Discovered DGAD triads.

So after all the initial thinking about the DGAD concept, I finally got the chance to sit down and find some triads with my fingers, in real time.

On first impression at least:  me likey.

It's pretty logical.  I started with the top three strings (so, GAD) and my primary "learning box":  closed position, advance the chord tone on each string for each inversion.  In only a couple of places did it seem like finger gymnastics started to come into play;  in that regard these triads are conspicuously easier than the Guitar Craft tuning's intervals (a P5 and m3, as opposed to a M2 and a P4 here, on those top three strings).  In the GC tuning, on the top three strings it's actually much easier to produce sevenths than triads.  The availability of a quick "tonally useful" barre on all three strings was also pretty common, and I suspect I'd use that in improvising.

It was also quick.  I've certainly developed a bit of practice at this "discovering triads" thing, but it seemed quick to permute the shapes to cover major, minor and diminished (and even a really convenient V7 right under the root triad with root on top) in all the inversions.  As is my usual wont, I started practicing them "through the scale" in all of the ways I do that:  in C, I would first 1) play ascending C, C/E, C/G, then Dm, Dm/F, Dm/A, then Em, Em/G, Em/B, etc., returning to the nut rather than going above the octave;  then 2) play all the root inversions (C, Dm, Em, etc.) then all the third inversions (C/E, Dm/F, Em/G, etc.) and all the fifth inversions (C/G, Dm/A, Em/B, etc.);  and finally 3) play the ascending scale with the "next available" chord--in C, that is C/G at the nut, then Dm/A (2fr), then Em/G (nut), F/A (2fr), G (nut), Am (2fr), Bdim (3fr), and then the next C in root inversion at the fifth fret...followed by Dm (7fr), Em/B (4fr), F/C (5fr), G/B (4fr), Am/C (5fr), Bdim/D (7fr), leading into C/E (9fr), Dm/F (10fr), Em (9fr), F (10fr), G/D (7fr), Am/E (9fr), Bdim/F (10fr), and concluding with the C/G at the octave.  It flows really nicely.

A little practice with these.  Next, I'll see how things differ when using the DGA strings, rather than the GAD ones.  Different voicings in the same "fret positions"; it will just be the fingerings which may change.

Then, diatonic sevenths, both across three strings and four.  I've already practiced a little bit with permuting the triads directly, as that is often exactly the musical effect I want, but this will deserve more study.

Regarding the CGDGAD tuning which my interest in this topic is built around (see here), it looks like I may want to start thinking more generally in terms of three-adjacent-string chords;  with that tuning I've got four different groups of 'em, and only one with the same string interval throughout.  A lot of possibility but also a lot of stuff to internalize.  The three-string-chord concept will also apply much more directly to the fretless, and there's more possibility of having another left-hand finger available that way.  And as Jethro Burns first taught me, three-string chords are easier to alter on the fly.

More as it comes, but for now I admit: triads make me happy.  :-)