Forum Activity for @dusty

Cool!  I look forward to hearing that baby sing.  The chromatic fretboard would throw me off, too.

Yes, I definitely look younger in that video.  

The standard tuning for a uke is indeed GCEA.  But that is not a key.  A key refers to the central tone of a song, not a tuning. (The dulcimer is generally tuned to an open D, and we usually play in the key of D, but we also play frequently in the keys of Bm, G, Em, and even A without retuning.) GCEA is actually a C6 chord, so it is not an open chord.  And because the ukulele is chromatic, it can play in any key.  Playing in a ukulele jam is no different than playing in any other multi-instrument jam for that reason.

I think I already stated that ukulele jams are like sing-a-longs.  They share lyrics with the chords indicated, everyone strums chords, and most people sing.  Sometimes they even specify what strumming pattern to use for each song.

If you want to play with them on your dulcimer, learning ukulele chords won't help you. Learn dulcimer chords.  With a dulcimer tuned DAd or DAA you can play all the chords you need to play in the keys of C, D, G, and A, which would cover 90 percent of the tunes. Here's a good chord chart for DAd .  (I think Stephen Seifert created it, but I found it through a random Google search.)

Just learn your chords and strum away!   Well, strum quietly. You want to fit in, not stand out.

John, I think you really need to just start playing with people rather than trying to think too hard about this and just confusing yourself even more.  As we've seen, the most common keys played in multi-instrument jams are C, D, G, and A.

The most important chords in any key are the I, IV, and V chords. In D that means D, G, and A.  In G they are G, C, and D.  In A they are A, D, and E.

Tuned to DAd, all those chords exist on the fretboard.  So start by learning those chords and practicing them so your fingers can get to them quickly and without having to think too much.

That leaves the key of C.  The I, IV, V chords in C are C, F, and G.  If you have a 1+ fret, you can play an F as as bar chord at 1+.  If you don't, play a partial F sticking to the C and A notes.  Perhaps 6-7-6.

So without retuning and without using a capo, you can get the main chords in the 4 main keys.  Start there.

At some point you will realize that you also need to play some minor chords.  The minor chords that come into play are the relative minors of each of the major chords.  One reason I don't agree with Skip's suggestion of tuning to a 1-3-5 tuning (D F# A) is that you would still have to learn minor chords. If you tune DAd or DAA, your barre chords can serve as either major or minor.  So 0-0-0 is D or Dm; 1-1-1 is E or Em; 2-2-2 is F# or F#m, 3-3-3 is G or Gm, and so forth.

Don't keep wondering about this stuff. Just learn your chords. The ukulele group will share lyrics sheets with chord names and perhaps a strumming pattern for each song. Join their jam.  Play the chords you know.  Skip the ones you don't.  They'll do a lot of the same tunes each time, so you can prepare ahead of time and learn the chords you don't already know.

In my mind, that is the simplest thing to do without diving into music theory. No retuning.  No capos. Just learn your chords.

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However, I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread that when I only have my standard dulcimer at a multi-instrument jam, I use a capo for the keys of G and A and retune to CGc for tunes in C.  Then my fingers pretend I am playing in D.  Here is a video I made years ago explaining how to use the capo for that purpose:

Personally, I don't think of chords by their names.  I think of them by numbers.  This chart will help you know what chord shape in D you would want to use for chords in other keys.

Basically, to transpose, stay on the same row. Here are some examples, all assuming you are tuned DAd or DAA:

If you are playing in the key of G with the capo at the third fret, and the music calls for a G chord, use the fingering for a D chord. If the music calls for an Em, use the fingering for a Bm.

If you are playing in A with the capo at the fourth fret, and the music calls for a D chord, use the fingering for a G chord. If the music calls for a Bm, use the fingering for Em.

If are you playing in C and are tuned CGc or CGG, and the music calls for an Am chord, use the fingering for a Bm chord.  If the music calls for an F chord, use the fingering for a G chord.

What this approach allows you to do is to "pretend" that you are playing in D all the time.  You don't have to retune or learn new chords.  Everything you have learned in your open DAd or DAA tuning is available to you.

Over time, your ear will also let you know when the music moves from a I chord to a IV chord or V chord.  Each chord has a different feel.  And then you'll start to hear the relative minors and a handful of other chords.  Pretty quickly, you won't need this chart at all.

John, that's a baritone tuning.  I string my baritone with a wound .036" on the bass, a wound .024 on the middle, and .014 on the melody.  You could probably go a bit lighter on all three.

But I would hesitate to string a regular dulcimer like that.  One of two things might happen.  The bigger strings might make bigger grooves in your nut and bridge, thus creating buzz when you put your regular strings on, or they may just sit on top, creating a slight intonation problem.  

I would also check with the maker of your dulcimer to ensure the instrument is sufficiently strong to handle the bigger strings.

I also have a "baritone dulcimette" that is tuned an octave above a regular baritone, meaning I tune it to GDg or AEa, but that's a significantly smaller dulcimer.

A better approach for you, I think, is to use a capo.  Tune DAd, capo at 3, and you are tuned GDg, which would be great for playing in G.  If you capo at 4, you'll be in AEa, great for playing in A.  Then you can tune down to CGc to play in C.  That's usually how I approach multi-instrument jams when I only have one standard dulcimer with me.

I just want to clarify something.  A standard ukulele tuning is a C6 chord. It is not an open tuning like the dulcimer.  It is not necessarily easier to play the ukulele in C than it is in other "normal" keys such as G or D. If you just Google "ukulele songbooks," you'll be able to find the lyrics and chords that ukulele clubs use.  This page lists several of those songbooks. I just took a look at the first one, and of the first ten songs, 5 are in the key of G, 3 are the key of C, 1 is in the key of A, and 1 is in the key of D.

I don't know if those proportions characterize the rest of the book or the other books, but they confirm that in most old timey, folk, and bluegrass jams, the most common keys are C, D, G, and A.  It would be good for anyone interested in playing in multi-instrument jams to get comfortable in those four keys.  And if you peruse the songbooks, you'll see the other chords that come in to play when playing in those four keys.  Learning those chords will enable you to join in 90 percent of the tunes played at any ukulele jam.

That's a very good price on a quality instrument.  Someone should pounce on this.  The redwood top looks so rich and luxurious.

John, Wally is giving you good advice.  Your question is basically how to join in multi-instrument jams with your dulcimer. Whether you are joining ukuleles, banjos, fiddles, or French horns is not really important.

The ukulele gatherings that I know of are basically sing-a-longs where people strum their instruments and someone (sometimes everyone) sings the lyrics.  So the trick to joining would just be to learning all your chords.   Of particular use will be the barre chords, since those can serve as both major and minor.  000 is a D or Dm, 111 is an E or Em, 222 is an F# or F#m, 333 is a G or Gm, and so forth.

You might also learn how to fake chords.  It is true, as Wally says, that you don't have an F natural on the dulcimer, but the F chord is made up of F, A, and C, so you could just play As and Cs, such as 6-7-6 if you're tuned DAD or 6-7-7 in DAA.

And learning how to use a capo could be very helpful.  If there is a tune in F, for example, you could tune to CGC and put the capo at 4.  Your D chord positions will give you an F chord.  Your G chord positions will give you a Bb.  Your A chord positions will give you a C.

With a little knowledge, even a diatonic dulcimer can play in any key.

Most of those uke gatherings work with a stable set of songs, often centering on a songbook.  That would enable you to go through and figure out how to play each chord ahead of time.

My final comment is just good advice for joining any jam.  Your job is to fit in, not stand out.  Play softly.  You don't have to carry the whole piece.  You might choose just to play a single note instead of a whole chord.  As long as it is one of the chord tones, you'll be OK.  And it is also OK to sit a tune out. I'm not sure I would join in if someone is doing Rhapsody in Blue in Bb, for example!

Ryan, you found the right place to post an ad for your dulcimer.  Do you know what kind of wood the dulcimer is made of?  A buyer would likely want to know.  My guess is the fretboard is maple with a black walnut veneer, but I am not sure about the top (some kind of ceder perhaps?).  What about the back and sides?  And I think the CSH line was made with a 27" scale length (the length from nut to bridge).  Is that correct?

It's an elegant looking dulcimer for sure! 

Good work, Richard.  It seems to me that you are getting these dulcimers built pretty quickly.

Fiddle tunes from the United States, the British Isles, Canada and elsewhere are among the most common tunes played in dulcimer jams.  And some of them sound great at bluegrass speed.  I'm sure I'm not the only one whose feet start moving when Erin Mae breaks into St. Anne's Reel! 

But a lot of fiddle tunes also sound great played much slower, and sometimes the beauty of the melody really comes out when the tunes are played at a slow, patient tempo with space to breathe in between phrases.

I sometimes teach a workshop called Fiddle Tunes that Sound Good Slow and include arrangements of The Quail is a Pretty Bird, Liberty, MacPherson's Lament, The Strawberry Blossom, and more.

What are some of your favorite fiddle tunes that sound really good when played slowly?

@kathreen-miller, yes excessive aridity and excessive humidity can damage wooden instruments.  But those conditions are pretty rare.  Where do you live? Is it excessively dry there?  If not, you probably have nothing to worry about.  If you experience seasonal dryness, it might affect you and your dulcimer, so you might get a humidifier for your house.  Or you can do what my wife does and just put a big pot of water to boil.

There are relatively inexpensive devices that you can put in your instrument case.  In fact, I have a guitar case that has a device embedded in the case itself. But to call it a "device" is misleading.  It is a small sponge kept in a small case with little holes in the cap. You soak the sponge and then squeeze out the excess water so it won't drip, and you place it in the case.  It keeps things sufficiently moist.  And you refill it every few months.

Dulcimer cases don't come with built-in homes for a moist sponge, but Herco sells a product that basically works the same way.  There is a piece of porous clay inside a plastic container. You soak the clay and put it in the container.  Put that inside your dulcimer case.  The clay takes longer to dry out than the sponge does, but you still have to periodically soak it and start over.

There are fancier devices, including some that can both humidify when needed and dehumidify when needed, but unless you live in the desert or in a tropical rainforest, the expensive options are probably not needed.  A professional cellist in my neighborhood whose cello is worth close to $20,000 does nothing to humidify her instrument.  She thought it was weird that I even asked the question.  I stopped worrying about my dulcimers when I learned that.

@luthier, there are literally dozens of dulcimer players who offer online lessons.  Before recommending any, I would ask what style of dulcimer are you interested in playing. While some, such as Stephen Seifert, could teach any style (noter-drone, chord melody, flatpicking, fingerpicking, etc.) and any style of music, others specialize.

But there are also plenty of free lessons online.  I would suggest you peruse YouTube and identify a player or two whose style speaks to you most and then contacting them if you do indeed seek more formal, individual lessons.

You might contact Howard Rugg, who is a member here, although I don't know how active he is.  He resurrected Capritaurus dulcimers a few years back.  He would likely know the exact dimensions of the bridge and maybe has some in stock.

Yes, there are, and the best among them are members here and will surely pop in and introduce themselves soon!

Hey @Shopdad, my wife and I have some raised beds for vegetables, too.  No corn, though.  We have tons of tomatoes and zucchini as well as some peppers and basil and some other stuff.  I love making a tomato and cheese sandwich when the tomato is still hot from the sun.  So warm and sweet! We also have some citrus trees, and the only work they require is pruning to keep them a manageable size.  My grandparents retired to Florida and they had a single tree that had oranges, tangerines, and grapefruits all growing on it.  When I was a kid and knew nothing about grafting, I thought it was magic! 

Hey @tonyg, I assume the E is your bass string.  If so, that would be considered a "reverse" mixolydian tuning because you are in the key of A but the bass and middle strings are reversed.  It's basically the same as AEa, which is sometimes how I tune my baritone dulcimer.  If you are normally tuned DAA or DAd, you can quickly switch to the key of A using that "reverse" tuning.

Sounds like a great project.  Good luck!

My grandfather used to say "about two in a hill," and it is indeed a farming reference.  The hill referred to is not a real hill, but a tiny mound of soil in which a farmer would plant a number of corn seeds (or presumably any other crop as well), hoping at least one of them would sprout.  I think ideally you would plant four or five seeds in a hill, so "two in a hill" would mean that while you were not doing great, you were OK and could probably get buy. 

I have never heard anyone other than my grandfather use that phrase.  He grew up on a farm in western Pennsylvania before running away at 14.

And I don't know how many corn seeds he would put in a hill, but the corn he grew was fantastic.  During the summer, my grandmother would tell me how many people were coming for dinner, and my job was to pick one ear per person.  But I always picked one extra one and ate it raw as I walked back to the house.  It was so sweet and delicious. I could never understand why we would cook the corn and then drench it in butter and salt. It was so much better raw.

John, if you live in a really humid environment, the easiest thing to do would be to get a room dehumidifier.  My father uses a couple in the basement of his house in Boston where he stores all his books.  You could protect your instruments and everything else from humidity and mold.

But if you are looking for something to put in your instrument case, look for something called a "two way" humidification system.  That will humidify when the environment is dry and dehumidify when it is humid.  I'm not sure exactly how (or even if) they work.  Supposedly they keep humidity in the middle of the safe range, which is around 50 percent or so.

I buy strings by the dozen from Folkcraft.

@ken-longfield, sorry to make you work so hard! I was busy working all day yesterday and then spent the evening driving to SF to pick up my daughter at the airport.  I didn't check in here until I got a break from work today.

@lilley-pad, no it's not in my book, although there are a few other Playford tunes there.  Yes, by all means take it to DJ's jam. I'm hoping to join you all in July, in fact.

I have a handful of other Playford tunes arranged.  Feel free to reach out directly if there's one in particular you're interested in.

The facsimile copies of Playford's collection all seem to be hard to read, but this version arranged for the flute by James Hall is clear and modern: https://pdfcoffee.com/playford-tunes-pdf-free.html .  You can download the whole thing from that site. What is not obvious, of course, is the chording, so I try to listen to a few versions to learn whether an individual tune is generally played in a minor or major key. Beyond that, the exact chords are not included in the books, so (just like O'Carolan tunes) we have to use our own judgment and trust our ears.

I created tab for that tune some time ago.  It is transcribed in Playford's collection in the key of Gm, but I tabbed it in the key of Em out of a DAd tuning.  See attached.

Goddesses.pdf - 257KB

Alex, the "reverse" tuning of a strumstick relative to a dulcimer does not impede the playing of exactly the same music note-for-note.  It is merely an issue of ergonomics. In traditional dulcimer playing we fret the melody string and leave the bass and middle strings to drone.  If the instrument is lying on your lap, that melody string has to be the one closest to you so you don't have to reach over the other strings to play it.  Similarly, if you hold the instrument against your belly like a guitar and wrap your fretting hand under the neck, you need that melody string to be on the bottom so your hand can reach it.  That's the only reason for the difference.

Furthermore, in the Amy Grant video, she is only strumming chords.  You could play exactly the same thing in a regular dulcimer tuning or the "reversed" strum stick tuning.

The different tuning is not like the difference between a mandolin and a guitar, but simply the order of the strings.  Elizabeth Cotton was a great fingerpicking guitar player.  She played lefty and merely turned the guitar upside down.  But many right-handed guitarists copied her exact style of playing on a regular guitar.  She reversed, in a sense, the order of the strings, but the strings themselves were still tuned the same.  Many guitarists copy her playing note-for-note but do not need to turn the guitar upside down to do so.

One occasional member of my local dulcimer group has a strumstick and follows the same tablature as the rest of us.  No importa.

That's a laudable effort, Richard.  Thank you.  For many years David Lynch made a student model dulcimer that sold for around that same price point ($125).  It was made out of ply (birch or pine, I think) and had simple circles for soundholes.  I used to send newbies to him, but since he passed there has been no comparable option.  The last newcomer who joined my local group bought a practice dulcimer fretboard from Grant Olson (who calls them "stick dulcimers" and sells them for $80).

I promise that if I do contact you about a box dulcimer, it will be on behalf of a new player.

I hope this effort of yours is wildly successful!  Thank you.

Alex, most strumsticks are tuned like dulcimers but with the bass and melody string reversed, so the bass string is on the top if held as a guitar or closest to you if laid upon your lap.

I bought a nylon-string dulcimer from Bob Stephens exactly 2 years ago.  It is all wood, however, not one of his 3-D printed ones (figured cherry body, port orford cedar top).  He is still making dulcimers, both wood and hybrid, both steel-string and nylon-string. Bob is a very innovative luthier, for sure.  As Butch explains in that article, there is a false bottom hidden inside the dulcimer, and the fretboard floats above the soundboard, so both top and bottom vibrate freely.  The 3-D printed dulcimers are very affordable, and Bob doesn't even get paid himself. He asks customers to donate to one of his favorite charities instead of paying him.

According to the DPN article, the Haley family stopped making dulcimers years ago.  That's too bad; I would love to hear one.

I think @Robin-Thompson was correct about everything.  Here is the DPN article by @Butch-Ross about Stephens Lutherie using a 3-D printer to build dulcimers, and it includes a piece about Vince Haley and the HX process: https://dulcinews.com/builders-the-future-is-now/ .

According to that article, the Haley family produced 26 dulcimers and then ceased production.

I think I remember this, too.  The guy was active around the time I had first discovered dulcimers, so it wasn't in the 80s or 90s, nor was it last year in DPN (he had already disappeared by then). It was around 2010. I also remember someone buying one, and, if this is the same dulcimer, in fact, he has posted pictures here at FOTMD:

Here's a demonstration by one of the best living mandolin players:

Jon, I assume (since you mention the mandolin) that you are referring to the flatpicking practice of going back-and-forth across a string really fast.  There are at least two other uses of the term. One is a fingerpicking technique used by classical guitarists in which the thumb and three fingers hit strings in rapid succession.  The other is the use of a whammy bar or tremolo bar on an electric guitar, which basically moves the bridge to tighten and/or loosen the strings.

Mandolins have very little sustain, so the technique is used on mandolins when note duration exceeds the instrument's capabilities.  Only small octave dulcimers would have that same issue.

Having said that, the tremolo effect has a certain romance to it, and there is no reason why we couldn't do it on the dulcimer.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I've heard Stephen Seifert do it when imitating a mandolin on the tune "Mama Don't Allow."

There is no reason to reverse your strings. You can do this technique on the bass, middle, or melody string.  If you have double melody strings, it might be a bit easier and would sound more mandolin-like.

The only adjustment you might have to make is to turn your flatpick so that you are not using the very point but a smoother side.  If you have a round pick, you might practice with that.  And I'm sure there are mandolin instructional videos out there that could help.

Should I expect to hear you playing the Godfather theme soon?  I think that would sound great played in a tremolo style.

Ken, I think the term "European spruce" refers to the same species, Picea abies.  That term is quite common among high-end guitars. A search for that term at the Music Emporium, for example, gave me 62 results, including many Martin Custom Shop models. I doubt any of it comes from that Italian forest, though.

Interesting stuff.  I don't know why Stradivarius violins are worth so much, but I think I can predict that based on the findings summarized in that article, wood from Norway spruce grown in the Val di Fiemme forest will be worth a whole lot more than it was before!  

How can I get some of that wood for a dulcimer soundboard?  I have dulcimers made with Sitka spruce and Adirondack spruce, but none with Norway spruce.  Hmm . . . 

@Susie, I think you made a smart decision.  Six string dulcimers are fun for strumming, but those double strings make it harder to play single notes with any nuance.  You can't bend strings.  You can't do that tremolo thing well.  And I agree with Nate that six string dulcimers often sound cluttered. After all, how often will you really get every string tuned just right? I'm sure you'll enjoy your new baritone.

Thanks, Jon, for sharing that sad news.

I heard about this as well and was hoping to find an obituary before posting anything.

Gary was not just an amazingly innovative dulcimer player, but he and his brother also made wonderful and unique dulcimers.  The Gary Gallier website is still up, and I'd encourage everyone to explore it and learn about Gary's approach to flatpicking on the dulcimer in multiple keys.  There is lot's of tab available as well, although it ain't for beginners.

Rest assured, if I don't know the answer, I'll make something up!

Sid, I assume you are tuned DAd, and that 1-2-4 or 4-2-1 A chord is indeed a stretch.  Keep in mind that you don't have to fret the middle string. You can just l play 1-0-4 or 4-0-1 or even 1-0-1 or 4-4-4 or 4-4-6+ for an A chord.

And no, I'm sorry to tell you that you cannot simply put a capo at the first or second fret because of the diatonic fretboard.  It does not work like a guitar or banjo.  When you put a capo on a dulcimer, you change the order of whole and half steps and won't be able to play the same tunes you are used to.

@shopdad, the 1+ fret makes it harder in this case because there is less room to fret the 2nd fret, making the stretch a bit more challenging.  Without that 1+ fret, people cheat a bit with the 1-2-4 A chord and fret that 2nd fret towards the middle rather than right next to the fret wire.

@skip, if you look at the picture posted, you'll see there isn't really much room to capo at 7.  The instrument only goes up to the 10th fret.

Anne, the time zone is an issue for me as well, though not so seriously as it is for you.  The NGFDA folks are 3 hours ahead of me, so I'll be doing the first workshop at 7:30 AM.  That OK for farmers, but musicians are not usually morning people.

Yeah, I miss working with Aaron on a regular basis as well.  And that's a great picture of you, Anne!  Love it!

The mystery continues . . .

Thanks for sharing this, Ken.  The last time I saw a video on Troublesome Creek Instruments it was immediately after the flood.  When companies embrace their workers as whole human beings instead of beasts of burden, remarkable things happen.

@david-bennett, I tabbed out Corky Wolf's version.  Send me a personal message with your email or contact me at www.rivercitydulcimers.com and I'll share it with you.