This is so much fun! Thanks Dusty!

@Marg, I'll try to put another video together in a day or two, but remember that you can slow down any YouTube video. Just click the gear icon and choose "playback speed."

Also the pattern I show on paper tells you exactly what direction to strum in and on what beats. If you have trouble, it might be that you're moving too fast.  Your first step should be to strum out on the beat as you count slowly 1-2-3-4.  Once you can do that steadily, then add the in-strums as you count the eighth notes 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &, going out on the numbers and in on the &s.  Once you can do that steadily without thinking about it, then you can move to more complicated rhythms.  In this one, we skip 2 strums.  We skip the in strum on the & following the 1 beat and we skip the out on the 3, so we go out    out-in    in out-in.

I don't know if this text will help or not, but try slowing down the video and perhaps downloading the strum pattern, which you can find here .

If I get a chance in the next couple of days I'll try to make another video.

Thanks for this But:

I see your pattern of the strum but when you start to strum you go too fast for me to see what you are doing. I don't hear the rhythm, I need to see it.

   Next time you do a video of a rhythm, could you start the strums off slow, saying what you are doing like in, in   out   out, in out - etc. - thanks

m.

Hi Blissness, you can find the longer lesson here: Dusty's Flatpicking Guitar Technique for Modern Mountain Dulcimer .  It is not a professional video by any means, so don't expect high production value.

The link is to the first part.  If you go to the very beginning of the discussion (you have to click "Show More Comments" once or twice to get there) you will see the second and third parts and a table of contents.  The first video demonstrates how to develop a steady back-and-forth strumming pattern. The second video demonstrates some variations that enhance that strumming pattern (stressing, muting, etc.). And the third video demonstrates how to mix single-note runs into that pattern.  I hope you'll find it helpful.  Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Where is the longer lesson you mention?  i love this song and your instruction is helpful. Thank you so much.

Thanks, Marion. I just worked on this stuff with my local dulcimer group. It is indeed true that it might take a bit of time before new players can really master the strum here, at least well enough to play the melody, too. But hey, I first started strumming a guitar almost 40 years ago, so it ought to seem easy for me!

Dusty thanks for the great tutorial andplaying. Makes me want to jump a plane and head south to some warm island. Also, I have never seen a cat-sized dulcimer played before.

That's very nice of you to say, Mary. Thank you.

Well thank you kindly, Helen.

Hi Maryann. This would be a nice song to do at a jam. It's got a nice rhythm, only two chords, and an easy melody to find on the dulcimer. Plus, everyone would be singing about you!

My favorite strum pattern! Dusty, ya done good!

My dear Miss Geekling, I certainly don' want to pressure anyone to play chords. But you do play chords already. You play chords all the time. Anytime you play three notes at the same time, you are playing a chord. So when you fret the 2nd fret on your melody string in DAd or your 5th fret in DAA, you are playing a D chord. That means you are already playing half of all the chords you need for this song. The only other chord is 101 in DAd or 104 in DAA. Even if you are not used to chording, certainly you can try that.

If you don't want to play chords, that's fine. But if you don't think you can, I would argue with you. You can do it.

But I think I'll pass on the Legionnaire's Disease. To be honest, I thought that one had disappeared like the plague or cholera or polio. Next thing they'll be telling us TB is making a comeback (woops! it actually is!)

Sicily? Isn't that the scene of the crime? Isn't that where you first got sick? Maybe it was the sardines, huh?

If you wanted to play this just on the melody string, you would probably want to tune to DAA since the melody goes down to the C# on the second fret of the middle string the way I play it.

However, if you want to just strum and sing, please give the chords a chance. All you need is 002 for the D and 101 for the A.

Thanks, Karen. I put it together in response to a specific issue someone was having trying to mix right hand rhythms with left hand fingering. Hopefully it will help. I think you and John could have probably done a better job yourselves.

Thanks, Bucko. The Eedy Beede has a nice chime to it. I'm only playing here to demonstrate a strum, but a while back I did post a tune or two on it. Finding the right repertoire is key. The dulcimer has a nice tone but not much sustain, so it doesn't work well for slow tunes at all.

Dig the sound of that octave dulcimer!