D-A-D-A-B-E
• OVERVIEW •
Simple in design, this tuning expands the range of 3-4-5-6str, opening up two perfect 5ths in the process (6>5str and 4>3str). The open chord – a ‘suspended‘ Drop D variant – has an ambiguous character, leaving room for varied explorations.
Demonstrated superbly by José González on his booming nylon-string cover of Massive Attack’s Teardrop – nylon will handle the 4str tightness better (on steel-string I tend to transpose down a little for safety).
Pattern: 7>5>7>2>5
Harmony: D6/9(sus2) | 1-5-1-5-6-2
• TUNING TONES •
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• SOUNDS •
José González‘ scintillating Teardrop cover gained recent fame via soundtracking a pivotal scene in smash-hit basketball doc The Last Dance. (Whereas Massive Attack’s original – probably the international anthem of Bristol, my longtime city – with its distinctive ‘heart-beat’, was the title theme for House. Confusingly, González’s Heartbeats, a completely different song, is absent of any cardiac-tempo’d groove. If I had to match titles to the moods, I’d definitely guess the other way round…).
The same DADABE layout has also been explored by a scattering of other guitarists – e.g. Ani Di Franco (Hell Yeah), and Stephen Malkmus on some of Pavement’s earlier releases (e.g. Stereo, Gold Sounds, AT&T).
- Teardrop – José González (2007):
“Night, night of matter,
Black flowers blossom,
Feathers on my breath…”
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• NUMBERS •
| 6str | 5str | 4str | 3str | 2str | 1str | |
| Note | D | A | D | A | B | E |
| Alteration | -2 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 0 | 0 |
| Tension (%) | -21 | 0 | 0 | +26 | 0 | 0 |
| Freq. (Hz) | 73 | 110 | 147 | 220 | 247 | 330 |
| Pattern (>) | 7 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 5 | – |
| Semitones | 0 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 21 | 26 |
| Intervals | 1 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 |
- 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…
- José González (this with 3str -4): his nearby nylon variant
- Zen Drone (‘Dulcimeric’) (this with 1/2str -2): purifying the loop
- Cello (‘Haircut’) (this with 6/5str -2): opening up low fifths
• MORE INFO •
—Further learnings: sources, readings, lessons, other onward links…
- José González’s reworks: read more about how he goes about covering songs in an insightful Guitar interview (“I was inspired by how in Jamaica, if you have a hit, then everybody does it, and you have five versions going on at the same time. So in that spirit, I felt it was fun…”)
- Massive Attack’s Teardrop: see an exhaustive song history on the band’s website (“Madonna…was disappointed when [they] informed her that they already had a vocalist…”), and read about how Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins composed the track’s vocals (“The news that [her partner, Jeff] Buckley had disappeared…drowned, swimming in the Wolf river in Memphis…came while Fraser was recording Teardrop…’That was so weird’, she says. ‘I’d got [his] letters out, and I was thinking about him…”)
Header image: psychedelic still from José’s Teardrop video
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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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