CGDGAD Tuning, Partial Capo, Timberline Harp Guitar!

Tuning your guitar to CGDGAD and adding a partial capo on the top 5 strings at the 5th fret is a creative setup that opens up some rich harmonic possibilities—especially for fingerstyle and modal/folk-inspired playing. Let’s break it down:

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🪕 Step 1: Tuning — CGDGAD

This tuning is closely related to DADGAD, but with a deeper, more resonant low end. Here’s the string-by-string breakdown:

String	Note	Interval from Standard
6	C	Down 2 whole steps
5	G	Down 2 whole steps
4	D	Standard
3	G	Standard
2	A	Standard
1	D	Down 1 whole step

This tuning gives you:

• A droning low C and G, great for Celtic, modal, and droney folk textures.
• A D5 power chord on strings 4–2 (D-G-A).
• A high D string (instead of standard E), making for nice unison or octave intervals.

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🧰 Step 2: Add Partial Capo — Strings 1–5 at the 5th Fret

Now you add a partial capo across strings 1 through 5 at fret 5, leaving the low 6th string (C) open.

What this effectively does:

• Capoing strings 1–5 at fret 5 raises their pitch by a perfect fourth.
• The open 6th string (C) remains untouched.

So your guitar is now functioning like it’s in standard tuning on capo’d strings—but with a drone on the low C.

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🧩 Resulting Notes with Capo at 5 (Strings 1–5):

String	Open Note (w/ capo at 5)	Function
6	C	Low drone (unchanged)
5	C (G + 5 semitones)	Root (up from G)
4	G (D + 5 semitones)	Fifth
3	C (G + 5 semitones)	Root
2	D (A + 5 semitones)	2nd (nice modal color)
1	G (D + 5 semitones)	5th

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🎵 Sound and Use

The result is a C5-sus2 tonality (C-G-D), with rich open-string resonance and a drone on low C. The partial capo acts like a moveable nut on strings 1–5, giving you a pseudo-open-C sus chord:

C – C – G – C – D – G

This is perfect for:

• Celtic and DADGAD-style melodies
• Slide guitar textures
• Modern ambient fingerstyle
• Modal improvisation (C Mixolydian, C Dorian, etc.)

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🎸 Playing Ideas

Here are a few ideas to explore:

• Melody and drone: Use the open 6th string (C) as a pedal tone, and play melodies on the higher strings.
• Hammer-ons & pull-offs: With the capo’d frets, you can easily create cascading patterns using hammer-ons from the 5th fret.
• Barred power chords: You can bar across strings 2–5 above the capo for simple C5, F5, G5 shapes.

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💡 Bonus Tip

Try fingerpicking with this setup and experiment with these chord shapes relative to the capo’d fret (think of 5th fret as your new “zero”):

• Em shape at fret 2 (actually sounds like Gm with C drone)
• C shape at fret 1 (actually sounds like F with C drone)