Yes, Diane, the song does go round and round and it seems to never want to end (or at least I never want it to). Thanks for listening.

Marr's Guitars: I had to listen a lot, too, but it helped to look briefly at the tab, not so much for the notes, which are pretty straightforward, but just to confirm what you sense, which is that it's a "crooked" tune. It is in 4/4 time but there are a couple of stray 2-beat measures hangin' around. Even now when I play it I am sometimes not sure whether I'm including those notes or ending other phrases too early or what. Thanks for your compliments. But if you really want to learn the song, don't watch me; listen to the recording by David Schnaufer and Stephen Seifert. They are the masters and are much more inventive with the song than am I.

Thanks, Rob. Good example of why I don't put my face in the video. No one would ever say "beautiful" then!

Beautiful, Dusty.

Rob

Why thank you very kindly, Karen.

And congratulations on the new instrument, Phil.

Awesome job!

Thanks Dusty I will head on over there, But it will have to wait till next month. too many bills this month. had to pay car insurance and new plates for the car. also didn't help I bought a new dulcimer Black Mountain 58 Deluxe dulcimer

Phil, there may be tablature available elsewhere, but as I state in the description, I learned this song from the tab and video made available at the Dulcimer School. That is not a free site, but an interactive "school" where Stephen Seifert and occasional guest instructors post instructional materials and then "students"post rehearsals of their own playingand get feedback from Stephen and from one another. It costs $15 a month to join and there is a lot of material there from absolute beginner instruction to really advanced stuff and songs like this one that are somewhere in between. I should be honest that there is less interaction there than I had hoped, but there is just so much content that I've kept up my membership for several months. If you are strapped for cash, you might consider joining for one month, downloading some stuff, and then cancelling your membership. You can always join again later when you've worked through the stuff you downloaded. If you do join, see if you can find me there. I use my legal name there but the avatar picture is the same.

where can I find the tab sheet for this song?

Dusty ! On reflection, I do so wish that you had'nt posted "Elk River" , lol. I used to play it a lot , but apart from my posting of it here, had'nt done so recently. Now I have five dulcimers tuned all the same, trying to decide on which one it sounds the best!!! As for you being able to "play it all day", I was introduced to the tune by JohnS, who describes it on a tab sheet he produced for the tune as being " a simple, hypnotic tune having the essence of the mountain dulcimer within it" Playing noter/drone as I do , it is very easy to see truth in that description ! Look forward to hearing any revisions you may make ?

John

Thanks, Joyce and Greg,for your encouragement. This tune has such a relaxed, rolling sound that I could play it all day.

Joyce and Phil, had I thought about it I would have chosen a different dulcimer to record this song since the 1-1/2 fret seems to be confusing people. And it is thoroughly unnecessary for this song. Strumelia once confessed to me that her main playing dulcimer has a 1-1/2 fret but she doesn't use it on her instructional videos since the extra fret throwspeople off.

Thanks Dusty Don't know why. but I have a need inside me to learn to now play this song.

Just as cool as can be...nice!

Phil, you don't need a 1-1/2 fret for this tune. I only mentioned that because Macy noticed that my fretboard looked "different." The capo is on the 3rd fret soI am playing in the key of G.

really like this Dusty what fret was the capo on? Oh wait I don't have a 1-1/2 fret

John, it is indeed neat to hear the different versions. Now that I have the basic song down I'm hoping to develop a few variations to be able to play it longer without too much repetition, and I'll probably pilfer a bit from your version (like playing on the bass string) as well as Robin's.

Thanks for listening so carefully, Macy. Yes, that dulcimer has a 1-1/2 fret and also an 8-1/2 fret. You can see the 1-1/2 immediately below the capo, for normally there would be one wide fret there butinstead I have two narrow ones.

Dusty, its great that we can all listen to other versions and compare ! Thanks for posting,

John

Nice string bending at 1:05, great sound throughout! Do u have a 1 and 1/2 fret? Something looks diff on your fret board.

Thanks, Carrie and Robin, for listening and your kind words. Robin, I used a similar right hand rhythm in another song and some folks said it sounded like reggae. Jamaica? Hawaii?I don't know. I've listened a lot to the David Schnaufer/Stephen Seifert version of the song and tried to approximate the rhythm of their duet. Maybe I just need a tropical vacation.

Hey Dusty,

That's really sweet playing. It is funny how that melody can sound completely recognisable but so different when played on the fiddle or in noter drone dulcimer or in chord melody dulcimer. The swing you put on the tune makes it sound almost Hawaiin -it is really pretty The noter drone version I did a few week's back sounds quiet Highland in comparison.