D-A-D-D-A-D
• OVERVIEW •
‘Double-dad’ tuning is handily symmetrical, mirroring its ‘D-A-D’ pattern across the guitar’s centre line to form a stacked D power chord (like a ‘double-decker D sandwich, each filled with A’). Only one string differs from the famous DADGAD – 3str is lowered by a fourth, going super-slack to add psychedelic phasing effects. Variants have long been used on steel guitars and other lap slide instruments.
Theorist Bill Sethares, who titles it ‘4 and 20′ tuning after Stephen Stills’ song of the same name, notes how it “sounds a chord that is harmonically ambiguous: neither major nor minor…since [it] has multiple Ds and As, there tend to be numerous variants possible on any given chord form”. (Also: does it inherently count as a ‘dad joke’?)
Pattern: 7>5>0>7>5
Harmony: D5 | 1-5-1-1-5-1
• TUNING TONES •
Raag Jog: exploring different ways the electric guitar can support a Dhrupad-ang nomtom (syllabic improvisation)…
Jun 28
Raag Kafi: Electric guitar improv around the adha bandish ‘Aaj Khel Shaam Sang Hori’
Jun 22
Raag Jog: some sawal-jawab (‘question-answer’) fun with Marc Clayton on tabla
Jun 15
Some tintal improv around a wonderful Durga bandish I’ll be playing at @mehfilspace @the_rose_hill in Brighton on Thu 11th June! with vocalist @ashwinbaligaofficial and @marc_plays_tabla
Jun 10
Come see me play some bendy raga-guitar at @mehfilspace @the_rose_hill in Brighton on Thu 11th June! with vocalist @ashwinbaligaofficial and @marc_plays_tabla
Jun 5
tomato can jungle/DnB (distracted while cooking)
May 23
A great Jaunpuri gat from Senia-Shahjahanpur sarod legend Pt Buddhadev DasGupta, full of fast bends and slides (originally released for Joep Bor’s 1997 Raga Guide, in many ways a precursor to my own raga index)
May 6
just for fun…I had to defend the honour of my main instrument against my second instrument (many thanks to @mountainhead for the original video, as well as some tasty bends) – still no match for the surbahar’s meend range though!
May 4
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(From ‘Around the World in Eight Ragas’: my show with Ashwin Baliga & Marc Clayton at Mehfil Space on 11 Jun 2026) @ashwinbaligaofficial @marc_plays_tabla @mehfilspace
#dhrupad #raga #indianmusic #icm #worldmusic
(From ‘Around the World in Eight Ragas’: my show with Ashwin Baliga & Marc Clayton at Mehfil Space on 11 Jun 2026) @ashwinbaligaofficial @marc_plays_tabla @mehfilspace
#raga #indianmusic #icm #worldmusic #ragaguitar
(From ‘Around the World in Eight Ragas’: my show with Ashwin Baliga & Marc Clayton at Mehfil Space on 11 Jun 2026) @ashwinbaligaofficial @marc_plays_tabla @mehfilspace
#raga #indianmusic #icm #worldmusic #ragaguitar
https://therosehill.co.uk/event/the-mehfil-space-presents-around-the-world-in-8-ragas/
‘Around the World in 8 Ragas’: exploring cross-cultural melodic forms (e.g. scales that turn up independently in Japan, India, Mali, etc)
#indianmusic #raga #icm #brightonmusic #ragaguitar
https://therosehill.co.uk/event/the-mehfil-space-presents-around-the-world-in-8-ragas/
‘Around the World in 8 Ragas’: exploring cross-cultural melodic forms (e.g. scales that turn up independently in Japan, India, Mali, etc) – including this piece, a famous Bhairavi bhajan by Pt. Bhimsen Joshi (Jo Bhaje Hari Ko Sada)
#bhajan #raga #indianmusic #brightonmusic #ragaguitar
#drumming #percussion #dnb #jungle
Raag Jaunpuri: a late morning raga, likely originating in the Sultanate-era music of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh (as per Subodh Agrawal: “The rulers of Jaunpur were keen patrons of the arts, and the last one – Sultan Hussain Sharqi – was himself a distinguished musician; it is probable that the Jaunpuri flavor of Asavari was developed by him, or under his patronage“). Rajan Parrikar elaborates on its “Asavariant” status, noting that some (including Omkarnath Thakur) see it as essentially indistinguishable from Shuddha Re Asavari, while others consider Jaunpuri to follow more ‘rounded’ melodic motions…
#sarod #ragaguitar #stratocaster #worldmusic #jaunpur
#sitar #guitar #raga #bends #ragaguitar
• SOUNDS •
Used on many tracks – e.g. London Conversation (John Martyn), Treat Your Mama (John Butler), Fingerdance (Billy McLaughlin), Your Love Is Enough (Jon Foreman), and the Brazilian folk-fusions of Miragem do Porto (Lenine & Marcos Suzano). (Also, I’ve had many happy hours over the years listening to my friend Sergey Sitwell explore variants on his expansive collection of guitar-like instruments…recordings to follow sometime soon I hope!)
Also check out the aforementioned 4 Plus 20 – although officially released as a Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young track, it’s unique as the only album song the quartet ever released which features only one member. In Stills’ description, “it’s about an 84-year-old poverty-stricken man who started and finished with nothing” (the ‘420’ title comes from a ‘Gettysburg-style’ 84, rather than whatever else these digits may suggest…).
- London Conversation – John Martyn (1968):
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• NUMBERS •
| 6str | 5str | 4str | 3str | 2str | 1str | |
| Note | D | A | D | D | A | D |
| Alteration | -2 | 0 | 0 | -5 | -2 | -2 |
| Tension (%) | -21 | 0 | 0 | -44 | -21 | -21 |
| Freq. (Hz) | 73 | 110 | 147 | 147 | 220 | 294 |
| Pattern (>) | 7 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 5 | – |
| Semitones | 0 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 19 | 24 |
| Intervals | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
- 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…
- Zen Drone: two tones for spontaneous creation
- Open Dsus (this with 3str +5): global modalism
- Teardrop: same low-end with a tighter high half
• MORE INFO •
—Further learnings: sources, readings, lessons, other onward links…
- Double-dad detail: see Sam Swank‘s demo vid, and Bill Sethares‘ tuning sampler (p.78) – as well as Joao Tiago Duarte Martins’ thesis citing its use in Brazil (Songs Of The People, p.40: “the underlying groove is ijexá, with the guitar doubling the eighth notes…”)
- Stephen Stills’ songwriting: see Bruce Palmer tuning (used by Stills to anchor Crosby & Nash’s soaring vocal harmonies on the rhapsodic, romantic Suite: Judy Blue Eyes) – and also a pleasing collection of ‘420‘ tidbits on SongFacts (“the man in this song is 84 years old, but Stills sings that he was born ‘4 & 20’ years ago. Logically, this would mean that he’s 24 years old, but there is a bit of poetic license here…the phrase [was] popularized in the children’s song Sing a Song of Sixpence, where ‘four and twenty’ blackbirds are baked in a pie…Another close cousin is ‘four score and seven years ago’, the first line of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address…”)
Header image: John Martyn smokes away on stage
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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!
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