Forum Activity for @tom-mcdonald

What Are You Working On?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I'm working on a blues song about bees and beekeeping, and could use some help.

One of my tasks at this time of year is getting new bees to replace winter losses. Opening up the top of my hives and basically pouring money in the top to keep them going provided my inspiration. I'm down by half this year, an improvement over the 80% hit I took last year. And a lot of practical beekeeping seems to consist of stacking heavy boxes while trying to keep from getting stung. So there are things to be blue about.

That, and I need some new material.  Maybe "Hive Beetle Blues" or "Varrora Mite Blues." My bees done left me, I'm so sad... stuff like that.

You know your dulcimer has a hold on you when...

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I've got one jam group scheduled on Skype and another on Zoom in the next week or so. Test runs so far show that the what works is for the leader to play and while everyone else mutes their mic and plays along. Otherwise the lag is too much. Hoping it works out.

John E. Wood 1930-2015

OFF TOPIC discussions

Done, Jan, and thank you for the idea. John came to the noter-drone jam in Ohio in 2012. He happened to live right in the area. He was real pleasure to be around, and a great musical talent too.

I posted two videos with John back then. I hope no one minds if I put links here too.

John's limberjack

Amazing Grace . John in on the right, closest to the camera.

Any one ever use this on their dulcimer to adhere an external pick up?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I updated the post. Pics should be there now.

Any one ever use this on their dulcimer to adhere an external pick up?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I love my Myers pickup. The suction cup didn't work for me either. I don't have a flat space that is big enough, and it doesn't stick all that well anyway. Also, had to work around my soundholes-are-knotholes design.

After several false starts, I settled on removable velcro. I like the decal idea, though, and will try the command strips. The removable velcro itself doesn't come off, but the two parts don't stick to each other very well. The cord to the amp can pull the pickup off.

updated by @tom-mcdonald: 01/22/16 01:35:18PM

Only in West Virginia?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I've seen them at the Kentucky Craft Center, just off I-75 in Berea. There were a couple of Warren May instruments, and examples from a couple of other Kentucky builders

Thanks, Babs. I've got a pretty decent sheet on harmonica bending at home. It's part of a "harmonica for the dulcimer player" course that I teach. I'm away for work right now, but I'll post it when I get back.

When you bend a note on harmonica, you are getting the lower-pitched reed to vibrate at a sympathetic frequency to the higher note.

Briefly, achieving a draw bend is a lot easier than a blow bend. Of those, the 4 draw and 7 blow are the easiest, so start there. Whistle a note, and drop to a lower note. Feel how your tongue drops down as you do this? Do the same thing on the draw note, and pull the air into that back of your throat. For the blow bend, start with a clear note. As you are blowing, put your tongue up right behind your teeth, and give a high-pressure hiss. Imagine playing with a French accent.

Also (whether bending of not) use your tongue as a valve to start and stop your air, like saying Ta, instead of starting and stopping your breathing.

If you hear the note change at all as you do these exercises, then you've got it. The rest is just a matter of control.

Babs Greene said:

That's a great in-depth post, Tom, which will help me work across the entire 3-string range making use of the full range on the harmonica, instead of the current 4-7 holes which I've been basing things around (plus a hole either side as required etc).

One quick question, though it may be difficult to answer, unless you can link me to a youtube vid which will be of help, how does a person perform 1/2, 1/4 bends (+ two others, is it, full bend and 3/4??)on the blow andthe draw holes/notes? If it's even possible to explain how that's done, of course; I knew the drawnotes had available bends but until the other day hadn't realised that the blow notes also have bends available and frankly no idea how to go about the bend on the blow notes.

Are you thinking of harmonica tab, Phil? Or standard music notation? Can you post a link to whatever you are trying to convert? It would be easier to show you using your specific example than to just speak in generalities.

phil said:

I think I under stand that. but the problem I have is how do you change something form the key of C to the Key D I seem to can't get a handle on how to do that.

Getting started on this project, converting harmonica tab to dulcimer tab.

Many times, people want dulcimer tab for a popular song, and can't find any. We can't help much here due to copyright restrictions. However, you can google most any song title you can think of, followed by the words "harmonica tab" and find something to suit. Convert using a chart, maybe add some chords, and presto! your own instant dulcimer arrangement. And legal, too. You can learn any song you like and play it for yourself.

Here are some ideas to get us started. To use these scale layouts with a minimum amount of muttering under your breath when things don't work out, I recommend locating the highest and lowest note on the source tab first, and get those placed. That will keep you from starting too low, and discovering that you run out of room at the low end of the dulcimer three quarters of the way through the song. That said, use the lowest fret numbers possible to start. Don't overlook the middle and bass strings to find the notes you need.

For my example, I'm going to use Fare Thee Well. It is early enough to be public domain. Also, it's a song I don't know well, so I can give Babs Greene's idea a good trial. Here are two examples , both in D.

Here is harmonica tab plus pictures of dulcimer and D harmonica layouts. Disregard the chords under the harmonica tab. They inexplicably changed the key to G. If you want to add chords, use these instead .

Starting with the D notes, we have 1, 4, 7 and 10 blow on the harmonica, and dulcimer melody/bass string open, 7th and 14th frets, plus the middle string at the 3rd and 10th. This gives a general correlation of 1 4 7 10 blow notes on harmonica = melody open, middle 3, melody 7, and middle 10. Or, you can start on the dulcimer bass string and work your way up.

Offhand and by ear, this works if you bump the dulcimer up a bit. Start with harmonica 4 blow = dulcimer melody open. When you get to the B at harmonica 6 draw, that's on the dulcimer melody 5th fret. Or, you can start with 4 blow = dulcimer bass open, hit the F# at melody fret 2, and keep the whole thing at or below the third fret.

I'll make a better chart when I have time, and record some examples. Early to work tomorrow, time for bed.

Good idea. Many of my first dulcimer tunes were ones I already knew for harmonica, but i never really thought of converting tab directly from one to the other. I don't think you would even have to play harmonica to do this effectively. I'll have some free time to add a detailed example to this thread in a couple of days.

Ocarinas

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

I love the part about the cats! When my neighbors had a dog, I could play harmonica in my dining room and make him bark and howl along with the music next door. My cats never seemed to mind. My wife, on the other hand... well, I never had an actual curfew, but she says she can relate! And playing while on the road generally requires going further away from civilization than the people who smoke.

I had to refresh my memory on ocarinas. Rock on!

Advice starting a website

OFF TOPIC discussions

I took a web design course at my local community college back in 2008. The cost was minimal, maybe $300 + a book, and the instruction was excellent. Besides the canned problems in our book, the class had a small business owner as a client. She was starting out as a consultant, intending to act as a one-woman HR department for firms to small to justify a full time person in that role. Interesting concept, I thought. We each built a website for her, and she actually chose one of them for her internet presence. The guy teaching the class drove a rotating collection of pricy sports cars to work, money earned by his web design "sideline." We looked each week at a big-name site that worked and one that really didn't (news, insurance companies, etc.) and so learned about design elements. I much preferred the mix of real classrooms with online assignments to straight online learning.

Anyway, that was prehistory in online terms, so I have no current advice to offer except that with Dreamweaver or similar software and some training, even HTML coding it isn't that hard.

You should consider posting this over at Everything Dulcimer, too. You could also comment on the store's Facebook page, although it is mostly inactive, and maybe review on Yelp or Angie's List. Publicity might cause them to make it right, or at least keep somebody else from getting ripped off this way.

There are a couple of threads that cover all aspects of this. Here is one . I would stick with a setup that allows either so you have some flexibility, and not let anyone tell you that one way or the other is "wrong." I started with four, and quickly discovered that the doubled melody course didn't suit my playing style. So, I took one off. My second instrument only has three, but I knew I was happy with that setup.

A related question is whether you want an extra fret or two. I had a 1.5 and 8.5 added to my first dulcimer, and bought the second one with them already installed. Unlike tuners, frets are reasonably easy to add later.

Happier than a Hog in Slop!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Great find, Dana! Just curious: what do you figure this is really worth once restored?

Starting a weekly jam session, please give me some tips.

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

This looks like fun. My town just started an acoustic jam through the parks and rec dept. That might be another avenue for finding players. I've missed the first couple of sessions due to work, but I'll make the next one. The organizer emailed chords and lyrics to a 75 song playlist, with quite a bit of variety.

One buzz - 2nd fret, bass string. Driving me crazy. :) Any ideas to fix?

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

If you search this site for the term "buzz," you will find a lot of information.

I had a similar problem, and a friend was able to fix it in just a few minutes. The buzz is coming probably from a fret or two higher than the second. Get down to eye level looking across the fretboard and pluck that string, and you may be able to spot the culprit. If it isn't one fret that is lifted, then the action may be a little low, or you may need a heavier string.

How do I fix a crack?

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

My friend Ed Weiss recently restored my uke, which has been in the family for exactly 90 years. It had a wicked crack in the back. He ran a bead of the thick kind of superglue into the seam, smoothed it out, scraped the excess with a razor blade, and applied a new coat of tung oil. That part of the operation only took about 5 minutes. (He also replaced the tuners, but retained the 60 year old strings). You can still see the crack, but it is a very solid repair and the issue is much less visible than before. Now, to learn to play the thing!

Your favorite dulcimer case!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I'll probably have to bite the bullet and get a new case. You're right about the hinges pulling out of the cardboard eventually. In the meantime, more wood glue and duct tape.I really need the short, skinny dimensions though. A deeper case won't fit in my cockpit coat closet. The whole rig -- rolling suitcase, flight case, computer, lunch bag and dulcimer, needs tow with one hand and fit through a door with the dulcimer held the wide way on the handle of the rolling case.

Your favorite dulcimer case!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

My favorite case goes with my travel-size instrument. Ed Weiss found four small cases, none the same size, and custom-built instruments to fit. So, the case would be very difficult to replace.

Unlike most people, I travel with mine constantly. I take reasonable care and put bubble wrap inside, but I don't have time to baby it. As you can see, the case is falling apart, and duct tape only goes so far. I'm thinking of fiberglassing the outside to make it a semi hardshell case. Has anyone tried this? Any other ideas?

Dulcimer Strings

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

I discovered pretty quickly that I don't care for the high D and the A strings being the same size. I like the tone that I get with a slightly larger A string. (If I played DAA, I would run both A stings a little on the fat side). I also removed the extra D string, since I am apt to use any of the strings to carry the melody line. Having that 4th string with my playing style just caused aggravation.The good news is that strings are cheap enough to just cut off and throw away if you don't like them. Also, you don't need "dulcimer" strings. I've got banjo strings on one of mine so I can turn it lower. You can also use a pair of needle nose pliers to pop the little ball out the end of a guitar string, exposing the loop, and put it on your dulcimer. So, your string choices are only limited by what is a reasonable diameter for your scale length and the tuning that you want, and maybe some adjustment at the nut or bridge if you want to make a really large change.I took a few lessons with Tom and Missy Strothers when I started playing, and like their string gauge calculator. I used this to decide on strings my G D g instrument. http://strothers.com/string_choice.htm They have a great chord finder, too: http://strothers.com/chords.htm Hope this helps.

Challenges?

OFF TOPIC discussions

Just ran across this. Looks like a great idea, probably better than the existing video section. I always look at every version of a song that I can find when I learn new material, and it would be nice to gather multiple versions under one cyber-roof.

Flint Hill said:

Here's a list of songs/tunes that are said to be in the Aeolian mode according to posters at ED and Mudcat.

Wow, thanks! I'll have to try some of these. Many are already favorites of mine, but the 1 5 8 tuning, coupled with my middling playing skills, don't seem to do some of them justice. I opened up whole new horizons on the instrument when I got the 1.5 & 8.5 frets. Looks like this could do the same.Can you play the same song as a duet, one tuned DAD and one tuned DAC? Different fingerings, obviously. Or do you wind up in different keys?

Carson Turner said:

some people would say that playing a dulcimer through an amp is nothing short of blasphemous.

Yeah, I get that a lot! I've had a few in my club tell me in so many words that it is somehow improper to play anything outside of the traditional tabbed-out-on-paper playlist, too. They're coming around, though.

Vicki, that sounds like fun. I've been following this thread, and I listened to a busker on trumpet near Dupont Circle in DC yesterday and got inspired. I was all set to take the plunge today and play the indoor outlet mall near the RDU airport. The place is only about 25% occupied, and could use a bit of livening up anyway. I figured that nobody knew me here, and the worst they could do was to throw me out. Sadly, they fight what would otherwise be tomb-like quiet with overbearing and inescapable overhead muzak. Most airport terminals are impossible to play in for the same reason. I'll try someplace else soon. I did play in a public area of the terminal in Boston yesterday, but quietly and in a fairly out of the way place. The probable reaction of my chief pilot if I were to salt my pilot hat with some singles and put it out for tips would not be good.This may already have been discussed: what about small battery powered amp and a mic or pickup? Seems to me you need at least a little more volume than you can get with a dulcimer.

Strumelia said:

Then again, one of my favorite jokes to say between tunes when we play in public is:
"We've had a request from the audience......but we're going to keep playing anyway."
Always gets a good laugh! ;D

Great thread here. This reminds me of playing at my parent's house. Can't remember if it was harmonica or dulcimer that day.Me: "Any requests?" (I really should have known better).My mom: "Could you play somewhere over the hill and far away?Me: "Let me look and see if I have ... hey!"