (SrgmPDnS): A mysterious raga created by Hariprasad Chaurasia, played here by his nephew Rakesh – resembling a blend of the morning Ahir Bhairav and the late night Bageshri. I was inspired to learn the raga when researching Maa Annapurna Devi’s time teaching Hariprasad (many thanks to my crack team of experts including Rupak Kulkarni, Alam Khan, George Ruckert, Suresh Vyas, Anindya Banerjee, and Gopi Shanker, who all gave valuable assistance in illuminating the raga’s origins)

—Original: Rakesh Chaurasia (bansuri), live at Darbar 2008 @chaurasia_rakesh @darbarfestival

#raga #darbarfestival #indianmusic #bansuri #worldmusic

Sep 15

Open post by ragajunglism with ID 18377228533235329

Load More Follow me on Instagram

• SOUNDS •

Used by eclectic Swedish metallers Opeth – particularly on their eighth album, 2005’s Ghost Reveries (e.g. on Ghost Of Perdition, Isolation Years, Baying of the Hounds, and all six of the electric/acoustic/12-string guitar layers on Reverie Harlequin Forest). In the words of frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt, “I love experimenting with tuning…which [on Ghost Reveries] I got from folk players like Bert Jansch, John Renbourn and Nick Drake” (although he also cautions that: “I don’t want to get [too] lost in tuning…we’re comfortable with Standard“).

Also used by Australian rockers Karnivool on a few tracks (e.g. All I Know, Set Fire to the Hive: although they generally prefer B-F#-B-G-B-E) – as well as a sparse scattering of others (e.g. a quick sketch by NathanKGx, and an anonymous improv captured in a Gilmore Guitars workshop). Broader use, however, remains surprisingly rare, despite the tuning lying only a few twists away from Standard, the Open D family, and many others (…before long, my search-query results were getting clogged up by hits for hex colour ID ‘#dadfae’: a very light green).

• Ghost of Perdition @ Red Rocks – Opeth (2017):

“You’d compare yourself [to] old classmates…they’d have flourishing careers: even if I thought their careers sounded boring, at least they had something to survive on. I was bitter and beaten down…I didn’t have much hope for us. All I knew was that I liked the music I’d written.” (Mikael Åkerfeldt)

• NUMBERS •

• See my Tunings Megatable for further such nerdery: more numbers, intervallic relations, comparative methods, etc. And to any genuine vibratory scientists reading: please critique my DIY analysis!

• RELATED •

—Associated tunings: proximities of shape, concept, context, etc…

• Open Dm (this with 1str -2): taking out the high ninth
• Yvette’s Dadd9 (this with 3str +1): the major variant
• Equilibrium: same strings altered, by different intervals

• MORE INFO •

—Further learnings: sources, readings, lessons, other onward links…

• Opeth: Learn more about the evolution and eclectic influences of the three-decades-old group via fan-selected lists of top-10 tracks on Reddit – and also check out interviews with leader Mikael Åkerfeldt in Rolling Stone (on his all-time favourite metal albums) and Guitar World (“Martin Lopez ended up playing me something by [Turkish Arabesk singer] İbrahim Tatlıses. I guess it was Kurdish pop music, but to my ears it sounded evil! It had notes…that you didn’t really find in Western scales, with bends that were inbetween notes. I immediately rewrote the beginning of Bleak…”)
• Folk to metal: Åkerfeldt, who mentions taking inspiration from “Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, and Nick Drake”, is far from the only heavy guitarist to delve deep into these quieter realms: famously, Led Zeppelin took detours into the folk mythology of the British Isles, both real & imagined (e.g. The Battle of Evermore references Lord of the Rings, and Gallows Pole is an updating of the centuries-old melody The Maid Freed from the Gallows: although Page based his version on American 12-stringer Fred Gerlach’s arrangement) – also see a rundown of modern folk-metal by Grimner‘s flautist and bagpipe player Johan Rydberg in Louder Sound: “For a very long time, the folk-metal scene has been dominated by bands [that] focus on Norse, Celtic, Gaelic, and similar themes…Now we have seen new bands rise…bringing their culture and mythology: Myrath (Tunisian power-folk), Wagakki Band (Japanese folk-metal), [and] Tengger Cavalry (Mongolian folk-metal)…”

Header image: Ghost Reveries album cover (2005)

Search the Altered Tunings Menu (100+): type in notes, artists, adjectives, intervals, sequences, etc. Also see Tag List:

.

Search for:

—TUNING TAGS—

ALL (100) | 2-note (6) | 3-note (28) | 4-note (26) | 5-note (30) | 6-note (8) | 7th: Dom. (7) | 7th: Maj (12) | 7th: Min (21) | A-listers (11) | Alliterative (16) | Drone (4) | Drop (6) | Global (20) | Inst. (12) | Interval (6) | Narrow (12) | Non-taut (63) | Odd jumps (10) | Oddball (17) | Power (26) | Re-ent. (7) | Slack-key (5) | Slide (12) | Standard (11) | Superlow (15) | Sus. (22) | Triad: Maj (11) | Triad: Min (7) | 1-twist(7) | 2-twist (12) | 3-twist (16) | 4-twist (20) | 5-twist (20) | 6-twist (24) | Wide (24)

¡Random Tuning!

Menu of Tunings (100+) • Altered-tuned artists • Divine Indian drones • Global instrument tunings • Joni’s stringed canvas • Alpha-melodic games • Double-sided harp-capoing • Tales & quotes • Megatable • Glossary • Submissions • About • Feedback

George Howlett is a London-based musician, writer, and teacher (guitars, sitar, tabla, & santoor). Above all I seek to enthuse fellow sonic searchers, interconnecting fresh vibrations with the voices, cultures, and passions behind them. See Home & Writings, and hit me up for Online Lessons!

—Join the Patreon!—

(Get in touch for Zoom lessons!)

my site is ad-free, AI-free, & open-access

Facebook Instagram Youtube Twitter