DADGAD Tuner Online
Tune your guitar by ear with your microphone, free.
DADGAD is the legendary "Celtic" tuning — a suspended, open-ended drone that rings somewhere between major and minor. Tune up with the tool below and let those open strings do half the work for you.
About DADGAD Tuning
DADGAD tuning is D A D G A D (low to high), named after its six notes. It is a modal tuning built on a Dsus4 chord, which is why strumming the open strings sounds ambiguous and atmospheric rather than locked to a major or minor key. The droning D and A notes leave the tonality open, perfect for layering melodies on top.
To reach DADGAD from standard EADGBE, change three strings: drop the low E down a whole step to D, drop the B (second) string down a whole step to A, and drop the high E down a whole step to D. The A, D and G strings stay put. When you finish you have two D strings at the outside, a pair of A and D drones, and the familiar G in the middle.
The result is a tuning that rings with sustain and lets a single fretted note bloom against open-string drones — a staple of Celtic, fingerstyle and folk guitar.
Common Genres
- Celtic and Irish traditional
- Fingerstyle and acoustic instrumental
- Folk and folk-rock
- Ambient and cinematic guitar
Famous Songs
- Kashmir — Led Zeppelin
- White Summer / Black Mountain Side — Led Zeppelin
- She Moved Through the Fair — traditional (Davy Graham, who pioneered DADGAD)
- Photograph — Pierre Bensusan
How to use this tuner
- Click Start Tuner and allow microphone access when prompted.
- Pluck each string in turn — the matching peg below lights up automatically.
- Tap any peg to hear its exact target pitch before you tune to it.
- Drop the low E, B and high E strings until each dial settles in the green band.
FROM TUNED TO PLAYING
Generate licks in any key, free.
EasyJam writes guitar licks and piano phrases on demand. No signup required to try the tuner — sign up free for the rest.