Pierre Bensusan mM nt Copyright © 2000 fohn August Music. 364 Jeanin BiPierre Bensusan P PeseMtS ay Z Guitar Like most all guitarists lexrning to ple, | started out in standard tuning. But lke these guitarists who are inspired for whatever rea= son to push the boundaries of the instrument, to carve out their ‘wa territory, and establish their own place within it, | felt moved: ‘0 do something different with this instrument-something that ‘would contribute to the development of my own voice, and somte= As apart of that ney, [ventured inte a variety of altered tunings, easning them how set me apart from the drores of other pla from various English guitarists and blues players. Some time later, I became exposed to the DADGAD tuning. It came through a friend who had learned it from Davey Graham. At the same time, Thad been working d ‘ough a number of Stefan Grossman, One of the books, which covered open tab books and music published by tuning, inchaded some songs in BADGAD.L leamed a few of them, and was happy to have added DADGAD to my growing arsenal of tunings. After a while, though, I found myself stuck in the same stylistic rats, and sill without any clear direction. 1 realize that '¢ have to make up my 0 choese mind about all these tunings cone, and make it my owe, [setled on DADGAD, or maybe I should say it settied on me! Ln any case, when | finally put my sake inthe ground, it ‘was epiphany-a revelation. [felt relieved that my tumblesseed days were over: I had made DADGAD ny standard tuning The jauimey, though, was far Crom over DADGAD was to be my standard tun- ing then that meant Pd have to be able to play anything, st that could be played in stan.dard tuning 17 have to relearn the neck, the chord shapes and positions the sounds, intervals, and the layout. My cognitive sense of the fretboard in standard tuning would have to be recalibrated for DADGAD. ‘And getting back to my original goal of fndinga unique voice. found I was in 2 fight against a ready disposition to fall into allthe predictable trappings of such a modal tuning as DADGAD. ! soon found myself following the same patterns a9 everyone ele who was playing in this tuning! [ was doing the most obvious things ever in DADGAD-open strings, D tonalites, using @ «apo. For along time, I played almost exclusively in the key of D. And if I wanted 2 key change, 'é simply usea capo. But that, too, limited the possibilities for choed voieings, which got me right back tothe point of really earning the fretboard, There is certainly nothing wrong with using « c9po, sometimes you have to. Still, though, with a limited understanding ofthe fingerboard, it was very easy to get stuck in the ruts of standard positions and chords, If you agree to go beyond the obvious, you will like most worthwhile things, find challenges-the first among them being steetches. A more subtle challenge, though, wil be the disposition of the open strings. This tuning lends itself many open, Finging strings-so much so that it ean get in the way of the music. You want to be able to control the sustain and the length ‘ofthe sound. You might need to replace a note on one string-ard that includes open ringing strings-with the same note on another in order to geta different sound. But these difficulties c not entirely the fult of the toning. Is more due to alack of active listening when the music is being played. I youl listen carefull, you'l hear the places where a ringing string is interrupting the musieal ides. On the other hhand, you can also take advantage of the strings’ configuration, which happens to include an open bass string that is one fall step lower than in standard. (t's just a matter of common sense. You can ply any music in DADGAD that yeu can play in standard tuning, There might be sore bigger stretches, but some chords will also be easier to play than in standard, ‘And that brings us 0 the subject of musical genres. DADGAD is very big in Celtic settings, and as such, is gotten typecasted tosome degree, Certainly, the modal nature of DADGAD makes for a hand-in-glove fit for much Celtic music. But remember, DADGAD is not a genre-its a tuning. And once you dive into it, you'l find that you can play any kind of rusic, be it Celtic, Juded in this colletion! 1 don’t think it’s extreme to say that an audience shouldr't care what tuning you'te using. A non-musician is jus going to lisen to the musi contempors ys classical, countsy-or jazz. Witness the incredible variety of musi Ifa non-musician starts questioning, “What tuning do you use2” then this is the end of the world for me. AS a musician, I want to make DADGAD completely disappear. | don’t want there to be any active consciousness of the particular tuning Lhappen to be using. And I certainly don't want my audiences tobe distracted by it, You have to play the instrument the music-not the tuning. And that'san ethic each of the fine guitarists presented here have ascribed to, as well DADGADis a tool to be used atthe service of the music. Its a tool that hes helped me to be identified, and to identify myself. Ie gives me confidence. But going from there, I still had to do my homework in arder to sound differently, and to find exiting colors, textures, and harmony, And as always, that’s an undertaking that is also going to include my will te be there, and not rest in automatic mode. How you think about these things 2s a musician opens and closes doors. Let me just say that I love DADGAD. | feel the same about it today as I did 25 years ago. Pierre Bensasaar ‘Chateau-Thierry, France, Janucary 6, 2000