Forum Activity for @randy-adams

My wife had a Bougainvillea houseplant and set it outside in the summer. It did well and I took a casual interest in it and we would talk about it occasionally.

I was in Mexico with friends and we would walk to breakfast. The first day I noticed a Bougainvillea plant climbing a fence beside the road. A few blocks long.

The second day someone said look at that beautiful plant on the fence wonder what kind it is?

Nobody spoke up so I said "it's a Bougainvillea".

I felt so knowledgeable!.

Ok.... I don't know nothing about nothing except for this. I made a dulcimer and set the frets by gosh and by golly. Strived for pure 5ths and octaves and 6ths, etc. like whatever I knew sounded good. I tune it DAA, DAd, mostly DGC. Every time I change tunings or change pitch much I have to move the bridge back or forth so things are right. Usually have to compromise on the 1st fret and here and there. I get over it! I jiggle it until I get it to where I can live with it. I can set an equal temperament by ear on a piano but I'm not as particular with the dulcimer as I used to be... and that's a good thing to be free of.

You have always explained things so well Robin.

That's a funny name! I prefer the 25" - 26" scale for whatever style I play.

Quote: Well, fast forward to Spring and yes , we've got the new 14 foot square back kitchen screened porch lined up, in the works!  The workmen are set to start tearing down the old porch in a couple of weeks, and once they start it shouldn't take more than 3 weeks to finish up.  I can't WAIT!!!    

 This is going to be a major upgrade to our at home lifestyle.  I am envisioning sitting out there enjoying Summer salads, playing music, sipping ice tea in the shade while overlooking the beehives and the veggie garden, lanterns and crickets in the evenings (and screened, so no mosquitoes!)... 

That's nice Lisa. 14' x 14' is a good size. You'll enjoy it!

My dulcimers are EQ and pass my ear test, sounds sweet to me!

When this subject comes up and several N/D players start singing the praises of the JI I think it's important for someone, in this case me, to pipe up and say that the JI is far too limited a scale to hold value for me. ....for reasons I've posted before.

Ken

If I was gonna play this tune I'd play it something like this. No tab but you can see the frets?

Tuned EBe. Key of E right? I use octave high bass string.

Sorry I'm not centered in the picture...I'm a pretty piss poor videographer

I  sure like the sound you get here Bob. That's a heckava good tune 

I understand your reticence. When you do an interview you have no control over the final content and the author may not understand the subject well enough to present a good look. 

This reporter knows what she's talking about and does a nice job.

Did the price of Prichard repros just go up?... : )....Ha! ....glad I got mine before you got famous!

Nice article Kevin...f'sure...

Lisa....that's John playing the dulcimer there...I'd recognize that index finger anywhere!

John came up with his own way of explaining and simplifying the sometimes wild and deep talk about modes.. made superb sense talking about "home fret" and "gapped scales"....playing 2 or 3 or 4 modes in one tuning.....clarified my thinking f'sure...

I mess up on every tune at some point Robin!

Other tunings of the same ilk are:

AEAB - which is the equivilant to double C tuning tuned down to A

AEAc# - open C tuned down

AEAC - A minor

You are probably familiar with these tunings?

Robin

I assume you're tuning down to AA'EAe right? Tuning down to A gives enough room on the top end to get that e note....w/o changing strings.

I use the tuning. I can't remember if I started using it on the dulcimer first or the banjo but it works with both. Good drones!

Here's a tune I posted a few years ago tuned AEAe

There are a minority of people who can tell the difference of sound between different woods used in musical instrument construction and the different shapes used....what percentage I don't know...10%?...20%?...5%?...

Whenever this subject comes up the majority, who can't hear the difference, claim there is 0%...... : )....

Me?....I used to be in the minority when I was younger and willing to put forth the effort to listen and concentrate intensely....now I'm in the majority... : ).....

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Almost everyone can agreed that different woods have definite tonal characteristics. For one example https://www.taylorguitars.com/blog/guitars-more/tone-talk-rosewood-mahogany-and-maple

Yet when someone in these dulcimer forums asks what kind of wood they could use to get such and such a sound the standard response seems to be "just pick out the wood you find pleasing and the builder can make it sound any way you want." 

Shouldn't a dulcimer be made to focus on the tonal characteristics of the wood with which it is built?

my 2 cents....I never use peg dope/chalk/soap etc on my wooden pegs. They work good with nuthin. If they started acting up I'd try a remedy....if they were slipping I'd rough 'em up a little with sandpaper....if they were sticking I'd polish the pegs and the hole. Tried a substance 20 years or so ago and didn't like it....felt spongy.....once you use something you gotta keep using it....you never know....I'd use a substance if I had to....

There's only 2 strings to tune right? One of the three is already in tune! 

I've enjoyed reading the posts in this thread. 

My brother Rex had a harmonica and he could play it!  I couldn't believe it. 

I got myself one. In 1971 & 72 I was driving a concrete truck. Lots of waiting around to load and unload so I brought my harmonica and learned how to play it. 

I've always been a fiddle tune and old time song player 

Will post vid later can't do it from phone 

Jim

Your friend Willie Bennett is a heckuva good harmonica player and singer.

Kristi...speaking of rodeo as a common activity. I'm in the construction biz and about 25 years ago Mexicans became the predominate workforce here in NE. Most of our guys come from a little town 'Agua del Medio, about 60 miles southeast of San Luis Potosi.....they're country boys f'sure.

So we got hired to pour concrete in the stalls and hallways of an existing horse barn....maybe 50 stalls or so. The guys picked up a rope hanging on the wall and could rope everything! The owner saw them and got them on horseback and they could do all the rodeo skills. I had a hard time getting the owner to let them get back to work!

Some of the prettiest old time music I've heard is played in the chord melody style. It's legit. Congratulations to all three winners!

McSpadden would send along the alternate bridge for a couple of bucks?

If you please I'd be more specific? There are 2 noter movements in particular I avoided for a while. They are eighth notes played with a quick flick of the wrist....& there ain't no such thing as a slow flick right?....you either flick it or you don't! That 7-8-7 and its reverse cousin and more difficult 4-3-4 are tough to get to sound clear. Of course the higher up the fretboard these movements are used the easier it gets b/c the frets are closer together. Use the force !

BTW I hear Robin using these noter movements in her playing.

"It's a timing thing that I can't think about too much...."

Robin...this is so true with my noter playing too. Like...if I'm flatpicking a tune and have trouble with a passage I can repeat, repeat the troublesome measure or two at a slower tempo and eventually my fingers can figure it out. But with noter playing I find there are certain techniques that I can only get going by playing them up to speed....slowing them down doesn't help so much....hard to explain.

"Use the force Luke!"

Once I started thinking about going with the force I could play passages I once avoided with the noter. Sometimes I get 'em and sometimes I don't but the more I play the better I can navigate the tricky techniques by just going for it and trusting the force......: )....f'real....