DADGAD tuning: how to tune it, the modal sound, and the best strings

Reviewed by the Change Your Strings editorial team · 2026-07-02

The sound: a chord that refuses to pick a side

DADGAD retunes the guitar so the open strings read, low to high, D-A-D-G-A-D. Strum it open and you get a Dsus4 chord, a suspended voicing built from the root, a 4th, and a 5th, with no 3rd anywhere in it. No 3rd means no major or minor, the chord just hangs there, ambiguous and droning. That's the entire reason players reach for DADGAD: it doesn't resolve the way a major or minor chord does, so melodies and modes can move over it without fighting a fixed tonality underneath.

It's the tuning most associated with Celtic and modal fingerstyle guitar, which is why it also goes by the nickname Celtic tuning. Three strings move from standard tuning and three don't, which puts DADGAD in an unusual middle spot: more strings change than in Drop D, but fewer than in Open D or D standard, and the strings that do change land on a suspended chord instead of a major or minor triad.

How to tune it from standard

Three strings move, three stay. Lower the 6th string from E to D, the 2nd string from B to A, and the 1st string from E to D, each a whole step down. Leave the 5th (A), 4th (D), and 3rd (G) exactly where they sit in standard tuning.

Tune the two D strings, 6th and 1st, against each other first, two octaves apart, then check the 2nd string's new A against the open 5th string, an octave below. The 3rd string never moves, so it's a reliable reference pitch while you retune the other five.

Tension math: why DADGAD stays playable

String tension scales with the square of pitch, so a whole step down multiplies tension by roughly 0.794, the same 79.4 percent figure that applies to any single whole-step drop, whether it's Drop D's 6th string or D standard's full set. DADGAD applies that drop to exactly three strings, the 6th, 2nd, and 1st, while the 5th, 4th, and 3rd keep their full standard-tuning tension.

That's less overall tension loss than Open D (four strings drop) or D standard (all six drop), which is why a standard light acoustic set holds up fine in DADGAD without the floppy feel those tunings can produce. It's more change than Drop D, which only lowers one string, so DADGAD's low end and top string both go slightly slacker than a Drop D setup, even though the middle three strings never move.

Strings and gauges

For most DADGAD playing, fingerstyle or strummed, a standard light acoustic set is the default. Nothing about DADGAD demands a heavier gauge on its own.

D'Addario

EJ11 80/20 Bronze Light (.012–.053)

.012 – .053

Price tier: $

Why this one: 80/20 bronze's brighter, more percussive top end suits DADGAD's droning open strings well, the ringing D and A notes cut clearly through a fingerstyle arrangement instead of getting lost in a warmer wrap wire.

E StandardDrop DFolk

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For a rounder, warmer take on the same droning open strings, phosphor bronze is the other common choice, and Martin's own light-gauge set is explicitly rated for DADGAD.

Martin

SP Phosphor Bronze Light (.012–.054)

.012 – .054

Price tier: $

Why this one: Martin rates this set for standard-pitch and whole-step-down alternate tunings without a setup change, which covers DADGAD directly. Phosphor bronze's warmer midrange suits Celtic and modal fingerstyle where you want the guitar to breathe rather than sparkle.

E StandardDrop DFolk

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Step up to a medium set, .013 to .056, only if you're playing slide, strumming hard, or want more low-end push from the dropped 6th string. See the Martin SP Phosphor Bronze Light review for how that set holds up across body sizes.

Where DADGAD came from

British folk guitarist Davey Graham developed DADGAD in the early 1960s while traveling in Morocco, inspired by oud players he heard there. He carried the tuning back into his own playing, applying it to Celtic melodies as well as Indian and Moroccan folk lines, on pieces like "She Moved Through the Fair" and the later "She Moved Thru' the Bizarre / Blue Raga." Guitar World credits him outright as DADGAD's founder, and his influence reached a generation of British folk players, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, and Richard Thompson among them.

Jimmy Page picked up DADGAD from that same lineage. He'd already used it on the Yardbirds' "White Summer" and Led Zeppelin's "Black Mountain Side" before writing "Kashmir" in the same tuning, and Guitar World's breakdown of the song credits DADGAD's open-string unison and octave doubling for the riff's chorusing effect and wall-of-sound scale. Mícheál Ó Domhnaill and Dáithí Sproule later carried DADGAD into Irish traditional music, and French-Algerian guitarist Pierre Bensusan built much of his fingerstyle career on it. Its heavy use in Irish and Scottish fingerstyle is why the tuning also goes by the name Celtic tuning.

DADGAD vs Drop D

Both tunings lower the 6th string a whole step, from E to D, so they share that low end. Everything else is different. Drop D stops there, the other five strings stay at standard pitch, so open-position chords and scale shapes above the 6th string are unchanged from standard tuning, just with a lower root available. DADGAD also lowers the 2nd string (B to A) and 1st string (E to D), which turns the entire set of open strings into a Dsus4 drone rather than a standard-tuning chord with a dropped bass note. If you're after a heavier low end without relearning chord shapes, Drop D is the smaller move. If you want the modal, droning character that defines Celtic and DADGAD fingerstyle, the extra two string changes are the point.

Genre notes

Celtic and Irish or Scottish traditional fingerstyle is DADGAD's home base, the droning D and A strings approximate the sound of pipe music underneath a fretted melody. Folk and singer-songwriter players use it for the same reason at a smaller scale, letting open strings ring behind chord shapes that would otherwise need more fretting-hand work. Rock use is rarer but well documented, Jimmy Page's Led Zeppelin catalog being the clearest example, where DADGAD's ambiguous tonality gave riffs like "Kashmir" a modal, non-Western quality that standard tuning couldn't produce.

Setup notes

DADGAD is gentle on a standard acoustic setup. Only three strings detune, and only by a whole step each, so total tension loss is smaller than Open D or D standard, and most guitars handle the switch without any adjustment. Stretch the three moved strings after tuning down, they take longer to settle than strings that stay at pitch. If you move to a heavier gauge for slide or hard strumming, check neck relief and nut slots the same way you would for any gauge increase.

Next steps

• The smaller version of this same idea: Drop D tuning guide.
• The other slide and drone-friendly open tuning: Open D tuning guide.
• A third classic alternate tuning to compare: Open G tuning guide.
• Documented DADGAD catalog: Jimmy Page's rig.
• Full review: D'Addario EJ11 80/20 Bronze Light and Martin SP Phosphor Bronze Light.