Forum Activity for @dusty

@jp, I have two comments here which are kind of contradictory.  The first is why you should not need fret markers.  The second is what to do if you get them.

First, to get used to the 1-1/2 fret does take some time.  It took me about a year even though I'm used to chromatic instruments such as the guitar and mandolin.  When I finally "got" it, it was just a matter of mental focus.  I forced myself to think "fat, fat, skinny" as the beginning of the fretboard.  The first two frets are fat, then comes that skinny third fret.  Once I started imagining the space on the fretboard as indicating where the notes were rather than the fretwire itself, I stopped getting confused by the 1-1/2 fret.  If you put fret markers in those normal places (3, 5, 7, 10), which I strongly suggest so that you don't get confused by other dulcimers with fret markers, they will not necessarily help you get used to to the 1-1/2 fret. That's just a hurdle you have to overcome.

Second, I agree with you about what kind of markers to get. If you want something temporary, just use masking tape.  If you want something that you plan to leave on for a while, get nice inlay stickers.  The ones I got are easily removable and don't leave any trace that can't be wiped away easily. They are also so thin that you don't notice them at all when fingering the fretboard.  Until you look closely, they appear to by nice inlay, and you can choose a variety of different designs, so you can personalize your instrument pretty easily.  Be aware that most are made for guitars, which usually have a wider fretboard than dulcimers do.  And if the fret markers involve a design that connects several frets in a row, they won't work on the diatonic fretboard of the dulcimer.  I think the ones I got were made for a ukulele, so they're pretty small.  The website I linked to earlier has a range of shapes, sizes, colors, and designs, so take your time looking through the options and find something that will not detract from the look of your dulcimer.

My first comment, @jp, is that unlike chromatic instruments, dulcimers do not need fret markers because the pattern of skinny and fat frets serve as fret markers.  Some of my dulcimers have no fret markers at all and I get by fine.  

Still, some do, and I find them minimally helpful.  And I have to admit that for purely decorative purposes I put small sea turtle inlay stickers on one of my dulcimers:

I cannot remember for sure, but I might have purchased them from Jockomo:  https://www.inlaystickers.com/ .

I'm really envious of your screened porch, Strumelia.  It does seem to be a perfect place to eat or play music.

I get excited the first time I see English peas at the market. Usually they come towards the middle of summer, but they've already arrived this year.  I used to gather recipes for them, but I've realized that I like them raw better than prepared.  So put away the chips and popcorn. I'm gonna sit right back and shell a bunch of peas!  Yum!

How adorable!  But I can feel my allergies acting up . . . 

I realize in reading this discussion that seven years ago I promised to post a picture of the dolphin soundholes on my Eedy Beede octave dulcimer.

Since David makes his dulcimers in Florida, the Atlantic dolphin soundholes seem appropriate.  What you can't tell in the photo is how small they are.  Each is smaller than my thumb.

A while back I was playing around in a music store and had an acoustic bass guitar on my lap.  I don't play the bass but can fake it after decades of guitar playing.  I was playing the bass line to Taj Majal's version of "She Caught the Katy" and was trying to sing, too.  But I couldn't do it. When I expressed frustration, explaining that I can play guitar and sing with no problem, the owner of the store replied that I had to "own the bass" before I'd be able to sing along to it.  I thought at first that he was trying to sell me the instrument, but what he meant was that before I'd be able to accompany myself singing I had to really know the bass line perfectly without having to think about it at all.

I think that's right. You can only work on one thing at a time. So if you have to think about where to fret the fingerboard or how you want to vary your vocal line, you can't also be thinking about strumming or picking with your right hand. You have to know one part so well that it's automatic, allowing you to think about the other part.

I don't know if there are any shortcuts.  Just repetition.  I developed a steady, back-and-forth strumming pattern on the guitar many years ago.  It enabled me to become a passable mandolin player pretty quickly and also sped up dramatically my improvement on the dulcimer.  I sometimes mess up my right hand in that I don't play the exact rhythm I had intended, but I never get off beat. My right hand just goes back and forth, out, in, out, in.  Sometimes I strum all three strings, sometimes just two, sometimes I pick a single string, and sometimes I skip a beat and don't hit any strings, but my hand feels that back-and-forth movement anyway.  In fact, if you see me play a half note you will often see an extra little jerk in my hand as I move just to keep the beat even though I am not playing a note.  Before you will be really comfortable singing, your strumming hand has to become automatic.  Not robotic, for you can still swing and play with feeling, but it has to be something you don't have to think about at all.

And think of how quickly you could learn new tunes if you only have to think about your left hand!

I would suggest muting the strings of your dulcimer with your left hand so that when you strum them you just hear that vamping scratch. Then put on your favorite CD or turn on the radio.  Strum along.  Find the beat and just strum out once per beat.  Once you're comfortable, add the in strum, counting 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & and strumming out-in-out-in-out-in-out-in. (You can reverse those outs and ins, but you have to reverse them all; be consistent!)  Do that over and over and over.  Once you're comfortable strumming in both directions, then try to replicate the rhythms you hear.  It might involve skipping, accenting, or muting strums, but when you can hear a rhythm and replicate it with your right hand (always maintaining that steady, back-and-forth motion), then I think you'll be ready to sing or play and not worry about that right hand at all.  By then you'll "own" it.

Yes, I, too am very grateful for the time and energy Ron and Ken put into ED.  I'm glad you are both here, though, so we can continue to share our passion for the humble folk instrument we love so much.

Bruce's explanation for why he chose not to hand off ED to someone new makes a lot of sense. The platform was indeed dated and vulnerable for that reason.  It's sad to see the site go , but the music plays on. 

That's a bit of an exaggeration. New Warren May dulcimers start at $400 while the Blue Lion IW goes for $550.  In both cases you can order fancier models and fancier woods and and go over $1000.

I haven't been playing for that long, but I, too, find my preferences have changed.  Another reason not to overspend on your "dream" dulcimer until you're really sure what you are looking for.

What those three dulcimers have in common is that they are all high quality instruments that retain their value well.  But they are all very different. I've not played a Warren May dulcimer, but his instruments probably have a more traditional sound than the other two.  McSpaddens are very well balanced and are famously easy to play.  Blue Lions have a bigger bass sound than McSpaddens.  But there are other small differences, too.  The McSpadden fretboard is a bit smaller than the Blue Lion fretboard, and Blue Lion strings are a bit further apart.  The VSLs on standard models are also different.

If you have lots of money, buy a dulcimer by each of those builders, play them for a while, and then send me the ones you don't love.

If that's not an option, wait.  There are so many variables in dulcimer builds that unless you've been playing for a while and know exactly what you want, you don't know what your preferences are.  It took me a few years of playing to determine exactly what kind of dulcimer I wanted (and I want different ones for fingerpicking and flatpicking!).  Take your time.   If you can visit Warren May, play some of his dulcimers.  If you are at a festival and see a McSpadden or Blue Lion vendor, play some of their dulcimers.  Whenever you hear someone play a dulcimer that sounds especially nice to your ears, ask if you can play it, and ask what the player likes about it.  Eventually you won't have to post the question with which you started this forum because you'll already know what kind of dulcimer or dulcimers you want.

I just want to let everyone know that all the tablature from ED has already found a new home:  http://dulcimertab.com/ .  The site owner is hosting everything for free and may create a database of dulcimer groups and dulcimer teachers.

Lois, what software did you use to download ED?  Either that software will be used to open it, or they have instructions somewhere about what to do.

Marc, the download will happen faster if you download everything to your hard drive.  You can always move it to a flash drive after that.

Hi @marc-mathieu. I didn't actually do it myself. I was reacting to the comments @brian-g made after he downloaded the entire site.  He used a website copier program called HTTrack, but in his comments below he lists several other programs that do the same thing.  Those programs don't just download files but reproduce the entire website.  And I'm still amazed it is all less than 4GB.  I have a small jump drive half the size of my pinky that holds 128 GB and I've used about half that memory already.

Congratulations, Rob.  That really cool!  

Very common.  You might be right that it is all the distractions that affect your concentration. But I think, as Ken suggests, that it might just be a nervousness that comes from playing with or in front of others.  Sometimes when I perform I think I'm fine but find that my fingers get a bit jittery and its clear that I'm really nervous.

If its the auditory distractions that cause you trouble, you might consider playing commercial radio when you practice so you get used to ignoring the talking heads and commercial jingles and focus just on your playing.

@noah-coy-barfield , I should have pointed out that we have a whole group here devoted to the Baritone dulcimer . You might consider joining and checking out the conversations there.

By the way, I moved this discussion to the Forum on Specific Luthiers so that it would be more easily located later on instead of getting lost in the General Music category.

@noah-coy-barfield, I had a McSpadden baritone for about a year that I had to sell when I was making another dulcimer purchase that I couldn't really afford. It was a wonderful instrument, with a strong, deep voice.  Here is the video I posted when I was obliged to sell it: 

One nice thing about McSpaddens is that they keep their value pretty well.  And they are always well made (unless you get one made from a kit, and then you never know!).

I actually like all the suggestions here.  I've found in jams that it's important to have a clear leader for each tune.  That person counts out the first measure and determines the tempo.  Everyone else should follow that person.  It also helps if that person or a surrogate taps their feet loudly and plays the role of conductor.  

If there is a real disconnect, it may be that someone has to take a more active approach. In my monthly dulcimer group, I will sometimes start counting beats out loud and giving cues to where we are: "2-3-4- third line" or "3-4 A chord" or  whatever to get people in sync.

And sometimes a private conversation may be necessary.  I have a tendency to speed up as I play. One person in my local group always plays too fast.  But one day I spoke with her privately, explaining that we both had the same bad tendency and asking for her help in slowing down and following the tempo of the rest of the group.  That conversation made her a better player with out my having to insult her in any way.

But as a general rule, every orchestra needs a conductor. Whether that's the rhythm guitar as Randy suggests, someone taping their foot, or another leader of some sort.

@jp, I regularly use a .014 on my melody string and almost always tune to d. I've never had a string break on my dulcimer when I was tuning it.  But perhaps on longer VSLs .012 or even lighter would work better.  I say go for it and see what happens, perhaps putting on some goggles just in case.   Jeepers, creepers, you gotta protect your peepers!

@nigelbleddfa, it is surely the case that the more you change a string's tuning the more likely the string is to snap, but so what?  It's a good idea to change strings every 3-6 months anyway, so I don't see what the big deal is.  A string costs a buck.  A dulcimer costs a lot more than that.  There are better reasons to justify a new dulcimer.

Maybe I'm spoiled.  My thoughtful wife  got me a $100 gift card to Just Strings for my last birthday. I was able to buy several years worth of strings with that.

@jp, before I answer your question, let me point you to the place to ask questions about the site.  Click on Forums, and the first one is " Site Questions: How Do I . . ? " That is the place to post questions about how to do things here. In fact, before you pose your own question, you should peruse the existing discussions to see if someone has already asked the same question.

Now . . . yes, of course you can post your own music.  You can post videos from YouTube or Vimeo and audio files directly to FOTMD or via SoundCloud.  There are some rules, though. You can only post tunes that are in the public domain or that you wrote yourself and you must actually be playing or singing on the piece you post.  Please read the Site Rules to make sure whatever you post here is acceptable.

To add an audio or video file, start from your own home page, click "audio" or "video" and then the "+" sign. It should be self-explanatory, but if you have problems, you know where to ask for help.

@adrian-e,  I have a different approach to this.  

I strongly advise against spending a lot of money on an instrument until you've been playing long enough to discover your own preferences.  Some variables are more obvious than others.  The VSL, or vibrating string length, makes a difference mainly in how big the spaces are between frets and the sustain the instrument has.  Do you want an overlay such as ebony on the fretboard?  How wide should the fretboard be?  What kind of fret wire do you prefer?  How far apart should the strings be?  Do you want a wrist rest?  a bevel or place to rest your arm while you play?  Do you want a warm, mellow tone, or a brighter sound? Do you want a false bottom for more volume, or would you rather have less volume but be able to control it by muting the bottom on your legs?

You would be surprised how many small variables can make a big difference in how you (yes you, not me, because we are all different) play an instrument.  It took me a few years of playing to develop most of my preferences, but I am still refining certain issues like how far apart I want the strings.  Some of that can be adjusted on any instrument, but some of it can't.  And you don't want to spend a lot of money on an instrument only to find after playing it a while that it's not to your liking.  You would be better off playing for a while, trying out a variety of different instruments, and slowly developing a sense of what your dream dulcimer is.  In a few years, if you are still playing and still enjoying the dulcimer, you'll know exactly what you want to spend your money on.

I also don't know how to quantify the differences in tone between dulcimers.  I have dulcimers that cost $300 and dulcimers that cost over $1000.  The more expensive dulcimers sound a lot richer and play a lot easier.  But 3 times as much? I have no idea.  If we are judging dulcimers by a ratio of their sound quality relative to their price, I would suggest the David Lynch beginner dulcimer to be the best dulcimer out there.  It does not have the rich, warm tone of dulcimers that cost ten times the price, but the intonation is excellent, the action is good, the instrument has a nice punch to it, and the price is about a third of a Ron Gibson.

Having said all that, both Ron Gibson and Bonnie Carol dulcimers have good reputations and good resale value.

Hey @jp.  Welcome to FOTMD.  Since "Here Comes the Sun" is under copyright, you won't find free copies of tab around.  But there have been a few people to record it, and it's possible there's a version in a book somewhere.

You might consider posting a "Wanted" listing in the For Sale Forum .

You can contact David and order a dulcimer (or at least get on a waiting list) through his website: ww.davidbeede.com .  I've never seen one of his dulcimers available in a store and used copies rarely come available.

@erna-schram, as you can see there are a few different approaches here.  Mine is close to both Banjimer and Rob.

The most common keys in folk, bluegrass, or old timey jams are C, D, G, and A.  If you practicetuning back and forth between DAA or DAd and CGG or CGC, then you will only need one dulcimer.  For the key of G, capo at the third fret with your normal D tuning. For the key of A, capo at the fourth fret.  Then all you have to know is how to transpose.  What's nice about the capo is that you don't have to learn new chord shapes. You can continue to play the same chord shapes you already know.  Then the only trick is knowing which chord to play.  Perhaps this transposition chart will help.

It should be obvious how to read this.  If you are playing a song in the key of C and you are tuned CGG or CGC, then when the song requires a C chord, you use the fingering for your D chord.  When the song requires a G chord, you use your fingering for an A chord.  If the song is in the key of G, then tuned DAD or DAA, put the capo on the third fret.  If the song requires a G chord, you use the fingering for a D chord.  If the song requires a Bm, you use the fingering for an F#m.  And so forth.

Personally, if I were bringing two dulcimers to a jam, I would tune one as a baritone to be able to get the keys of G and A and the other as a standard to get D and C.  Then no capos are needed.  But if you only bring one dulcimer and a capo, you can easily get the four most common keys.

And if you think a little bit, you can get the others as well.  What if someone wants to play in the key of F to fit their voice?  You can tune to C and capo at 3!  If someone wants to play in Ab, you might first call them crazy, and then you could think:  "If a capo at the fourth fret gives me the key of A when I'm tuned to D, if I tune to Db, the fourth fret will be Ab!"  A little bit of creative thought will allow you to find most keys without having to re-learn different chord fingerings for each one.

I can't wait to finish up some work so I can take the time to listen to the new podcast.

We had Heidi and Bob out here in Sacramento several months ago for a dulcimer workshop and house concert.  We must have had about 30 guests for the concert, all packed into a private home sitting on rented chairs.  I can't say we were comfortable, but the music transported us to a place of sweet harmony.  I love that electric dulcimer/cello thing that Bob plays.

I'm still amazed that I could get all of FOTMD and ED on a little jump drive in my pocket.  Wow!  I feel so powerful! 

Thanks, Brian. Just out of curiosity, how long did that download take?

I'm actually surprised.  Less than 4 GB for the whole thing.  Makes me wonder why servers have to be so big.

Folks, just a reminder about Strumelia's reminder.  From what Bruce has said, it is likely that even if ED is shut down, the stable content (tabs, articles, etc) will likely still be available.

A few comments on pick clack.

First, you probably notice it more than any listeners would since you are right above the instrument and the clack does not bounce around in the box and get amplified the way the sound from the vibrating strings does. 

Second, you might indeed be hitting the fretboard when you pick or strum, but that is probably the only technical "mistake" that one might make. 

Third, although it might seem counter-intuitive, thinner picks make more of a clacking sound than heavier picks.  Consider moving to heavier picks and holding them loosely rather than tightly.

Fourth, you might indeed reduce pick clack with leather or felt picks, but you will never be able to control those picks enough to play lots of single notes, something you may want to do eventually even if you are mostly strumming now. 

And fifth, some of us don't hate the pick clack, so don't worry about it too much.  I liken it to the sound of fingers squeaking as they move along the strings. It is a nice reminder of the tactile nature of the instrument.  This is music being made by a person holding an instrument, not some digital creation made in a vacuum with no ambient noise.

Well there's no reason to steal the bad ones! 

@showtimegary. there is nothing we can tell you. You're on your own.

Ha! I'm kidding, of course.    You are going to get tons of advice from this site, and some of it might even be helpful!

First off, I would suggest you join both the Beginners Group and the Old Style Drone Players Group , since your dulcimer is intended for traditional styles of music.  Poke around there and see if there are old conversations that might help.

Secondly, don't be afraid to just play.  Put the dulcimer on your lap, tune it up, and start playing.  If you like what you hear, do it again.  If you don't, try something different.  Lots of people learned to play this instrument long before the internet or even tablature had been used.

If you are a beginner, Strumelia's Noter and Drone Blog  might be very helpful.

And when you have questions, speak up. If we don't know the answer, we'll make something up!

John, I see over at ED that one person has volunteered to take the site over, but I'm not sure everyone understands how much work is involved and how much technical savvy it requires.  A team of people with the right range of expertise might be able to do it, but the number of people who have that expertise, have the time available, and have an interest in dulcimers is pretty low.  I have not given up hope that the right group of folks might step forward, but I also think that the rest of us with our own websites will have to be more involved in the future to fill the large void ED will leave.

@linda-boies, we are all in shock about this development.  Please see an earlier discussion about ED closing .  Lois has explained how to use the "Wayback Machine" to find material from expired websites.  Hopefully all the resources available on ED will still be around even if no one can be found to maintain the current site.

Paula, I've been wanting to learn Boys from Wexford myself, so I began the process of transposing the sheet music to D and arranging some basic harmonic accompaniment.  You can see in the attached pdf what I've come up with so far (I call it a "work in progress," or WIP).  It should get you started.  From here my process will be to listen to as many versions of the song as I can to hear when there should be minor chords instead of major chords.  And then I will begin adding the "filler," meaning the arpeggios and other minor embellishments to fill in the spaces when the melody takes several beats.  If you have any luck with this tab, let me know.

The Boys from Wexford (WIP).pdf - 58KB

@paula-brawdy , there is plenty of sheet music for Boys of Wexford available online. Most of it seems to be in the key of G.  It wouldn't be too hard to transpose that to D. But also note that Leo is playing a dulcimer with four equidistant strings.  I'm sure you could figure out how to play the tune in regular DAd tuning, but it won't be exactly like his. Also, he uses the 1+ fret to get a C chord in Banish Misfortune.

Here is Leo's version for reference .  He is a member here, so you might consider contacting him directly.  

Yes, the tab archive at ED was a great resource for beginners. I learned a few tunes that way when I was first starting out before I gained the confidence to figure songs out on my own.  I do hope that database is retained somehow.

But everyone should know that ED is not the only site to maintain free dulcimer tablature.  I list 9 such sites on the Resources page of my website, and I'm sure there are others.  (If you know of any, let me know and I'll add them.)

I just went through the articles on ED and downloaded those that I thought I might want to review in the future.  Ron Z has posted that he is no longer accepting any new content (articles, tab, events, members, etc.) so what we see there now is all there will ever be.

I'm shocked by this news.