I'm with Robin!
When asked about a dulcimer with the 6+ fret, Jean Ritchie once replied " ...it has a different finger board, it's not quite a dulcimer anymore..."
Sheryl -- I get beeswax all the time from the Honey table at the Farmers Market just downriver, here in Fort Myers, FL with 90+ temps. I'll be stopping there tomorrow for some veg and fruits to write about in next Monday's food blog.
I'd tell you the name of that bonobo product, but this is a family oriented forum....
I play Ionian BF#F# or or B Bagpipe Bbb frequently as it suits my voice much better than C or D. A dulcimer is not a guitar.
Nancy -- the Key or Keynote your dulcimer is in is the open note of the Bass string, not the start note of the scale for that Mode. If your dulcimer is tuned DAC or DAG you are in the key of D. In DAC the scale starts at the 1st and 8th frets; in DAG the scale starts at the 4th and 11th frets (ignore the 6+ and 13+ frets which are not part of the true diatonic fretboard).
If a group is playing instruments tuned to the keynote of D for example -- usually DAd -- then, technically you can play in any other "key of D" tuning (DAA, DAC, DAG, etc) and sound as if you are part of the group. You won't necessarily be playing the same notes as the others -- you'll often be creating your own "part" with notes that will blend with the others. But because you're all in a given keynote (say D) then it all can sound good together. I often play N&D style in the DAA or Ddd tuning while the group around me plays chords in DAd. I usually play the same notes as they do, but not on the same frets. If you're just beginning it is most helpful to you to play in the same tuning as the rest.
If everyone else is tuned to DAd and you're tuned to CGc or EBe it just isn't going to sound right. You'd all be playing the same frets, but not the same notes and it could sound rather bad!
Marg said "One more question, - if I can play DAd in all the (Mixolydian Modal Tunings)"
As I said above: You can use DAd tab to play ANY of the Mixolydian Modal Tunings: AEa, BFb, CGc, DAd, EBe, FCf, GDg
"...play DAd in all the (Mixolydian Modal Tunings) is a non sequiteur
You can't play DAd if others are tuned to GCc, or vice versa. Trust it will sound "not good"!
You can play DAd tab using ANY of the Mixolydian Modal Tunings:
AEa, BFb, CGc, DAd, EBe, FCf, GDg
But not all from the same set of strings!
Likewise you can play DAA tab using any of the Ionian Modal Tunings:
AEE, BFF, CGG, DAA, EBB, FCC, GDD
The same holds true for other Modal tunings as well as Bagpipe and some others. You use the same tab and fingers by the by changing the tuning you play in a different. Keynote.
Archie -- better to use a calculator, like the one at http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.htm so you KNOW what string you need rather than what someone simply tells you you need. Sometimes good intentions don't work out too well.
Almost everyone today lists tunings from Bass to Melody -- DAA, DAd, GDD, GDg; not the other way around. However, there are still a few older books which list from Melody to Bass, as well as a few older players who still use that system.
Almost no one lists the tuning of all four strings when they have a doubled-string dulcimer -- unless the couplet is tuned to two different notes. A four string dulcimer with a doubled bass string will often be listed as DdAd for example, but hardly anyone lists DAdd for a doubled melody-string.
Four equidistant string instruments always list all four strings -- dddd for example -- to let you know it is four-equidistant.
Sheryl -- from bees
Your local Farmer's Market probably has a honey supplier who has beeswax for sale as well. That's where I get mine -- from a beekeeper friend.
Here's a PDF of the article "I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What?" that I wrote several years ago. It's an illustrated glossary of dulcimer terms, plus answers to many beginner questions about tuning, playing, care and feeding of your new friend.
Fun in the workshop! I just got a package of Noter blanks that I'll be working on this weekend. Two each of (left to right) Bloodwood, Purpleheart, Padauk, Yellowheart and Wenge. All are much harder than the usual run-of-the-mill hardwoods.
Marg;
Here's a "relative tuning" discussion I got from Jerry Rockwell, years ago, and have added to. It's from my article I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What?, and tells you how to change from one tuning to another, among the four most common Modal tunings. All you do is change one string...
Ionian Mode is called the "natural major" mode. (called DAA if the Keynote is D). Most traditional American songs you can sing or hum are 'natural major' tunes.
Aeolian is the "natural minor" mode. (called DAC if the Keynote is D). Many traditional Scottish and Irish tunes sound
good in this 'weeping and wailing' mode. Wayfaring Stranger, Good King Wenceslas, and ShadyGrove/Mattie Groves are well known Aeolian songs.
Steps 1 and 2 are the same as for Ionian.
Step 3. Press the bass string at the 6th fret and pluck it. Tune the melody string(s) to this note.
Mixolydian (called DAd if the Keynote is D). Mixo mode is only "slightly minor", and is used extensively for neo-celtic music, Irish fiddle tunes, and the masterpieces of Turlough O'Carolan.
Steps 1 and 2 are the same as for Ionian.
Step 3. Press the bass string at the 7th fret and pluck it. The sound is an octave higher than the unfretted bass string. Tune the melody string(s) to this note.
Dorian ( called DAG if the Keynote is D) Dorian mode is not so minor sounding as Aeolian Mode, but more so than Mixolydian. Barbara Allen,
Scarborough Fair, and Greensleeves are well known Dorian tunes.
Steps 1 and 2 are the same as for Ionian.
Step 3. Press the bass string at the 3rd fret and pluck this note. Tune the melody string to this note.
Marge -- probably 85% of the songs you'll want to learn to play are playable in Ionian Mode -- DAA -- or Bagpipe Ddd. A few songs require either a 6+ fret or Mixolydian tuning. There are some special songs that simply can't be played 'properly' in anything except Dorian or Aeolian Mode. As you explore the music you want to play, you'll find those special songs, and then the tunings that will make them "just right".
No -- you're not "over stepping". You don't know if you don't ask. Never be afraid to ask. There are no dumb or silly questions, just ones you don't get answers to.
Playing the dulcimer can be as simple or complex as you want to make it. There's a world of difference in playing songs or tunes in traditional Noter & Drone or Fingerdance style compared to modern Chord-Melody style. Not everything can be played in DAA, DAd, or Ddd in either style. Some songs simply require notes or chords you can't find on the fretboard in those tunings.
I do think folks are more likely to repond to a single tune request rather than a blanket request for tab.
I will gladly send you City of New Orleans that I've worked out in DAC, but I'll actually have to sit down and write it out. I don't personally collect tab, as once I've learned a song and written it down in the process of working out the tune, it's added to the couple hundred songs in my "internal software" (brain) and I can play on demand. So the old envelope or napkin that I recorded the tab on gets discarded.
Welcome Ron! The Tamarind noters are all sold, but I'll be having some other hard exotic wood noters available late next week. I just ordered a mixed bag of raw stock including Bloodwood, Purple Heart, Padauk, Wenge, and Yellowheart, and it should be here by the 19th.
Marg;
There's no "clickable" list of Dorian or Aeolian mode tunes that I know of. You need to hunt the names down through sites like sniff.numachi, Everything Dulcimer, other player's websites, or ask if someone has specific tab (rather than a shotgun request) that they'll share with you, in the Dulcimer Resources Discussion here. There is a lot of DAG and DAC tab in various books by a number of dulcimer players, but it's not free.
Glad you've checked out Uncontrite Modal Folker. If you have any questions, feel free to as.
You asked " If I have the songs in either DAdd or DAA can I change a number up or down for DAC & DAG. Or is DAG like DGD where we can use the same tab as DAA? Or, any of the other modes can be played on either DAdd or DAA tabs?"
The answer in all cases, unfortunately is NO. There is no "conversion" from DAA tab to DAC or any of the others. DAG and DAC are not like DGD (that's a very special case). No other modes can be played from DAd or DAA tab. Tab is specific to a particular mode.
I learned "on my own" for the better part of 20 years, with only Jean Ritchie's Dulcimer Book, and later Force/d'Ossche's In Search of the Wild Dulcimer.
Well if you like traditional dulcimers (which it seems you do since you don't want a 6+ or other 'extra' frets) IMHO the steal of the day is the Robert Schuler just intonated dulcimer that Lynn is selling here:
Marg -- there is dulcimer tab all over the internet. The only tab you can change from Mode to Mode is Mixolydian (DAd) to Ionian (DAA) and back. Fingerings for chords in each Mode are different and are given in the tab.
Here are a handful of tunes in Aeolian and Dorian Modes.
DAC Aeolian Mode
DAG Dorian Mode
You may want to read the essay I wrote called Uncontrite Modal Folker , which is a sort of beginner's guide to Modes and Modal tunings. You can find it here: http://fotmd.com/forums/forum/dulcimer-resourcestabs-books-websites-dvds/15050/the-uncontrite-modal-folker
The use of gut strings comes up at least a couple times a year. As John Knopf says, I wouldn't use them on a modern built dulcimer. Gut strings are ony marginally useful on a dulcimer. They are generally too quiet, as most modern made dulcimers are built too heavy to poduce good sound. You pretty much need a new nut and bridge as the gut strings are much larger in diameter.
I don't think you need Garage Band. I would think that your built-in camera should do the trick. The built-in camera on your Mac should let you record yourself in video with passable sound in a quiet setting. Won't be the greatest, but I've tried it on my PC and the concept works fine. I would expect Mac to do better than a PC in this regard.
Tell your husband that I said the only dumb questiuons are the ones that never get asked or answered. So far your questions here have been pretty on point. There does come a time, however, when 'question overload' can occur, especially when some folks want instant gratification without doing any work themselves. IMHO people learn better if they work to solve a problem rather than being given answers which were more than obvious.
Glad the knobs worked out. Simple, cheap fix. What's the VSL? That will tell you what gauge strings you need for the range you want to tune (centered on D).
Lisa -- the tuning you pick depends on the tune itself and how you are playing it. Learn to retune -- it's only the 3rd and 4th strings that change in your list.
Don't over-think things. However, strap buttons do need to be installed into the ends of the dulcimer, not the sides. The ends have solid blocks of wood in them there so there's "no worries" about drilling a hole there. Drill a slightly undersized hole for the screw, soap the threads and install. Easy peasy.
@debbie-hinz -- time for a little bit of "tough love" dulcimer style. Dulcimers do not stay in tune -- you need to learn to tune and retune easily and quickly. Dulcimer strings are gonna break whether you do anything wrong or not -- get used to it -- it's not the end of the universe! Strings are cheap -- under $5 a set BUy several and keep them with your instrument 'just in case'. If you play a couple hours a week you probably need to change strings every 4-6 months anyway.
All quills flake a little. The translucent, mostly hollow butt of the feather, not so much.
"Back in the day" a turkey shoot featured a real bird in a wooden crate with just his head sticking out of the top of the box!!
Personally, I strum in the manner Randy doesn't like. But that's OK. It's the way I was taught by Robert Force, areguably one of the best dulcimer players of all time, and the technique sure works for me. IMHO one of the 'secrets' to less pick noise is to loosen up that 'death grip' and relax. WHo cares if your pick goes flying acrss the room You do have more than one, right?
I do the same -- use a knife to cut a thin line on either side of the bridge. Biggest thing to remember is never take all the strings off at once. Replace them one string at a time and you won't lose the bridge or mess up the intonation.
I use a 6" tube for narrow old style dulcimers, or 8" for wider instruments. I have trouble finding 6" tubes, but they do exist.
Marg -- in reality, once you have some experience, it's not much of a problem -- as long as you're not swapping from shortest to longest with each song!
With experience, you aren't really playing 'fret position', so much as you 'know' where the next sound needs to come from and your fingers just go there. When you pick up a different instrument, you just "run the scales" a couple times, or play your favorite tune, and your brain keys your fingers into the correct spacings.
Aboard my home-boat I hang my dulcimers on the cabin side above the high water mark -- it keeps the catfish from playing Moody River....
Try your local acoustic music shop. They just might have some on hand; you never know.
Sorry, I don't have any spares handy. You can also buy just the replacent knobs (pearlescent plastic) from Stew Mac for 88cents each. Here's the link:
http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Parts/Tuning_Machines/Tuner_Parts/Banjo_Tuner_Knobs.html
Ah! That would 'splain it, Lucy!
Depends on how and with what he glued that bridge down; you might be able to un-glue it. Slack the strings -- all of them. Run your hairdryer on high at the junction of the bridgeand the fretboard (both sides), to warm things up and hopefully soften the glue. Use a short length of 1/4" or 3/8" dowel or other stick (as a punch) and a hammer, and tap on the end of the bridge (not on the front or back). A good sharp RAP will probably knock it loose without hurting anything.
I'm not familiar with a wood having the common name of Sweetwood. Sweetgum, yes, but not Sweetwood. What other names does it go by?
Dulcimer on a table - whether 5/8" or 3" thick -- is better than dulcimer on the lap. The lap is soft and absorbs sound. Tables are hard and reflect sound making the dulcimer louder. However. Dulcimer suspended even 1/8" above a "table" gives you even more volume because it frees up the entire back of the instrument so it can vibrate.
You can test this by setting two pencils on your table and putting the dulcimer on top of them.
Personally I like dulcimers with built-in feet, like my John Knopf Uncle Ed replica. You can make simple feet about 1/4" square that will stick on with double-sided tape. For my possum boards I prefer 3/8" or 1/2" thicknes and 1/4" suspension height. I have one board that is 1/2" Balsa -- verrrrryyyy lightweight!
When your friend makes your possum boards tell him not to put any padding on the suspension parts - whether they are just simple cross bars or fitted yokes or whatever. You want the dulcimer to directly touch the wood of the supports, for maxium amplification. Any padding, such as felt, will 'cost' you some enhancement. Wood to wood contact between the suspension bits and the dulcimer will not harm the dulcimer if the other wood is sanded very smooth and finished with ureathane or whatever.
I Just Got A Dulcimer 2016.pdf - 1.1MB