Forum Activity for @martha-e

Opinion on the best beginner books to start with

Dulcimer Resources:TABS/Books/websites/DVDs

Carol Walker's "DNA* Dulcimer Ditties" Book 1 is a great starter book, especially if you're interested in chord-melody style playing. The dulcimer club here recommends it for newer players. She teaches techniques using a lot of familiar songs, and she provides fingering recommendations so you'll learn how to play the chords as you go. Her store page has a sample tune from the book so you can see what it's like: http://www.musicladycarol.com/store.html

If you're interested in fingerpicking, I'd also recommend Janita Baker's "Fingerpicking Dulcimer" book to go with it, and Sue Carpenter's "Patterns and Patchwork."

updated by @martha-e: 04/03/17 02:24:51PM

I'd recommend getting the 8 1/2 fret, too. When you go to play tunes higher on the fretboard, it will be confusing if you have a different fret pattern than you have in the first octave, and you may not be able to play the same notes and chords that you've played lower on the fretboard.

I hadn't planned on having an 8 1/2 fret put on my main dulcimer with a 1 1/2 fret, but the person building the dulcimer convinced me that it was a good idea. I am very glad now that I listened and had the extra fret put on. My main dulcimer has a VSL that's slightly over 26 inches, and there's plenty of room for the 8 1/2 fret.

Offering sympathy to our dear John Henry

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I am so very sorry for your loss.

 

Hello and welcome!

Dave Haas also has a book of jam tunes called "Let's Jam!"

Hello! One great resource for learning a lot of new jam tunes is Stephen Seifert's Join the Jam Book 1 in DAD tuning. He has a second book, Join the Jam Book 2, with even more jam tunes. They're available from his website and from the Folkcraft and McSpadden websites.

There's a lot of free tab for jam tunes on the Three Rivers Dulcimer Society website, too: http://www.threeriversdulcimersociety.net/html/ourmusic.html

Celtic Tunes Commonly Played on the Dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

One of my favorites is Keel Row:

http://threeriversdulcimersociety.net/Music/Keel%20Row.pdf

Enter FOTMD's 5th Birthday Pickled Dulcimer CONTEST!

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