Forum Activity for @dusty

Helen,

Whether or not in practice you actuallystrum in-out or out-in when playing a tune should depend on the tune and how you want to play it. However, it is very important that you have a steady strum and stay on beat. It might be a good idea to practice with a metronome for that reason. Once you have mastered steady playing, you can vary it according to the needs of the song. But first you have to master the ability to play steadily.

There are innumerable advantages to developing a steady in-out or out-in strum. I outline how to develop that kind of a strum in a series of three instructional videos (amateur ones, of course) which I made available here:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

The strum I teach in that series of videos is basically an eighth note pattern in which you strum out on the down beats and in on the up beats. So when you count 1&2&3&4& you strum out on the numbers and in on the &s. You can reverse that and strum in-out instead, but what matters is keeping it consistent. Once you have a machine-like regularity, you can begin to accent or stress certain strums and "swing" the rhythm, too. That is where the first video ends. Once you have that accented out-in strum down and are swinging it, you have a rhythm that you can use for any tune. And what is great about it is that you don't have to count beats; the strum does it for you. If you accent the first beat, for example, you will always know where you are in a song. And you know to strum quarter notes, half-notes, and the first half of eighth note pairs on the out strum and the second half of eighth note pairs on the in strum.

The second video then gets more creative with rhythms, explaining how you can skip strums, mute strums, and accent strums to get really complex rhythms. In the third video I move from strumming across all the strings to adding single notes, for there is no rule that says you have to strum all the strings on any beat. You can play one, two, three, or no strings as you wish. So that technique for strumming also allows you to begin flatpicking.

Anyway, feel free to take a look at those videos and ask me any questions you want. I will never tell anyone that they have to play a certain way. But I can tell you that I find it helpful to develop a very steady back-and-forth right hand.

At the local dulcimer group I started last fall, there are basically two of us who are the leaders since we are the most experienced. Ron Beardslee does not strum in the method I do. He is very precise and only plays exactly the notes in the music or tablature. He is able to get very clean and sparse arrangements that sound great. But he counts in his head all the time, and he has difficulty just playing along with people and following other musicians rather than playing from music. I have other skills and other problems. When I play my right hand is constantly moving out and in. I don't always pluck a string, but more often than not I do. I often stick in chords or bass notes or an arpeggio or occasionally a little lick when it does not appear on the tablature. Ron calls this me being fancy, but to me it is just playing. My hand is moving all the time. And because the rhythm of my hand does the counting for me, my brain is free to watch other musicians or think of something to add or whatever. I don't have to count to get that 3& beat since I know I'll catch it on the in strum after the accented 3 beat of the measure.

Again, there are a lot of ways to play the dulcimer. You do not have to develop a steady out-in or in-out strum. But you should aim at developing a steady strum, and to do that you either have to count constantly in your head or you have to develop that strum you are describing.

One final point: Ken mentions ballads and the desire to keep the rhythm of the melody. That is indeed one very good way of playing. But there are others. Jean Ritchie, for example, does a lot of counter-melody work. Other modern players who also sing, like Sarah Morgan, develop a rhythmic strumming that accompanies but does not copy the singing. But I'd like to make a different point.What do you do if you are playing a slow ballad in which a single note carries on for a whole measure or two whole measures? Do you strum once and then count in your head (1&2&3&4& 1&2&3&4&) before playing another note? OK, you might do that on occasion, but if your song has a lot of long, drawn-out whole notes, you need to come up with something else. A regular, swing-version of an in-out strum all by itself can help you fill in those spaces in a way that does not detract from the melody. That is something I demonstrate at the end of the third of those instructional videos.

I won't be insulted, Helen, if you don't find my videos helpful. Don't feel obliged to watch them. But I do think they are a good introduction to the benefits of developing a steady out-in right hand. So if you are asking why you might want to learn to play like this, the videos try to answer that question. And of course, contact me with questions or comments or points of disagreement or whatever.

I am one of those people who like the soft, round, guitar-y sounds of non-traditional dulcimers, but I think I know what you mean, Gail. You want that bright, high silvery sound rather than the soft, round, mellow sound.

One thing to do would be to get a dulcimer without a softwood for the soundboard. Both of your dulcimers have spruce, which is the standard soundboard wood for guitars. A dulcimer made entirely of walnut or some other hard wood will have a slightly more traditional sound. But folkfan is correct thatdesign factors other than wood type have a greater influence on tone quality. A smaller box, for example, is more traditional than the larger boxes of modern dulcimers like Blue Lion. For another example, check out this David Beede demo of his "de-coupled" tailpiece:

Many luthiers, such as FOTMD member Kevin Messenger,consciously try to make replicas of traditional dulcimers. Other luthiers, such as David at Modern Mountain Dulcimer, consicously try to make big round-sounding dulcimers appropriate for modern multi-instrument jams.

My advice would be to listen to dulcimer players, and when you hear one that has the sound you like, as who made it and what the design specs are. Most luthiers have their own specialties, but they are also willing to work with you to get you the dulcimer of your dreams. Keep your eyes and ears open so you can best explain what that is.

Dean, let me reiterate a few points already made and add a couple of my own.

First, almost everyone will have to look at the fretboard when they first start playing. Eventually, you gain the muscle memory of where the frets are and you don't have to look as much.

Second, many of us play different instruments with different VSLs, so we can't rely on that muscle memore as much as those who play a single instrument all the time. I have five dulcimers I play regularly, only two of which are standard-sized dulcimers. The others are made to fill different tonal ranges, and their sizes vary. All five of those dulcimers have different VSLs.

Third, some songs are more complicated than others. For simple tunes played around the nut, I can play without looking at the fretboard. But other songsinvolve chords higher up the freboard and/ora lot of movement from lower frets to very high frets. It is very difficult to play those kinds of tunes without looking at the fretboard. When I play guitar, I can generally play chordal accompaniment even with bass runs and little licks without looking at what I'm doing. But if I have to take a solo, then my eyes will be glued to the fingerboard since my fingers will be moving around a lot.

Fourth, some of us don't use tab or sheet music. This might sound odd, but I learn the songs I learn. What I mean is that I use tab or music when I first learn a song, and perhpas I have to refer to that to refresh my memory of a song I haven't played ina while, but while I play I don't look at music. I find I can play faster and more precisely by concentrating solely on the fretboard and my finger placement. I don't want the distraction of looking at a piece of paper and then having to translate that paper to action on the fretboard. My fingers fretting and picking strings is all I want to think about.

Nancy, I mention "Jambalaya" above because it is a really fun song and doesn't sound like something simple or child-like.

I think minimizing the chord changes is a good way to introduce the notion of chord progressions and chording in general. You are on the right track. When I was a wee one my mother taught me to play the ukulele by showing me two one-finger chords. She sang and pointed to me when I was supposed to switch from one to the other. That exercise helped me to hear when the chord change was happening.

So I encourage you to go forth and teach a couple of two-chord songs. But I don't think you should overdo it, meaning you don't need more than three or four. Once people "get" the idea of chord changes you can move very quickly to three-chord songs, and there are a lot of those. AsButch Ross said, if you like the first folk song you learn, you'll like the other one, too. His point is simply that all the songs we play are basically the same.

The reason Bile Dem Cabbage Down is so useful as a first song for chord/melody play is that is that it involves the three main chords that lay at the center of all the music we play. Additionally, all chords can be played with one or two fingers, and in fact the melody itself is really nothing but a few chord changes. So whenever the melody note is found on the 2nd fret of the melody string, you play a D, when the melody moves to the 3rd fret you play a G, and when it moves to the 1st fret you play an A. And fancier versions of the song are basically compilations of littlelicks to move from one chord to another, meaning they are usable in all the other songs we play, too.

I guess my point is that while it makes sense to begin with two-chord songs, you shouldn't fear moving to three-chord songs very quickly.They are not much more difficult to play but offer a lot more in terms of ear training and practical applications as well.

Me gotta go. How about Jambalaya?

Kay, I think Guy makes a good point here. Many dulcimer players will tell you explicitly not to practice, but to jsut have fun playing. But it appears from your initial comment that you are playing with the expressed aim of improving, and in that light I think Guy's comments are more profound than they appear at first.

Your initial post mentions a range of techniques, from chording and noting (notering?) with the left hand to strumming and fingerpicking with the right hand. Each of those techniques is different and requires its own unique development. Chording will not help you develop technique with a noter, and strumming with a flatpick will not help you develop good fingerpicking techniques. First, you might notice that few of the very best dulcimer players master more than one style. Linda Brockinton is wonderful at fingerpicking, but you will never see her play with a flatpick. Aaron O'Rourke can use a flatpick as well as any bluegrass guitar player in Nashville, but you won't see him fingerpick or use a noter.

For the moment you might indeed want to experiment with different styles to see which one is most alluring to you, but when you practice, you might want to isolate a technique and work on some aspect of that alone. Personally, I have been working recently on developing a stronger pinky on my fretting hand. I have found or developed some scales and arpeggios that necessitate the pinky and I try to run through those as often as possible. Just based on the cleanliness and speed of my fingering, I know I am improving even though I haven't really found songs that reveal my improved technique. Robin Clark posted a video not long ago on advanced noter technique . You might not be ready for the advanced stuff yet, but you might want to take a look at it and see how your own improvement might not necessarily involve chording or fingerpicking but sticking with the noter and trying to master that technique. And rememeber that each of the techniques he demonstrates might take a while to learn well enough to use fluidly in a song.

There are similar resources available for other dulcimer styles. You might want to choose one or two at a time and concentrate on particular techniques rather than playing songs in different styles and getting frustrated that you can't get them up to speed right away.

Kay, all musicians get frustrated with their own progress, so the feelings you are experiencing are normal. One way to avoid the sense that you're not getting better is to record yourself playing a song. You don't have to share it with anyone, but date it and keep it. And keep practicing. After a couple of weeks ora month go back and listen to your recording. You'll probaby know immediately that you can already play much better. That sense of progress can motivate you to keep playing and help avoid the frustration that you seem to be experiencing.

Dean, this is not really an either/or proposition. If you play dulcimer in a droning style, meaning you play the melody (with a noter or your fingers) on the melody string, then you will learn to play in different tunings depending on the melody of the song. Some songs only work in DAA, some only work in DAd, and some lucky ones can be played in both tunings. Other songs will require DAC or DAG tunings.

If you play across all the strings and play chords, then you do indeed have the ability to stick mostly to one tuning. Thirty years ago DAA would have been the most common. Today it is DAd, as you have discovered with the Desert Dulcimers.

I would second Skip's advice to stick with one tuning at a time for chording. And right now, 90 percent of the chording world plays mainly in DAd. You will find more resources for that tuning and will see more examples of it at workshops, on YouTube, and elsewhere. Mind you, I am not making a value judgment of one tuning over another, merely pointingout that for practical reasons, you will find more help chording in DAd.

But I still encourage you to experiment with other tunings, especially if you are playing in a droning style.

Robin, that guitar sounds amazingly warm and mellow. You have certainly rescued a treasure.

And I'm impressed by your playing as well. I agree with Rob; you sound Jeffersonian, as in Blind Lemon.

There are a few good sources for that mix of hillbilly and race records that was common in the 20s and 30s. I have a CD of African-American fiddlers calledFiddler, Singthe Blues for Me, and there is a two-CD set called White Country Blues that is basically old "hillbilly" singers playing blues. There was a repertoire of acoustic blues music that was common to both white and black performers who, of course, listened to each other. As Rob says, the music was only separated by record company producers and marketing folk. And of course, that whole tradition of Piedmont Blues, which centers on fingerpicking and uses the standard 12-bar form much less frequently, was equally white and black. In fact, some of your playing could easily fit into that tradition.

OK, so I ramble. I guess I'm a ramblin' man.

It was a little of both, Peter. I remembered a discussion about Cripple Creek dulcimers but couldn't remember if it was here or at ED or whether it got resolved or not. I did a search to find the conversation. It is interesting that they offered a refund two years ago but not more recently.

Peter Tommerup said:

Dusty,

GOOD WORK! Did you remember this earlier discussion or find it by searching for similar laments and complaints about Cripple Creek instruments?

As Yogi Berra (whose book is entitled I Didn't Really Say All Those Things That I Said ) did or didn't say, "it's dj vu all over again."

Check out this discussion from two years ago .

Sad story. There are many reasons why an instrument might not be exactly what we want, but it sounds like this one has many serious structural problems.

I would contact them again and insist on a refund. If all the instruments they offered you have structural problems, then exchange should not be the onlyan option. They need to know how unhappy you are and how vociferously you are voicing your concerns to the dulcimer community.

How aboutthe musicologist Professor Herbert Nositall?

Scott Collier said:

Well i don't know but with a "music professor" named Will E. Playmore? Still makes me wonder, lol. It may or may not be a true story but it's thought provoking non the less!

Ifear we may find out that Grandma Adams (Spencer) taught Bonnie how to use a machine gun, too.

Randy Adams said:

This is actually a true story and has been told in our family for years. My Grandma Adams, maiden name Spencer, grew up in Texas, played the dulcimer, and knew the Parker family. She showed Bonnie how to play the basics on the dulcimer, the modes and tunings and so forth, and she said she had never seen anyone with such a natural aptitude for music like Bonnie Parker. My Aunt Jackye Sue has pictures of Grandma and Bonnie with their dulcimers and a couple of crude home recordings of them playing. I will try to get them and will post them here.

Folks, for the record, I am skeptical too, for I've been unable to corroborate most of the information in Gibson's article. I do know Ralph Peer was indeed a recording engineer and producer who pioneered the makingof field recordings, but I can't seem to find references anywhere else to a most of this intriguing story.

In this case, perhaps, hearing is believing.

I am surprised no one here has noticed this yet, but Ohio luthier Ron Gibson has published an article on his website about three recently discovered recordings by the famed bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde in which Bony Parker played a ducimore musical instrument. The two were killed in 1934, so it is likely the recordings--if genuine--date from a year or two before then.

What is even more striking than the mere fact that Bonnie played a dulcimer is the fashion in which she did so. In one song she combined counterpoint melodies withjazz chord inversionsas well as playing percussion by tapping on the soundbox. In another song she played guitar-like riffs that would be associated with Chuck Berry two decades later. Another song includes "raps and rhymes" and can only be described as original gangster rap.

You can find Ron Gibson's article here: Did Bonnie and Clyde Play the Dulcimer? .

These recordings were supposedly discovered by the Library of Congress, which might mean they either are or soon will be made available to the public. I am sure many of us will be eager listeners and won't really believe the descriptions of the music until we hear for ourselves.

Ruth, I have to ask a question to ensure you are asking the right question.

Are you sure you are talking about "key" changes and not merely "chord" changes? The key corresponds to the keynote of the song, and in any given key, certain chords are likely. For example, a song that is in Eb will almost always have Ab and Bb as well. When a song moves from an Eb chord to a Bb chord, that is usually not a key change; it is merely a chord change. Any song will have a set of chord changes that is referred to as the chord progression, and in any given tuning, certain chord progressions are possible.

If you were to play "Go Tell Aunt Rhody," for example, in the key of Eb, there would be two chords: Eb and Bb. If you were to play "Bile Dem Cabbage Down" in the key of Eb, there would be three chords: Eb, Ab, and Bb. But in neither case is there a key change. Both songs are played in one key.

Sometimes songs really do change keys. In those cases the entire song moves from one keynote to another. And the most common key change is to move up a 4th to create an increased emotionality. For example, the Beatles song "Penny Lane" famously moves up a fourth towards the end. And sometimes that same shift can represent a lack of originality, as in the Stevie Wonder song "I Just Called to Say I Love You," where to avoid the appearance of excessive repetition the song moves up a fourth. When Whitney Houston moves up a fourth in "I Will Always Love You" it creates not only increased emotion, but increased awe because her voice demonstrates such range.

So there are songs that change keys, but they are rare. Most of the time a song begins and ends in a given key. And in that key, it will change chords several times. But if you are playing a song that moves between Eb and Bb, it is probably not changing keys, but merely changing chords.

If I am wrong here and you are indeed referring to key changes, please forgive my ramblings.

Mike, perhaps you already know the basic story of Capritaurus. But if not, Howard Rugg tells us in his own words:

Mike Andersonposted the following:

I just purchased a Capritaurus and wonder if there is a way to date it? The label has no serial numbers or signatures that I can see. I have seen several pictures and it appears to be a generic with heart-shaped soundholes and not custom. This is what mine look like but the picture is from Wikipedia:

Mike then added: I saw one of Howard's posts and he was referring to actual serial numbers. It appears to be a Model D if applicable to the Folk Roots name. I will get a flash light and do a closer exam.

From a harmonic perspective, that looks like a legit B part since it goes to the IV chord (fret 5) in the same measures where the A part goes to the V chord (first fret).

The hymn is "Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing."

But it is also credited to Schubert as "Rousseau's Dream," and this version provides some nice ideas for variations (although it also goes off into places only Oscar Peterson would understand).

Hey Dulcimer Jim,

Technically a "B" part refers to a second part of a song, meaning a different melody and different chord progression. Most fiddle tunes, for example, have an A part and a B part. In general you play the A part twice and then the B part twice. In songs with words, often the B part is just a chorus that is repeated after each verse.

What you seem to be looking for would be better termed "variations." That is, you are searching for variations on a tune so that you can play several verses without repeating yourself. In that sense, whether Wayne's B part is a harmony part or not is less important than the fact that it differs (or varies) from the standard melody and allows you to play another variation on the melody.

What I would urge you do to is not necessarily memorizea variation that someone else has played, but get ideas from those variations and see if you can come up with something on your own. One reason we use Bile Dem Cabbage as an introductory song is that so many variations are possible and the song can be a catalyst for igniting the imagination of each individual player. Even your initial premise of doing a calypso version of Rhody is an example of creating a rhythmic variation of a tune, so you are well on your way to creating interesting music of your own!

No need to apologize, Wayne. Dulcimer Jim was looking fornew ideas to add to his version of Go Tell Aunt Rhody, and you certainly gave him that.

Haveyou tried to play the two parts together?Try playing the second part over your recording of the first part. I bet they would sound really good.

Wayne Anderson said:

Sorry guys, I was just trying to help out on a question that was asked

I had never heard of a B part to Rhody either. I would guess that what Wayne is playing as a B part is actually a harmony part. It sounds like the two parts he plays would sound great played simultaneously.

I would like to reiterate a point Robin makes above. Although nowadays, software such as Tabledit allows very elaborate tablature indicating all sorts of nuances of playing, most tab that people have used has been very simple. That simple tab assumes that you already know what the song sounds like. In the case Folkfan raises--3453, 3453, 567, 567--which is Frre Jacques on an A string, one has to know that the 7 note is played for twice as long as the other notes. One also has to know that the accents fall on the first and third beats of the measure rather than the second and fourth. You don't even have to know what a measure is, but to play that song based on that tab, you have to know what it is supposed to sound like.

The point is that even if you think you are playing by tab rather than by ear, you are relying on your ear a lot.

My second point is that we all learn differently. It may be, as Folkfan says, that "With the use of tab . . . a person can quickly join in and get a sense of satisfaction from being able to play." But not all people can do that. I cannot look at tablature and play a song. I can replicate the notes on the page, but I cannot get it to sound like a song unless I have an idea of what the song sounds like. However, if someone plays a simple song slowly in front of me, I will be able to pick it up by the third verse or so. Let's not generalize about how easy it is to play from tab. Some of us cannot do it at all.

But the really odd (to an outsider) use of tablature in the dulcimer community is not for learning songs; it is the utter reliance on tablature in order to play at all. Once you have learned a song, you should be able to dispense with the tab. Maybe you need a quick glance to refresh your memory, but I have to believe that you are stifling your own musical expression if your attention is focused on the tablature in front of you rather than on the instrument on your lap. When you play you have to feel the music enough to know when you might play some notes staccato or linger on a whole note a bit longer or play the chorus with some extra drama. I'm not talking about improvisation here, but merely the small nuances of playing that give any song its character. I assume no one wants to sound like those midi files when they play a song. You need to free yourself from tab in order to put your own unique touch into a song.

It may be, as Robin suggests, that we need to do a better job teaching people how to play by muscle memory. Part of that is learning about how songs are put together. It is a lot easier to learn a song if you pay attention to the fact that there are four melody lines of four measures each, that the second and fourth are identical, and that the first and third only vary in two measures, and so forth. Learning to see that kind of structure when you first listen to a song or look at tablature is the first step in knowing a song without the tab. Most of the music we play is pretty formulaic, and understanding some of those formulas (formulae?) can help in the process of freeing oneself from an over-reliance on tab.

I am not sure how to respond to this interesting conversation except as an outsider. I have only been playing the dulcimer for about 4 years. I have only attended two festivals, both on the west coast. I cannot attest to how things have been changing in the dulcimer community, but I do share the general observation that dulcimer players are increasing in number and so are dulcimer festivals. Stephen's observation is merely that even if it is true that a majority of workshops center on chording, DAd tuning and playing by tab, there is more available on other styles of play than there was in the past. That seems like an accurate observation.

Later this month I will be attending a dulcimer festival offered for the first time. There are 9 workshops in total, about 1/3 devoted solely to beginners. Of the other 6, one is devoted to noter technique, one solely to DAC, and one to a variety of tunings for fiddle tunes. There are only two devoted to modern chord style play in DAd tunings for intermediate or advanced players. My guess is that nearly everyone attending will find too little for their particular interests. But to the credit of the organizers, there is quite a variety for the choosing.

But this festival symbolizes the problem. There are only so many workshops that can be scheduled and perhaps only at the massive festivals like Dulcimerville is it possible to schedule enough workshops on a sufficient variety of playing techniques to satisfy everyone. Stephen's own work is another example. While some traditionalists see his work as a quintessential example of modern chord style playing in DAd, others of us complain that the Join the Jam tunes are allpresented in a drone style, with the melody played solely (or mostly) on the melody string. You just can't please everyone.

But what I fail to understand is why people think these different ways of playing the dulcimer are mutually exclusive. I consider myself a modern chord style player because I fret across all the strings. But to some people, much of what I do is not chord/melody but flatpicking. And sometimes I fingerpick, when the song or arrangement warrants that technique. Recently I began trying to play an old Shaker hymn and I decided the best way to do it would be out of a DAA tuning, perhaps even (gasp) with a noter. Having attended the Redwood Dulcimer Day in Santa Cruz, I've learned from some of the originators of the West Coast style of play. But what I've learned from them is how to play traditional French waltzes, laudas from the Italian Renaissance, and songs of freedom from South Africa. In the same way that playing the mandolin made me a better guitar player, studying different styles of dulcimer playing makes us better at whatever it is we choose to specialize in.

What I find bothersome is the refusal of some dulcimer players to attend a workshop that does not address the specific style of play they prefer. This kind of ghetto-izing can only stifle our development as musicians. Robin Clark, who is active here and a wonderful noter/drone player, occasionally posts renditions of songs in a chord style, and even in one of his droning tunes, he refers to the move to the IV chord in one part of the melody. His understanding of chords does not hinder but rather enhances his ability to perform as a noter/drone player.

But now for my personal complaint: I hate tablature. Yes, I use it, almost daily, to get the general sense of a song or to navigate a particularly difficult section of a tune, but I cannot read tablature fast enough to play along at a workshop. If you play a verse or two, however, I'll catchup. I have to feel a song before I can play it. At the Dulcimer School I've posted a lot of practice videos, and I appreciate Stephen's feedback. But truth be told, I learn from the videos or audio tracks, not the tablature. I don't even look at most of the tablature. My prediction is that tablature will die out as audio and video recording becomes easier and easier. It used to be that the only "take-away" from a workshop would be a piece of paper with the music written on it. And since we are folk musicians suspicious of fancy learnin', we refuse to learnSMN, so we use tablature. But everyone has a phone now that can capture a workshop leader playing a song. Everyone can record themselves on their webcams and share their work with the world on YouTube or here at FOTMD. I find it tedious to have an instructor lead us measure by measure through a piece of tablature that was not made available prior to a festival. If the tab is helpful, distribute it beforehand. But when we get together, let'splay. If I have to sit out the first verse or two while I get the hang of a piece, so be it.

Maybe, here on the West Coast, I don't have the luxury of complaining ofa First World problem. I am so grateful if someone who plays the dulcimer and has something to teach me is within a few hundred miles, that I don't care what tuning they are using, whether they fretwith fingers or a noter, or whether they hold a quill, a pick, or nothing in their right hand. I am grateful to have them near and want to learn what they have to share.

It's no surprise to me that Bobby makes such a remarkable instrument. Coming from you, Ken, this is high praise indeed.

Congrats on the new instrument, Beth. I bought a Mahalo uke for my daughter for her birthday. It's painted pink!

Rachel, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "interchangeable," but a chord is a chord regardless of the instrument.TheC major chord, for example,is comprised of the notes C, E, and G. If you play those notes at the same time you are playing a C chord. It doesn't matter what instrument you are playing. Similarly, G major involves the notes G, B, and D. D involves the notes D, F# and A.

Remember that the chords only provide the harmonic structure of the tune and do not sound like the melody. If all you do is play the chords, it may be hard to hear what song you are playing. Only a few--like "The 59th StreetBridge Song (Feeling Groovy)"--will be easily identifiable.

Why not start with a simple, two-chord song? Play "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" with the chords D (002) and A (101). Strum the chords while you sing (or whistle, or hum, or whatever). For the first line, strum your D chord. For second line, strum the A chord. For the third line go back to the D chord. And for the fourth lineplay the A chord until the end when you resolve to the D again. The first line of the melody is the note you make when you play the melody string on the second fret. Try playing those chords and singing. Do the chords seem to accompany the melody correctly?

Stephen Seifert's chord chart is an excellent chord chart, but you might not be ready to use it on its own if you are just beginning to play chords. Instead you need to gain practice fretting and strumming chords and understanding the role of chords in music. Once you learn that, then you can use Stephen's chart as a resource to learn how to play chords all over the fretboard and how to play some more complicated chords.

One way of playing the dulcimer is indeed to strum chords as backup to the melody or lead being sung or played by another instrument. But many of us who play chords do so in what is called a chord/melody style in which we combine chording with playing the melody. In that style of play, the melody is more easily identifiable than it is if you just strum chords as backup. Another style--in fact the traditional style--of dulcimer is a drone style in which the melody is played (either with fingers or a noter) on the melody string and the other two strings are allowed to ring out (drone). In that style of play as well, the melody is easily identified.

But if you are just strumming chords, you will likely not hear the melody from your strumming alone. That is why I suggest you hum or sing or whistle the melody and play the chords as backup.

Breanna, I think there are two different issues when getting a dulcimer for a kid. One is the cost. You don't want to spend a lot of money on an instrument if your child will lose interest after a month. For that reason, the cardboard dulcimers might be an option. Then again, they cost about $70 new, andDavid Lynch's student dulcimer is only $125.

The second issue, as you mention, is the size of the dulcimer. Wayne has linked to my list of little dulcimers. For small fingers, the VSL obviously makes a difference, but so does the width of the fretboard, at least if your little one is likely to learn chords on the dulcimer. A couple of years ago I got my daughter (who turns 8 in about a week) an octave dulcimer by David Beede (the model he calls the Eddy Beede). It is a tiny dulcimer that allows my daughter full control over the fretboard. The fact that it is also an octave dulcimer means that we can play duets, with me on a standard dulcimer at her on the octave. Assuming she continues to play, eventually she will want a full-size dulcimer, I am sure, but the small size of the fretboard on her octave allows her fingers to stretch in ways similar to ours on a full-size dulcimer. In other words, the dulcimer itself poses no impediment to the development of her command of the dulcimer, which would be the case, I think, with a full-sized fretboard.

You might consider an octave dulcimer or perhaps one of the dulcimers with the VSLs similar to theGinger by McSpadden, Soprano by Blue Lion, or Baritone Dulcimette by Ron Ewing. Those dulcimers are in between an octave and a full-size dulcimers. They are not all intended to be tuned to the key of D, though, so if you want to accompany your child you might look into that issue. Those dulcimers can be pricey, though. I justified an Eedy Beede for my daughter with the logic that it was an instrument I would enjoy should she not develop a long-term interest in playing.

Hi Bradford. You might consider joining the group I created a while back called Help Me Learn This Song, Please . You can start a new discussion with Road to Lisdoonvarna--or any other tune you needhelp with--as the title.

Quick thought: It might be easier to use a capo on the first fret for this one.

Quick question: You describe your difficulty with chords; what about with your picking hand? If you can pick individual strings rather than strum across all of them, you will indeed be able to play this song without too much difficulty. If you have trouble holding a pick, you might consider a thumb pick.

Quick suggestion: You might consider starting a discussion asking for ideas for songs to play at a Ren Fair in a droning style. I bet Ken H. and folkfan alone could give you dozens of good ideas.

Robin, your noter technique is definitely advanced. And hey, no beginner could use a false nut so effectively.

Folkfan, no beginner could talk modes and tunings as clearly and confidently as you do.

I love you both, but y'all are nuts.

Most often when a workshop is listed as beginner/intermediate or intermediate/advanced the idea is not that a new, in-between category is created but that the workshop would be appropriate for players of both levels.

Yes, Ken, it appears people don't like the word "expert." But if you change the name to "advanced" we'll find something else to complain about.

Ken, it would indeed be nice if everyone could adopt a common set of definitions of these terms. If this discussion begins the process whereby such an agreement could be made, you have done the dulcimer world a great service.

Let me complicate things a bit.

There are at least two other terms commonly used in this context: novice and advanced. In fact, I think "advanced" is much more commonly used than "expert." One might still be a student and be "advanced," but your definition of "expert" is what most of us would call a professional. I doubt you will see a workshop advertised for the "expert" level,but you might see it for the "advanced" level.

One reason this issue is complicated and confusing is that although some people come to the dulcimer with no prior experience on any musical instrument, others come as advanced players on other instruments. I was able to tune and change strings before ever holding a dulcimer because I had beenplaying guitars, mandolins,ukuleles and the like for decades. And I could probably play six tunes from memory within a couple of hours of getting my first dulcimer. That ability was not due to some natural gift I have, for believe me, I am not naturally gifted, but simply that I had been playing so many other stringed instruments that I was already familiar with how to play. And the fact that I had read (perhaps a dozen times) your essay"I Just got a Mountain Dulcimer, Now What?" over on ED meant that I was familiar with MD terminology even though I had never held one before. About a month after getting my first dulcimer I attended a festival thinking I was a beginner but was told by people at my first workshop that I was at least intermediate and perhaps even advanced. They were wrong, of course. My knowledge of the fretboard was still in its infancy, for example. But they based that opinion on my comfort fretting, strumming and picking notes and chords. I guess my only point is that any serious definition of these terms for "levels" of playing has to account for those whose technique might be advanced but whose understanding of the instrument is still at a beginner level. In fact, after almost four years I probablystill fit that description. (Maybe the term "novice" could be defined in such a way as to include those new to the dulcimer but familiar with other fretted instruments.)

My only real quarrel with your definition of terms, though, is the insistence that one must be equally familiar with all styles of dulcimer play. Is it not possible for someone to be an expert noter/drone player who knows nothing about chords? Is it not possible to be an expert modern chord player who knows nothing about noter technique? One would not demand that an expert blues guitarist also know how to play classical guitar or that the double bass player in an orchestra also know how to play bluegrass bass.

Dana was also the one who found the episode of the Waltons in which John Boy plays the dulcimer and sings:

http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/forum/topics/john-boy-walton-s-dulcimer-song

Dan, you've been given good advice so far. Make sure your legs are spread pretty wide and that the head of the dulcimer sits on your knee. Some people use that shelf liner/carpet pad stuff on their laps, but others claim that the material can mark the finish of your dulcimer.

Although some traditionalists frown upon using straps, I had a horrible problem with my dulcimer moving around until I installed strap buttons and began using a strap around my lower back. The dulcimer immediately became "mine." You can make your own strap, of course, and Strumelia has a nice video about how to do that at her noter/drone blog (scroll down to the very lower bottom of this page). Carrie is right that any adjustable guitar strap will also work, but my preference is the quick release dulcimer strap that Sue Carpenter designs and sells. I have one on each of my dulcimers now.

Dave, I love the button you're sportin' there! Oh, and the playings nice, too.

Robin, although I hardly ever play it anymore, I, too,picked up a Kentucky A-style mandolin a few years ago (I also splurged for the one with the solid top, but there is a model without it, so it is not quite the cheapest model) and played it regularly for a while when I shared a house with a guitarist far better than I. That instrument has a very balanced sound, though not as much punch perhaps as the real expensive mandolins.

But I think you are underestimating your abilities when you say there are no crossover skills. That fast and steady right hand you have developed is what's enabling you to jump right in and play some bluegrass chops as part of a rhythm section. Someone without your experience would have to play for a long time to be able to do that. And your general understanding of the music will eventually encourage you to add filler or small solos here and there. You will very soon start translating musical ideas from the dulcimer to the mandolin and eventually vice versa.

You seem to haveconcrete goals with the mandolin and I have no doubt that you will achieve them, but even if you don't take up the mandolin with the same enthusiasm and mastery that characterizes your dulcimer playing, I would bet in the long run, playing the mandolin will make you a better dulcimer player.

And your description of serious practice is a heartening one.

Thanks Santa, er, uh, I mean Phil. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

I would agree that ebony makes iteasier to slide fingersaround and therefore encourages faster fingering. But the hardness of the wood also makes it much more resistant to pick marks. If, like me,you often strum over the fretboard rather than in the strum hollow, and if, like me, you occasionally do so with a little too much exuberance, then you sometimes leave pick marks on the corners of the fretboard. Ebony resists those marks due to the hardness of the wood.

I had a dulcimer with a padauk overlay that was fast, but not as fast as ebony.

I do not believe having a fretboard overlay would affect sound in any way.

We had pop tarts for breakfast, hot pockets for lunch

Tonight we'll be scrounging a crumb or a scrap

It's Christmas, you know, but I have a hunch

Mama's still strumming the dulcimer on her lap