This paper presents the application of the time-domain chirp signal excitation to obtain the dq axis parameters of a synchronous machine model. The latest advances on computation tools have allowed the research of existing and novel experimental procedures for the parameter estimation of synchronous-generator models. Hence, different experimental methodologies to reduce the amount of testing time and to obtain more accurate model parameters have been proposed. The chirp is a linear swept-frequency sinusoidal signal that allows exciting the generator over a specified frequency bandwidth. This excitation is applied to the dq axis positions while the generator is at standstill. The estimation of the fundamental parameters is made by using a hybrid optimization algorithm composed by a genetic and a quasi-Newton algorithm. The proposed test has the advantage of requiring a low testing time. The set of estimated parameters was validated using test data of a sudden three-phase short-circuit fault. A 7 kVA, 220 V, 60 Hz, 1800 r/min, four salient-pole synchronous machine was used to evaluate the proposed estimation approach.