Sam,

I have only been taking lessons or trying to play for about 2 months, mostly just making a sweet noise . The first several weeks of lessons went very slow but I joined a group and that has helped - to running trying to learn. I have a real big problem of not knowing how to strum the right beat or finding where my fingers are to go, so have mush to learn to prevent the choppiness.

On 'Ode to Joy', I had just gotten the Naylor and first time trying to play it or a full size dulcimer ever and wanting to check the tone and all it's sounds out.

I thank you for saying it sounds 'great' because I was holding my breath hoping it would be a good dulcimer to learn with and travel down this journey. I think anyone getting a dulcimer in the beginning is hoping they have made the right choice, for that point in time.

thank you

Hi Marge,

Your Naylor sounds great. The one I had was pleasing as well. Don't know how long you've been playing music, but you are ahead of me.

Have fun with your dulcimer.

Sam

Thank you Helen. I just got the dulcimer a bit ago and learning with it. Not knowing that much about anything dulcimers, it's nice hearing your dulcimer has a nice tone.

Very nice of you to say Brian.I just watched your videos, they were beautiful.

Thank you

Very nice Marg. And I have to agree with others - that dulcimer has a beautiful sound. :)

I posted the video trying to try the different sounds of the dulcimer. I am enjoying playing it, it is much larger than the student size I had, so all my fingers need to stretch more than they did before. Since I have not been playing very long, I didn't have any habits formed as far as finger placement.

Thank you, Benjamin, Stephanie & Beth for watching and posting a comment.I am happy you think the dulcimer has a nice sound, sometimes it hard to tell when you are new.

Nice tone....

Patty

There just isn't enough time in a day to try and learn everything. I am adding new info. all the time and trying things but it is slow going.

Thank you for watching and thinking my dulcimer sounds good.

Marg, your dulcimer sounds good!!! You're doing well for just starting.

Thanks Guy,

Yesterday, I was able to keep keep 2 fingers on their notes while I pulled off a note on the middle string. To see someone do this it looks simple & easy - but no - for me it took me many many tries, but it was so nice to be able to do it in the end.

Yes, lots of slow practice.

Marg, something I do when I'm working on getting a tune down, is to take small little sections of the tune I'm working on and play them through very slowly, working on finding smooth connections between the notes. I often will work on just the transition from one note to another or one chord to another over and over again slowly. Then I'll work on another section slowly, then put the two sections together slowly.

Once I have the whole piece down slowly (this can take weeks), then I get out my trusty metronome and set it so that it is right about at the tempo I've been practicing. The metronome will show you places that need a lot more work. So you may have to actually slow down even more. Once I can play through my song at that slow tempo, I start to bump up the tempo by tiny increments over then next few weeks until I'm playing at the tempo the song needs.

If I notice that I'm having trouble with any sections, there are usually one of two reasons (or both). Either I have the metronome set to fast, or I started using it too soon, in which case I go to either a slower tempo or go back to working on tiny sections that are giving me trouble very slowly without the metronome, practicing the changes from note to note and chord to chord. All this can seem a bit boring when I explain it, but it's really the only way I'm ever able to get a piece of music truly "in my fingers."

Guy just posted a lesson in Legato Fretting techniques.

I am going to practice trying to keep contact, that could be a big help in making my playing sound so much less choppy. If only my mind & fingers were quicker.

Thanks to everyone, the feed back on FOTMD is so helpful and encouraging.

Marg, you are doing very well!

Thank you all, I'm stumbling along but I am happy as I travel down this dulcimer path.

Does a player usually find the spot they think is the sweetest or do they play in different areas of the fretboard, depending on the music?

Watching the videos it looks like some stay close to the same spot and others move up and down. Is it different if you strum or fingerpick or use a noter or just one's style ?

Marg, you have some nice tones coming out of that dulcimer. Keep up the good work!