Forum Activity for @strumelia

At our house, Wintertime means... cats creating 'impact craters' on our feather bed. Or trying to turn over in the middle of the night but your legs pinned down by a ten ton cat.

Here's what I found the other morning when the sun was shining into our bedroom.
Our two big boys nestled in like Siamese twin pork roasts.  Rufus (the red) and Teddy (the grey), who grew up together and are like close brothers even though they're not actually related. When these two are not sleeping or eating, they're tearing around the house while hollering or happily doing body slam wrestling with each other. Boys! 

Awe, what a lucky dog Hazel is!  The hat is too much!  

Yes Callie is so pretty - her colors, and she looks like a sweetheart personality.  

Irene, that's delightful!

I love that description of the Grim Reaper 'film' Bob.  

I recommended that Lisa might want to look at Feather dulcimers, which come in various smaller scale lengths and are sturdy enough to take camping etc.  Again, all this is good info that can be found in our Fotmd's Little Dulcimers Group.

Lisa, you wrote me privately for advice on this, so I gave you my personal opinions on it already.  However, I'd encourage anyone interested in shorter dulcimers to join our  Little Dulcimers Group  and read some of the threads on it... lots of good info and recommendations, also @dusty-turtle posted a great list there comparing sizes and makes of short scale dulcimers!

-remember folks you need to JOIN a group in order to read all the replies to threads in the group, and see the comments.

We can continue discussing these current thread questions here in this thread (post on!), but I'd like to suggest that if anyone has additional NEW questions, that they create a new discussion in our Beginner Group with their new question in the title... if it's not directly related to the questions we're already discussing in this thread.  I try to encourage folks to create a new thread if they have a question with entirely new subject matter.  That way other folks can find the helpful info in the future if they do a site search for those terms.  Thanks and carry on!  

@ken-hulme , if you want to "gently discourage" someone, I suggest you  try maybe using a slightly smaller sledgehammer.   

@pondoro asks: "Saw the info for the gathering in Berea, it seems DAd is not allowed? Should I learn DAa instead? How often do you all retune? Between songs in a set?"   Pondoro, I think it's not so much that DAd is 'not allowed' at Berea.  It's more that by being in DAA for noter style you'll be starting out in synch with almost all the other players there, you'll be able to follow the same TABS if tabs are used at all, and most importantly that DAA (1-5-5) tuning in noter style will give you more of the typical needed notes on your melody string to play the majority of simple traditional tunes likely to be played at that gathering.  It'll make things way easier for you to pick up playing the tunes along with the other folks there. And since you will not be chording at Berea anyway, in switching from DAd to DAA you won't need to learn a new bunch of 'chord fingerings' anyhow.  It'll be pretty easy, especially if you learn two or three super 'easy-peazy' noter style tunes in DAA before going there... like Go Tell Aunt Rhody. Try tuning to DAA and playing the TAB for Rhody HERE .  Here's another very simple beginner DAA tab for a real fun traditional song to play and sing: " Single Girl, Married Girl ". 
Working through those two tabs alone in DAA will really get you your sea legs for Berea, Pondoro.  
And HERE is a very simple explanation as to why DAA tuning may be actually easier than DAd when playing in noter style.

Lastly, don't worry nobody's going to want to retune after every other song at Berea.  That'd be too much work and nobody's getting any younger...hahahah! Seriously though- most likely they'll play a whole bunch of tunes in DAA before making a switch to perhaps DAC to play a bunch of lonesome sounding tunes for a while. Everyone there will help and encourage you, and it'll be easier and more fun than you might think!

DAd tuning Bonus :  Here's a traditional song with TAB and fun lyrics that is in mixolydian mode (so it uses the 6 fret and not the 6.5 fret), so if you want you can play it noter style in DAd tuning with the 'home' note on the open string. Here I tabbed it in a reverse tuning in the key of G, but my TAB numbers will work just exactly the same  and you'll have all the notes you need right on the melody string if played in DAd tuning: Oh My Little Darlin' . 

Hope this helps!

Looking at dowel selections at HomeDepot, Lowe's, and my local True Value hardware stores, I see of dowels made variously from oak, maple, and poplar. All those are considered hardwoods. Lots of folks don't want softwood dowels for their fine wood projects. Sometimes there are pine dowels offered too, but those are softwood and not what you'd want for a noter.  If you're not sure you can ask the sales person to make sure the dowel is from hardwood, but most decent sized hardware stores do carry some hardwood dowels. In a pinch, people sometimes even use popsicle sticks, which are made from birch (another hardwood, but it's cut thin so may not last very long).  

Hi @dtortorich ,

Since this is a discussion called "Introduce Yourself", most members don't think to read it in order to answer questions.  If you have specific questions about music and/or dulcimers, you'll greatly improve your chances of getting helpful answers if you create a new discussion in the General forum that has a title related to your question , such as maybe "Good medleys of Christmas Carols?", "Pickling Pickled Peppers song?", etc.  When members see a new discussion like that, they'll often go read it and respond in that discussion if they know answers.
When you click the top link to "Forums", you can then click on the General dulcimer/music forum.... once there, click the "+" Plus button to create a NEW discussion with your question and your own thread title. 

Thanks and welcome to FOTMD!  

Thanks for my laugh of the day, Robin!  

Irene....all i can say is wow. Wonderful and amazing little peek into your music playing life.    And.. 14? You go, girl.

Does anyone know if Randy W is still around?  Even if his book is now out of print, perhaps if he knew folks were looking for them, he'd be willing to zerox a handful of copies for people, for a reasonable price of course.

Aw, that's terrible news. A great loss for so many music loving folks. My heart goes out to Mike's family.

McSpadden would be a great and reliable choice in your price range.  It's very well regarded, sounds wonderful, and you can resell it easily later on if you want.

Mark, i'm encouraging you to join our site's Beginner Group (click on Groups link at top of page)- and read several discussions there about advice on buying a first dulcimer- lots of good info there!    Be aware to in order to read the actual discussions ib Groups, you have to JOIN that group.  You can unjoin the group eaisily at any time, btw.

Beware of that big site that has paid to come up on top when you do searches for 'best dulcimer'. I saw that site and it's really just a big paid links ad disguised as a helpful dulcimer site. it's content simply consists of stuff they've pulled from other sites, too... they have not created their own content.

Pondoro, the way to describe your various notes in the different octaves would be:

D3 (bass string), A3 (middle string), d4/d4 for the double course of melody strings.  DAdd

Joy to the World is a good example showing the difference between DAA and DAd tuning.

The song 'sits' in a different place on the fret board with each of those two tunings.

In DAA (where the home/tonic note is on the 3rd fret) you would start those first 4 notes (Joy to the world) on these frets: 10, 9, 8, 7.  The next 4 notes will be on frets :  6, 5, 4, 3.  (the 10th fret is the highest note in the whole song)  You will be able to play the entire song on the melody string alone, with accompanying open drone strings. You will be using the 6 fret but not the 6.5 fret.

In DAd tuning (the home tonic note is on the open melody string) you would start those first 4 notes (Joy to the world) on these frets: 7, 6.5, 5, 4.  The next 4 notes will be on frets :  3, 2, 1, 0.  (the 7th fret is the highest note in the whole song)  You ALSO will be able to play the entire song on the melody string alone, with accompanying open drone strings. BUT if you want to make chords, you can fret all strings.  You will be using the 6.5 fret but not the 6 fret. 

You can play by fretting the melody only on the melody string (or the double melody course) and leaving the other strings to sound open as DRONES.... OR you can fret all strings with your finger and make CHORDS that way, and maybe use flatpicking. That's called chord/melody style and it's the more modern style of playing.  If playing on only the melody string, many folks find DAA tuning more useful.  If chording, many folks find DAd more useful.  However, either tuning can be used for both styles of playing.  

A good way to start out (after you reverse those strings! haha) is to just pick a very simple tune to play, and get your tuning right and try to play it... either on the melody string with open drones, or by making simple chords by fretting all strings. Dont' try to understand everything at first-  it's too much to process mentally. Best way is to try a simple tune, maybe Jingle Bells, or I Saw Three Ships, or Good King Wencislas (did I spell that right?).  Remember what Ken said- if you're in DAA tuning, the key note/home note will be on your third fret.  If in DAd tuning, the home/key note will be on your Open melody string. (sometimes referred to as the "zero fret").

Pondoro, 99.99 % of all mtn dulcimers do not have their fattest 'bass' string in the middle position. I advise you to switch your fat bass string to the position of being farthest away from you when holding the dulcimer in your lap, with the tuning peghead on your left.  Then, you can tune it (from bass to melody) D3, A3, d4.  OR you could tune it D3, A3, A3. (the D3 being the lowest/bass string).

If you don't switch those strings, you are going to have a very confusing time of it and you will not be able to follow any Tabs written for DAd or DAA.  It's going to cause you a whole lot of headaches. Either intentionally or unintentionally, that dulcimer was strung in an 'experimental' manner that will prove to be incredibly frustrating. 

Think of it as though someone reversed two strings randomly on a guitar... imagine what a terrible time some guitar student would have trying to learn to make chords and play guitar when all teaching material and all other players had their strings normally laid out.  I strongly advise you to swap your middle and bass string so the bass/fattest string is the one furthest from your body when playing, and the medium thick string should be in the middle position.

Your dulcimer is not a tenor banjo, and my advise is to stop thinking in terms of your tenor banjo tuning. I mean, plenty of folks have experimentally tried tuning their dulcimers like guitars, or like banjos... but the problem with that is that they can't then use any of the wealth of dulcimer teaching material available, and they will have a hard time relating to anything dulcimer players are talking about with tunings, fingerings, chords, tab, etc. It all goes out the window because it can't apply to your dulcimer.

When you imitate the tuning of a different instrument, the immediate benefit of feeling you are already 'familiar' with how to play is pretty quickly outweighed by being 'stuck' in that tuning and string positioning that nobody else uses, and as a beginner dulcimer player you won't be able to get much help from others or from learning materials. 

A couple of things: 

The usual way of writing/describing the tuning on a mtn dulcimer is to name the bass string first, melody string(s) last. Thus, DAd means the bass string is in the lower octave (thus it is capitalized)... the middle string is the A above that D.... and the melody string is the d an octave higher than the bass string (thus it's usually in lower case letter d).  In DAA tuning, the bass string is low D, the middle string is the A above that note, and the melody string is the exact same A note as the middle string.

There are some links with actual tuning aids here:  https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-notes-do-i-tune-my-strings-to.html

As to your tenor banjo- do you mean your banjo lowest string when you say 4th string? If so, you may be tuning the dulcimer en entire octave too low. check the above tuning aids in the links.

When you say 'near to far'- do you mean your Bass string is tuned to a low A and middle string to the even LOWER D3 ? if so, then that tuning is not right.  If you are going for DAA, the bass string will be low D.  If you want DAd (or DAdd), the bass string is low D and the melody string(s) will be the d an octave higher.  Most folks talk in terms of bass, middle, and melody strings, rather than near to far. And tunings are usually described in the sequence of from Bass to melody. That way we can all be on the same page and avoid broken strings!  ;)

Are you holding your dulcimer flat on your lap?  Just asking, since not everyone does.

Pondoro, that is terrific!  Sounds like you and your dulcimer are going to have a grand adventure for sure.

Old time folk tunes and carols are a wonderful choice to start out playing- the dulcimer can play all kinds of music including classical, blues, jazz, etc... but its an old folk instrument that was originally mostly used in playing American folk/fiddle/dance music, ballads, and hymns, which includes many carols. Mountain dulcimers are like ducks in water when it comes to that particular playing repertoire.

You'll get lots of good advice here on FOTMD.  I'm a little biased myself, but I'll go ahead and recommend that you start with DAA tuning and playing the melody only on the melody strings (or the double melody course).  You can try out playing in the real old traditional style using a noter stick, or your finger. Once you get your bearings you can also try out chord playing and/or fingerpicking styles, and other cool tunings like chord-friendly DAd and lonesome-sounding DAC.  There are different styles of playing and each one has its own special charm and sound. 
For beginner melody-only style playing with open drone strings, may I suggest you explore my noter-drone BLOG for traditional ducimer playing style- it has many beginner tabs and videos to help with strumming patterns and other general playing tips for beginners:   https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/    Be sure to start reading from the oldest posts first, the ones from 2009.

If you find a local dulcimer club or jam to play with, you might find that they play in chord style in DAd tuning, and usually play only from TAB together.  If you like what you observe there, you can join them in learning that way of playing, but you should know that you can also play along with them in DAA or with a noter... or in fingerpicking style. The point is, as long as you are all playing in the same key, there are ways that different playing styles can play together harmoniously. Never lose sight of having FUN and never get discouraged!  The mountain dulcimer is an amazing and forgiving friend- it truly allows you to find great joy in playing music- no matter how simple or how complex your playing level or your chosen approach is, and no matter what your musical background and taste is.  

P.S. I think you needn't worry about anything beyond that 10th fret for a good while yet. You may very well encounter tunes you want to use second octave frets for, but... some folks never play up there, ever!  lolol  In other words, you don't 'have to know' how to play above the 10th fret... you could literally spend a lifetime exploring wonderful tunes that never go above it. If and when you're ready to play up there, you'll know it and it won't be a big deal.

I've always found slipping wooden pegs to be nicely cured with a minor treatment of Peg Drops liquid. You can't lose anything by trying it out before opting to completely change to geared pegs.

Wood pegs tend to slip more in the Winter dry indoor weather. The Peg Drops liquid is made with rosin and provides a nice even very thin film of 'grip'- makes tuning/moving them smoother, and pegs then will hold.  You need to unwind the string and remove each peg in turn, put 2 or 3 (no more than that!) drops and evenly turn the peg in place to spread where the peg touches against the wood. Then restring the string, tune up with a little less tension than usual, and let the drops 'cure' overnight before tuning up to normal.

People get nervous and distracted when recording themselves, and might speed up or slow down without realizing it. A metronome program can help during recording, especially if you can set it to light blinks only... so you don't wind up recording the sound of the metronome as well!  

Stephen can you elaborate on this? I'm not sure exactly what you mean by 'alternate strumming' and 'exceptions'... sounds intriguing!

Myself, I tend to keep my strumming motions going even when not hitting the strings.. and I don't usually like it much when players slowly speed up tunes ...maybe I'm old fashioned or something, but it feels vaguely 'disturbing' to me somehow. 

Welcome StringHopper and TwoGunBob!

(..I'm a secret HP Lovecraft fan myself)

I'd like to say that Ken's two articles have stood the test of time and are regularly inquired about by beginners. Since the demise of EverythingDulcimer .com, along with its go-to collection of articles, I've noticed that folks do continue asking about where to find Ken's articles. Finding these kinds of resources on random Facebook groups is next to impossible.
Thus, it makes sense to have these be more easily located on FOTMD than they were in the past.

Thanks Ken for your efforts in writing them and in helping out dulcimer beginners over the years.

Ask and ye shall receive.

I've replaced the old pdf in that thread with the revised PDF that gives the correct octave in the tuning instructions. 

Here's the link to it in FOTMD's Resources forum, and I pinned it to the top position:

https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/dulcimer-resourcestabs-books-websites-dvds/17129/i-just-got-a-dulcimer-now-what-article

And I also put one in the Beginner's Group, here:

https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group_discuss/2316/ken-hulmes-i-just-got-a-dulcimer-now-what-article

Additionally, I pinned Ken's "Get Noterized" article thread to the top of the Traditional Playing Style Forum, here:

https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/traditional-style-playing-drone-and-or-noter-discussions/4616/get-noterized-article

AND I put another thread with the Get Noterized article in the Old Style Noter Drone GROUP, here:

https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group_discuss/2317/ken-hulmes-get-noterized-article

Cool!  E E A, eh?

Well it's wonderful that you are exploring both the balalaika in its native state and the mtn dulcimer!  If you ever can post a video of a simple tune on your balalaika I'm sure we'd all love to watch it!  

Kevin (and others), please be aware that the pdf you attached is an older version of Ken's article which contains a problematic mistake when instructing how to tune.
At the bottom of page 8 it says to tune the Bass string to D4, the D to the right of and higher than Middle C (C4) on a piano.  This is incorrect and you will break all your strings if you start there and go up.
Instead, be sure to tune the Bass string to D3 ...the D LOWER than and to the left of Middle C on a piano.  Thus, tuning to DAd is actually D3, A3, d4  (d4 being the high melody d string)

I believe Ken has since corrected this error in his article.  But there are incorrect versions are still floating around out there in internet land.

Here's some more links to tuning assistance:

https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-notes-do-i-tune-my-strings-to.html

Well I think one important question would be ...what kind of music do you want to play on your balalaika?  They look to be chromatically fretted, so if you 'don't' aim to play specific Russian kinds of music, you could just tune the 3 strings however you wanted... in intervals like mandolin/fiddle 5ths, like a dulcimer, like 3 strings of a guitar, or like a 3 string Uke.  The only limits are the fact of only 3 strings.  The scale length would tell you what gauge strings to put on once you've decided on the tuning you want.

The other approach is if you want to tune it and play it in traditional balalaika style.  Sometimes there are youtube instructional videos that you can follow for beginners of any instrument- that are in another language but are not all that hard to follow- just listen for and duplicate the tuning being used, and then do along with what the video person is doing.

Wow @susie , those dogs are livin' the life !

That Gracie is a real firecracker !!         What a terrific photo, Sam!

Awwww, Dulcicat you made my day!  

Thanks Dusty!

I'd just like to add as well that once you have the chat pane open and the four buttons visible, the bottom one minimizes the chat pane a gain... but the other buttons widen/narrow the width and the top button pops the chat out into its own new browser window.

And... don't be afraid to hover your mouse over 'mystery' buttons or icons- often you'll get a little 'help explanation' popup telling what the button will do!

Like Dusty said!   :)

Here's a picture in case you need more detail:

A lot of the instruments he made over his lifetime were inventive hybrids of various instruments or instrument parts (like in one case using a cello body) in varying combinations. He was a big experimenter in design.

Many also had very creative fret pattern arrangements.  I think if an instrument has a diatonic (or partially diatonic) fret pattern, that doesn't necessarily mean it's a 'dulcimer'.  

Many of his hybrid instruments were quite showy, clearly intended to impress. Certainly JJNiles was well known for making 'grand flourishes'-  in his concert music performances, in his writings, his luthier output, even in the multitude of composed (and posed) photos taken of him. He was a unique person.

Robin, I'll need to pull that CD out and look it over.. it's been quite a few years now since i wrote that review.  I can do this tomorrow around midday.   :)

Hmm.. I'm thinking if one doesn't want to risk marring the finish by using stickers to indicate certain notes on the psaltery, then you could maybe just tie (or even wind and then tie) a small piece of colored yarn around certain zither pins and cut the ends short.  Once you got familiar and didn't need them anymore, you could just cut the yarn off... or cut certain ones off one at a time as you learn more about where the notes are.