Forum Activity for @dusty

A bass dulcimer is tuned exactly one ocatve below a standard dulcimer.  So the bass string of a standard dulcimer and the melody string of a bass dulcimer will be exactly the same tone.

There are (or were) a couple of books of tab of Randy Wilkinson's arrangments.  They are really hard to find. I've been looking for a while.

There are a couple of older Forum threads on this topic:

http://fotmd.com/forums/forum/dulcimer-resourcestabs-books-websites-dvds/18835/looking-for-elizabethan-renaissance-arrangements

http://fotmd.com/forums/forum/general-mountain-dulcimer-or-music-discussions/8582/elizabethan-music-for-dulcimer-randy-wilkinson

Wow!  Lucky you. What a great find!  Capritaurus and FolkRoots dulcimers pop up every so often, especially here in California, but I've never seen one made of koa.  I know Neal Hellman and Michael Rugg used to work the Ren Fairs on a regular basis.  They would play all day hoping to entice people to buy a dulcimer. Neal repeatedly mentions how good his playing got when you played all day.  Kind of makes sense, huh? Maybe that's the secret.  I just need to find a job that pays me to play the dulcimer.

Yes, Paula, what Phil is explaining is that you should not screw the capo on to full tightness. Screw it only tight enough so that when you push the lever down it is really tight. Then it is set and you never have to set it again (unless you switch dulcimers). If you try to push the leverdown and you can't, then loosen the screw a little bit and try again.  Keep trying that until the capo is snug when you push the lever all the way down. 

I'm so sorry for your loss, John and Paul.  Condolences to you and your family.

On my dulcimers that don't have a laquered finish, I use Howard's Feed n Wax .  I learned of the product from a video by Bing Futch .  It works on the body and fretboard.  It won't hurt a laquered finish, but it won't be too effective either.  It's easy to find at most hardware or home improvement stores.

One lesson here, Dana, is to have extra strings on hand.  Just splurge and buy a dozen each loop end strings for each of your three strings.  Then you won't have to fight a ball end string anytime in the foreseeable future.

I think what you mean is that you have a ball end string but you need a loop end string.  If so, gently squeexe the ball with some pliers. Once it has lost its shape it should be easy to remove it, leaving you with a ball end string!

If you have a mark on the wood where the bridge was, you are in good shape. Start there and just fine tune things the way Pristine2 suggests in the video I link to above.

Yes, Blue Lions have floating bridges unless you request otherwise when you place your order.

It's really not that hard to position the bridge, but it does take some practice.  Pristine2 has posted a demo of how to do it.  Start by putting the bridge where you think it should go.  Then tune the middle string and check it at the 7th fret.  That should be one octave.  If it's off, you have to move the bridge.  Keep adjusting the bridge, retuning the string, and checking at the octave until the middle string is correct.  Once the middle string is correct, you will adjust the bridge by making it slightly slanted, pointing to the north-east, like a slash on your keyboard.  Start working on your bass and melody strings the same way you did with the middle string. Keep in mind that now when you adjust the bridge, you want the middle to stay where it is; you are only adjusting the slant.  Perhaps this is better understood in Pristine2's video.

Once you've found the spot for the bridge, you might want to make small pencil marks there to help yourself out the next time you have to do this.

Actually, a few years  ago we here at FOTMD started our own " You Might be a Dulcimer Redneck " list.  Some of it is pretty funny.  Some of it . . .

Robin, I doubt you will find a capo with shorter legs than a standard Ron Ewing. That is more or less the model these days.

And even though I was the one who proposed the hacksaw idea, I think Skip's suggestion is the less violent option. If you put a piece of hard rubber or soft wood or something, roughly the width of the fretboard, underneath the capo, you can get the same result without destroying the capo.  I would try that.  Some experimentation should reveal very quickly whether the legs of the capo will still have enough force to hold it down.

1 regular capo + 1 hacksaw = 1 shallow legged capo

That's all I got.

Paula, there is indeed a manual for TablEdit, which you can get in digital form (and print out if you wish -- it's about 150 pages or so), but it is not very user friendly.  Stephen Seifert used to have a tutorial available on his website which shows him navigating the software and talking over his computer screen.  It is very useful, but I think he has moved it from his website to the Dulcimer School.  If you subscribe to the School you can find it there.

I have sometimes learned how to do things in Tabledit just by using Google, but here at FOTMD, we use the Arranging For Mountain Dulcimers Group to pose questions about TablEdit.  Answers usually come pretty quickly.

You may already know that you can get a free trial of TablEdit which allows you to compose up to 24 measures, I think. Give it a try. As Robin says, it is not very intuitive and takes a while to get used to, but it is really powerful and once you learn it you can tab arrangements pretty darn quickly.

How could I not respond that you are referring to a song by whom?  The Turtles!  So Happy Together?

Annie, you are certainly correct, but I would suggest that songs with no range are nothing new.  Remember the song "Da Doo Ron Ron?" It was a top ten hit in the early 60s by the Crystals and again in 1977 by Shaun Cassidy. The melody (both A and B parts) only has 3 notes!  Do Re and Mi!  You can play the whole melody using only three frets on a single string on your dulcimer.  And the chorus doesn't even make any sense!

Congrats, Mark.  An honor long overdue.

And now presenting . . . for the first time anywhere (except when they made the recording) . . . Dusty and the Millennial Whoopers!

Oh my, Lisa. You know I have to post a video of that, don't you!

Well I don't find the repetitive whoop as annoying as the synthesized vocals.  There's no good reason to put a voice through a synthesizer unless a) you want to sound like a robot, or b) you are tying to hide the faults in the voice.

And we shouldn't pretend that the music we love is less repetitive than today's commercial pop. Every song in the 50s had that same I - vi - IV - V chord progression (Earth Angel, Blue Moon, Goodnight Sweetheart, Heart and Soul, Put Your Head on My Shoulder, etc.).

And 90 percent of the folk tunes that we love are so repetitive that Butch Ross teaches a workshop entitled "If You Like One Folk Song You'll Like the Other One" in which he teaches the patterns in music that appear in nearly every tune.

But none of that refutes the fact that the whoop is pretty darn annoying.

I have an 11-year-old.  When we drive in the car, the music we listen to follows this pattern:  

1) millenial whoop song

2) old cajun fiddle tune

3) millenial whoop song

4) clawhammer banjo tune

5) millenial whoop song

6) acoustic blues tune

7) millenial whoop song

8) appalachian fiddle tune

The upside? Maybe she'll remember the Balfa Brothers or Son House or Jean Ritchie.  The downside? I can (sometimes) recognize the differences between Ariana Grande, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift.

Cool!

Nina, you can trim the strings without cutting them by bending them back and forth and back and forth and back and forth until they break on their own, which will almost always be right at the point where they emerge from the hole in the post.  That way nothing will be sticking out.  I usually don't bother with that and just snip them with wire cutters, but then I use the side of the wire cutters to bend the sharp end in so that they don't stick out straight.

Another option, though it looks kind of funky, is not to trim the ends at all, but when you are dong to run them along the side of a pair of scissors. The string will curl up into a bouncy coil.  That is the same technique you've probably used with ribbon when wrapping presents.

In the future, I hope we all have those self-trimming tuners that Brian G mentions above.

Yes, Jennifer, a string winder makes changing strings a lot faster and easier.  I have a string winder that is also a wire cutter, like this one by Planet Waves .

Another tool to use is a capo.  I can't believe I never thought of this and had to get the idea from Butch Ross a few months ago, but it will make your life easier if you use a capo to hold the string in place while you thread it through the tuner post and begin your winding.  Once the string is taught enough you can remove the capo, but before then it will make your life much easier.

Nina, I think Bob is right. I usually use a .24 bronze wound string for my bass strings on my instruments in the 26.5-28" VSL range. But it is a matter of preference.  If you prefer lighter strings, go dow to a .22 or .20.

There is no difference between guitar strings and dulcimer strings other than the name on the package. But the good news is that single strings are pretty cheap. Why not buy 2 or 3 in the .20-.24 range and see which ones you prefer?

For future reference, you might consult the Strothers String Gauge Calcuator where you indicate the VSL and the note you want to tune to and the calculator will tell you what gauge to use. I've been told it errs on the light side, so feel free to go a little bit heavier than indicated.

Over the last month I've seen dulcimers for sale by Dwain Wilder, Joellen Lapidus, and Rick Probst.  If only my bank account were as voluminous as my DAD.

Wow!  That's tremendous!  I love the tone of that dulcimer and I love your playing. Thanks so much for sharing, Jan.  That's absolutely great!

Sandi, as others have pointed out, you are actually asking several different questions here.  The answer to all of them, though, is repetition.

If you want to be able to play without staring at the fretboard, you need to play the same dulcimer--or at least one with the same VSL--all the time so that you get used to equating the difference between tones with a distance on the fretboard.   I would also suggest sliding more than normal because your ear will cue you when you're approaching the right note.  Although I can play my guitar without looking at the fretboard a whole bunch, I find it much harder on the dulcimer, where we jump around on the fretboard so much.  HOwever, if you are really at a campfire, the fire will provide plenty of light to see the fretboard.

I have to admit that I am not sure how to tell you to "memorize" tunes.  For me personally, by the time I know a song, I know the song, meaning I can play it without tablature.  I can't really "play" according to tablature but only use it to learn tunes. I am sure if you went measure-by-measure or phrase-by phrase through a song you could memorize it. But I would suggest changing the way you learn songs so that you can memorize them all (until you get as old as I am and start forgetting songs you used to know).

As Ken says, you have to really "know" a piece of music in order to play it without tab. That means getting it into your head. I heard a story of Linda Brockinton driving from Arkansas to Florida listening to the same rendition of the same song over and over.  She had to get the song in her head before she was able to play it on the dulcimer. Once I know what a song sounds like, I think about it's structure. Is it AABB?  ABC? or whatever.  Then I look for other common patterns.  Maybe it is a song generally played AABB with the both parts taking 8 measures.  Is each of those 8-measure sequences a single melodic line or actually two (which is often the case).  Now I have a song with four distinct phrases, and usually the second part of the A and the second part of the B will be similar, sometimes even identical.

I do all that analysis (which only takes a minute or two once you have th esong in your head) before even playing. But I find it's important to understand the structure of a song so you can remember where you are when you are playing. Once I start learning the song, I will indeed take one phrase at a time or even one measure if it's really hard.  And as others have said, repetition is the key.  My wife and daughter hate it when I learn a new tune because I play it dozens of times every day for many days in a row.  I often play nothing other than a song I am learning until I really have it down and "know" it, by which I mean I can play it with no tablature.

Of course, I sometimes forget tunes later on, but usually all that is needed is for someone to play or hum the beginning and then my memory kicks in.  Ken says he writes down the tab for the beginning of each tune for the same reason, I'm sure.

I don't know if any of this is helpful, but I would suggest not playing songs that you can't hum or whistle or sing.  Get it into your head first, and watch your fingers on the fetboard while you play. Then your eyes, ears, and fingers are all making connections between the differences in tone between two notes and the distances on the fretboard.

Ken Hulme: Slate Creek, not Creek Slate  Dusty  

Indeed. I must be getting dyslexic in my old age.   Speaking of which, did you hear about the dyslexic who walked into a bra? 

Bobby is still a member here, though he's been much less active than he used to be.  He goes by Virginia Hogfiddler . You might still be able to find him if you Google Highnoon Hunter or Creek Slate Dulcimers.

Of course, you could try to friend him here and send a personal message.

By the way, any guitar strap will do, and they come in all price ranges and designs.

Folks, I think there are some misconceptions going on here.  Ukuleles are chromatic instruments and are not usually tuned to an open tuning. People sometimes refer to the standard C6 tuning, but that references the chord the open strings are tuned to; it does not refer to a key the instrument must play in.  That is to say, that whereas the dulcimer can be said to be tuned to a key, ukuleles are not.  The ukulele is capable of playing any song in any key.  

As Cynthia says, for a uke to accompany the dulcimer tuned to D, all that is necessary is that the uke player knows the chords of D, G, A and perhaps a few more for more complicated songs.  I simply suggest getting a ukulele chord chart like the one I attached here.

It is also true that the dulcimer can easily play in G and A with a capo at the third or fourth fret and C when tuned down one step.  You will have to decide when you want to play in D and when it might be more appropriate to play in one of the other common keys.  Just keep in mind that it is much easier for uke to accompany the dulcimer than the other way around. 

Making a box is a great idea, Ken.  I'm surprised all possom boards aren't boxes.  

That's a good deal, Ken. And that amp sure is a beast. It's amazingly small, but you can plug in an instrument and a vocal mic and set the volume and other controls for them separately.  The volume is more than enough for a medium-sized room.

Basically, you got it, Dana.  I can't draw so be glad that I am not trying.

Here is a pic of me playing my Ron Ewing baritone dulcimette at the faculty concert of the Berkeley Dulcimer Gathering.  There are two mics in use, one by my left foot for vocals and one by my right foot pointed directly at my dulcimer. (And notice that it doesn't have to get that close.) I switched between two dulcimers that day, and you can see that I wouldn't have to make any adjustments to the mics (although the sound guy did have some work to do in terms of equalization, I'm sure).

That day the mics probably went directly into the PA system, but when I plug in by myself, they go into my little Fishman Amp.  I'm sure there are lots of mics out there, but the Shure SM 57 is the workhorse instrument mic that is ubiquitous in studios everywhere, and the Shure SM 58 is the same but for vocals.

Sandi, as you can see from this discussion, a board on the bottom of your dulcimer doesn't have to have the tight fit of a possom board. Check out Peter Tommerup who just uses a wooden shelf .

Folks, I am no technophile, and maybe that's the problem. I've spent time trying to find a good external pickup (long ago I gave up on finding great ones) and do have some ideas about how to attach them with no risk to your dulcimer's finish.  I've posted that in other discussions here and will edit my comments with a link if I can find them.

However, over time I've just come to accept that (as Paul and Robin have said) a good mic such as the Shure M57 is the best way to go.  It is also the simplest in the sense that you don't have to struggle with puddy or double-sided tape or anything.  And you can switch instruments with no adjustments.  A couple of months ago I played a short gig and was using two dulcimers. One has an internal pickup and one doesn't.  But rather than work with the internal pickup and then a mic, I just used the mic for both. The sound guy had me play both instruments, noted what his settings should be, and all I had to do was play.  No plugging in pickups, no transfering from one instrument to another. It couldn't have been simpler, and the sound was an accurate representation of the acoustic sound of my instruments.

For about $110 you can get a Sure M57, a mic stand, and an XLR cable. Check out Ebay or occasional sales at Guitar Center or Sweetwater or Musician's Friend or wherever.

I guess you see what you want to see. Some people want Jesus, and some want  . . . 

Lisa, I don't think the tenor of Rob's original post was to compel anyone to do anything. Rather, it was encouraging people to play a while (perhaps a year or more!) before deciding that a standard size dulcimer is too big for them. The muscles in your fingers take a while to develop, and he didn't want people giving up too early and never learning to appreciate the deeper tones and greater volume that larger instruments bring to the table.

I probably played the dulcimer for 18 months or more before I was able to play the 1-2-4 chord.  I went through the stages of not being able to play it at all, to playing it sloppily and in pain, to finally being able to play it cleanly and comfortably.  I did exactly what you say, playing other voicings of the chord such as 1-0-1, rather than giving up, and although I didn't really work on stretching, just the act of playing regularly helped develop the muscles I needed to play that one difficult chord. Perhaps because I had played the guitar for years and remembered not being able to play barre chords and thinking that  I never would, I did not give up and buy a little dulcimer, but was patient and kept working at it until I got to the point where a 27" or 28" dulcimer is perfectly comfortable to me (though a 29" is probably not).

Jennifer, I used to know some exercises on the guitar. It was a series of scales, and each one forced you to stretch a different finger.

The only resource I can think of off the top of my head is Mike Casey's Hands-On Dulcimer .  It is a technique book for both right and left hand.  It is definitely not the kind of book you work on beginning on page one and moving forward, but you find the exercises to help with whatever you want to work on and concentrate on those.  I would bet if you started on the beginner left hand exercises in that book you would already see some progress.  And then you could work your way up to the finger independence chapter.  It's kind of pricey new, but you might get lucky (I did!) and found someone selling a copy online either here or at Everything Dulcimer.

Any chance you are going to Redwood Dulcimer Day  next month?  It's down in between San Jose and Santa Cruz so it's not that far from you.

I think I agree with everyone. 

The closest ting to a Fakebook for dulcimers are the various Join the Jam books by Stephen Seifert.  And there are several of them, the original two volumes in both DAA and DAd, one on Gospel tunes, one that plays across the strings in the "low octave," and more recently a couple of video series where you can watch him play while you play along.

And there are lots of free resources online.  On the "Resources" page of my website (don't worry; I have nothing to sell, so I'm not trying to drum up business) I have a category entitled " Free Dulcimer Tab Online ."  Follow those links and explore!

But as Strumelia says, dulcimer players do not exist in a vacuum and many of us play with other musicians.  There are lots of bluegrass and old timey fake books that might also be of interest. She describes them well.  The online versions allow you to play either fiddle versions or midi files so you can hear the basic melody.  (I have links to some of them on my website, too.)  And because certain songs are often played in a standard key, I think it's good to learn  the songs in that key.  Soldier's Joy is indeed usually played in D ("hooray" says the dulcimer chorus), but Red-Haired Boy is usually in A, Temperance Reel is usually in G, and so forth.

Anne, people will certainly post lists of their favorite tunes, and there is indeed a value in that. But I would like to point out that the three songs you mentioned are all traditional fiddle tunes.  Maybe you just like fiddle tunes (and guess, what: I do, too)!  If that is the case, you are in luck because there are thousands of them out there.

You might peruse some of the online catalogues of fiddle tunes such as the Fiddle Tune Archive of the Old Towne School of Folk Music  or Hetzler's Fakebook .   I will sometimes look through lists of fiddle tunes and examine either those that I've heard mentioned in dulcimer conversations or just those with a funny name and give 'em a listen. If one sounds like it's not too hard and its fun, I'll try to learn it.  Hetzler's Fakebook separates tunes in different keys, so you can just concentrate on tunes that are traditionally played in D.

When I find a fiddle tune I want to learn I start out just googling its name followed by "dulcimer tab."  Sometimes you get lucky and find the tab.  And if not, you might be able to learn it by ear.  But you can always find standard music notation and work that route if you can. The next step is to find renditions of it on YouTube and listen long enough to get the basic melody in your head.  It's a lot easier to play a song on the dulcimer that you have already memorized in your head.

By the way, one tune that is common in dulcimer circles now but is perhaps not as well known is Elk River Blues.  It is not really a blues but a "crooked" fiddle tune by Ernie Carpenter.  If you search the videos and music here you will find a half-dozen versions or so, some noter drone and some with chords (like mine).  The song sounds more complicated than it is and just has this easy-going roll to it, like the flow of a river.  To me it is much easier to play than Turkey in the Straw, though I like that tune, too.

Congratulations to FOTMD member Randy Adams who is the featured video artist at Cigar Box nation's dulcimer week.

Check it out here .

Go, Randy, Go!  

Hey Everyone!

July is Americana Music Month at Cigar Box Nation, and this week is dulcimer week !

Pretty cool, huh?