DADAE tuning

[David Surette]

I've got a Trillium 10-course instrument, and I am wondering if anyone else out there uses the DADAE tuning, low to high. I find that it combines elements of drop-D or DADGAD guitar tuning in the low end with standard mando/fiddle tuning in the high end, which is pretty handy. In addition, if you capo 5, you've got GDGDA, which is like an octave mandolin with an extended range.

Anyway, curious to hear if anyone else has made use of this tuning.

David Surette

[Eddie Sheehy]

What's the scale length David?

[Dagger Gordon]

Hi David,

Nice to see you here.

I tune my 10 string mandolin DGDAE, and my octave ADAE.

The mandolin is the only 10 course instrument I have.

Cheers,

Dagger

[David Surette]

25.4 " scale. There's more info at www.octavemandolin.com.

David

[danb]

Hi David, welcome to the cafe.

I've used DADAD, DGDAD, DAEBE in various experiments when I had a 26" scale bouzouki. Roger Landes has been known to favor DAEAE on a long-necked zook. I find that I don't keep the instrument in the open chords, but I do like to visit!

You might also experiment with "mostly 5ths" and use the split capo trick, use a 4-course capo on the top 4 courses at the 5th.. for exampe, you'd get

(D)DADA if your tuning was DAEAE without a capo. You get the cello range bass drone and feel of drop-d tuning that way.

On my shorter-scale 5-course (21"), I tune GDAEA as my "home" tuning, and capo on 5 to get (G)GDAD quite often. Soprano bouzouki with bass drone

[Bob Wiegers]

I do ADAE on my octave more often than not and love how I can let it ring out.

[Eddie Sheehy]

David, I've been playing your "Quickstep to the Battle of Prague" to death. Do you play the Trillium on it? There's some nice harmonies played on the "deep" strings of something.

[David Surette]

No, actually that's two mandolins and a guitar. 1918 F-2. Quickstep I found on an old LP from the 70s called English Fiddle Players on Plant Life Records. Had some really cool tunes, but I believe it is now out-of-print. Oh well...

[twaaang]

Forgive me for going off-topic, David, but it's nice to find you here, and I've always wondered where you came up with "Papineauville". Such a beautiful little tune for learning your way around in Bb! Thanks for recording it! -- Paul

[David Surette]

Off-topic is fine. I got "Papineauville" from Wilson Langlois, a French-Canadian fiddler from the Nashua NH area. He was an old-timer who passed away a few years ago, a lovely man with a great sense of humor and a big tune repertoire. I only got to play with him a few times, near the end of his life. He played the tune in Am. I dropped it down to Gm in order to medley it with the F tune, for a medley in the flat keys. Glad you have enjoyed it.