My personal advice is not to buy an instrument from Ebay unless you both know what you're doing and can make minor adjustments to your instrument.
There are lots of reputable luthiers out there who make wonderful instruments. And a lot of this comes down to personal preference. I am tempted to go through my dulcimers and tell you what I like about each one, but that might take a while.
However, I would advise those who are new to the dulcimer to be patient. You don't know how your personal preferences may evolve. It took me perhaps three years of playing the dulcimer to understand what I want in a dulcimer. I like the big, round, bassy sound of modern dulcimers. I also like a fretboard that is wider than most (like Blue Lions, not like McSpaddens). I prefer ebony or some similar type of very hard wood as a fretboard overlay. Given the way I play I can comfortably work with dulicmers whose vibrating string length is 28.5" or less, but 29" becomes a stretch. I would like the 6+ and 1+ frets added. I now know that I want an internal pickup since that occasionally comes in handy. I could go on, of course.
My point is that before you know what dulcimers might be good choices for you, you have to play a while. So be patient. Save your dulcimer money in a little stash somewhere, adding to it whenever you can. Whenever you meet somone (or even see a video of someone) whose dulcimer you think sounds nice, ask them who made it and what they like about it. Ask if you can play it for a moment. Over time you will develop a wish list of dulcimers you really like, but at the same time you will be developing your own preferences so you'll have a better idea of what you are looking for in a dulcimer. Perhaps you already have discovered that you really like the low action of the Modern Mountain Dulcimers (I do, too), so you have already begun the process of developing your personal preferences.
When I first started playing dulcimer, I used the double melody string because ... well ... because that's how the dulcimer came and I thought it was normal. I ignored advice from others to remove one of the melody strings. I arrogantly thought that since I had been used to double strings on my mandolin and 12-string guitar I could handle it. But one day whil re-stringing I left off the extra string just to see what it was like, and I immediately fell in love with the increased clarity of sound from three single strings. I have since taken the extra melody string off all my dulcimers with the sole exception of a 6 string dulcimette made by Ron Ewing.
I can understand why noter players might want that extra zing you get with the double strings, but for nearly everyone else I don't see the benefit. It is nearly impossible to bend double strings with any accuracy, and pull-offs and hammer-ons are also a lot easier and cleaner with single strings. Additionally, if you play across all the strings, it is really hard to keep a consistency of tone and volume when one string is doubled and the others aren't.
In the end, as others have said, this is a question of personal preference. And you might have to play a spell (as in two years or so) to figure out what your preferences are.
Let me also comment on Rob's accurate obvservation that Stephen Seifert uses a double melody for chording. True enough. But Stephen plays with a lot of drones, and he will tell you that he sometimes goes days on end without playing any chords. If you compare him to another great flatpicker, Aaron O'Rourke, I think you will see the difference. Stephen plays melodies mainly on the melody string even though he is comfortable across all strings. Watch his left hand, and on most songs you will see him playing horizontally up and down the fretboard. Compare that to Aaron O'Rourke. Aaron tends to place his left hand in one spot on the fret board and play vertically across all the strings before he moves to another spot on the fretboard. Not surprisingly, Stephen plays with a double melody and Aaron plays with a single melody.
Tessie, just so you know it's normal, I was playing a bit today. I mostly play in DAd but snuck in a tune in DAA. When I was tuning back up to DAd afterwards, my melody string broke. Boing!
Once I had a new string ready and my string winder by my side, it took just over two minutes for me to put on the new string and tune it up. Obviously, I've been doing this for years, so it will take you longer, but there is nothing to be afraid of. Si se puede!
Tessie, that's a great old clip of your grandmother. How wonderful that you have that recording to keep your memory of her singing alive.
Leo Kretzner is a great player and a wonderful teacher. I strongly advise working with him. And please tell him I said hello, too. Leo not only plays the dulcimer but really understands music theory and how to teach. You will be in good hands.
If you are playing the chorus beginning on the middle string at the fourth fret tuned DAd, you can also play it beginning on the melody string on the first fret (1-1-3-4-5-5-5-4-3-1). You are playing in Em.
Personally, since I play across all the strings and chord, I would play the song in that key either by tuning to DAd and putting a capo at the first fret or by tuning to GDg, where the melody would start on the first fret of the middle string.
Whether a song is major or minor is determined by the third note of the scale. If the major third is used, the song is in the major key. If the minor third is use the song is in the minor key (unless we're talking the blues, for that is another beast.) Let me explain this first in the key of C. Picture a piano keyboard. If C is the first note of the scale, D is the second, and E is the third. Between the C and the D are two half steps (from C to C# and from C# tto D) or one whole step. Then from D to E we see another two half steps (from D to D# and from D# to E) or one whole step. So a major third is made up of two whole steps. But the minor third of C is Eb, which is made up of one whole step (from C to C# to D) and one half step (from D to Eb).
On the dulcimer fretboard, notice that you have fat and skinny frets. A fat fret represents a whole step and a skinny fret represents a 1/2 step. So on your D string, the second fret represents the major third (two whole steps), an F#. If you want to get a minor third from an open D string, you need that 1-1/2 fret (one whole and one half step), an F.
But elsewhere on the fretboard we can find that pattern of a fat fret and then a skinny fret, which is why you can play the song beginning on the 4th fret of the middle string or the first fret of the melody string. However, the rest of the scale may not correspond to the minor scale. This is where a discussion of modes is necessary, something Ken or someone else is better equipped to handle.
Finally, let me make a comment about the common misconception that keys themselves correspond to a certain vocal range. That is just not the case. Different melodies have different vocal ranges. Some are called "authentic" because the melody falls between the 1st and 8th notes of the scale. But other melodies are called "plagal," and in such melodies the first note of the scale is in the middle of the melody's range (an obvious example is Happy "Birthday"). The point here is not the terminology--which I encourage you to ignore--but the idea that different songs have different ranges, and one song in D might actually be many tones higher than another song in D, depending on the specific tonal range of the melody. So perhaps one song is too low for you to sing in D and feels more comfortable in G, but that will not be the case for every song.
I know this is a lot to take in, but there is a reason why people usually start on the dulcimer playing "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" or "Bile Dem Cabbage Down" rather than other songs. Since I'll be taking my daughter to the pool later, let me use that metaphor. Starting with those basic songs mentioned above is like taking those easy steps into the shallow end of the pool. Starting the dulcimer by asking whether you should tune to D or G, and by stating that you want a 1-1/2 fret, and that you want to play a specific song in a minor key, you are jumping into the deep end. It might seem overwhelming at first, but just try to tread water for now; you'll be doing the butterfly and the Australian crawl soon!
Yes, Ken, as Rob explains you would have an F in DAG. You would also have it in DAC. But the first thing we have to do here is establish what key the song is in. Tessie's comment that she has no F in DAd but in GDg she would demonstrates that confusion.
The song is actually in a minor key. You can find the melody on the melody string very easily in DAC: 1-1-3-4-5--5--5-5-4-3-1. There we have an F natural at the third fret. And yes, as has been stated you could also play in in DAG if you start on the fourth fret of the melody string.
If you want to play the song in DAd, you would do so in Bm, with the melody starting on the first fret of the middle string. Then you don't need an F natural. You could play it the same way in GDg but you would be in Em.
Tessie, learning to string your instrument is a hurdle you will overcome. You can do it now or you can do it later, but either way, once you learn how to do it, it will be easy and you'll wonder why you were so nervous about strings to begin with. IF you do go to a music store for your instrument to be restrung, watch what they do and do it yourself next time. Most musicians who play regularly change strings every few months.
Tessie, you are now asking a different kind of question. You are correct that if you need an F, you will not get it in a DAd tuning without a 1-1/2 fret.
But I think you need to understand keys before moving on. And I apologize if you do; that just hasn't come out in this conversation. In DAd tuning, you will almost always play in the keys of D or Bm. You can play in G or A, but it is not nearly so easy.
When you tune to GDg, you will most likely be playing in the key of G.
But before going any further, figure out what key your grandmother's music is in. I don't think you would need an F in the key of D. Rather than try to play in C or F or whatever out of a DAd tuning, you should transpose the song to the key of D and you should be able to play it very easily. (ALternatively, if the song is in C you could just tune down to CGc.)
How doy you tell what key the music is in? Next to the treble clef sign and the time signature will be a number of sharp signs. If there are none, the song is in the key of C. If there is one, the song is in the key of G. If there are two, the song is in the key of D. If there are three, the song is in the key of A. And so forth.
My guess is that the music you are looking at is in the key of C, so there will be no sharps or flats in between the treble clef sign and the time signature. If that is the case, then you merely play one note above the note that is indicated. So if you see a C, you play a D; if you see a D, you play an E; if you see an E, you play an F (technically an F#); if you see an F, you play a G, and so forth. There are no "accidentals" in this song so if you play in the key of D you will not need any extra frets other than the 6-1/2. (And if you don't have a 6-1/2 fret, then tune DAA and you'll still be able to play it.)
I hope that makes sense. You will drive yourself crazy using standard music notation in one key and trying to play it on the dulcimer always tuned to D.
Thanks for posting this, Ken. I saw Stanley's obituary last night amidst all sorts of other news and was immediately saddened. He was probably second only to Bill Monroe in creating the bluegrass sound that we all recognize, and more than Monroe, I think, he stressed a real mountain music feel to his music. He was still making music up towards the end. May we all be so lucky.
Tessie, you've been pointed to very good resources: Ken's beginner article and the Strother's String Gauge Calculator.
Most dulcimers with short VSLs are not intended to be tuned to D. Rather than are tuned higher, and those in the 23" VSL range are generally intended to be tuned up a fourth to G. Can you tune your dulcimer to G, too? Of course! If you get too low, the string will be too loose to make a nice sound, and if you get too high the string will get really tight and eventually break.
That is where the Strothers String Gauge Calculator, which Skip links to above, can help you. Put in the VSL and the note you want, and the calculator will tell you what string gauge will work. It errs on the light side, so feel free to go one or two strings heavier.
Just for some references, the McSpadden Ginger has a 23" VSL, and the set of strings they sell for that dulcimer tuned to G contains a .026 wound string for the bass, a .014" middle string, and a .010 for the melody. I have a baritone dulcimette made by Ron Ewing, which has a 21" VSL, and I use a .020 on the bass, a .014 on the middle, and a .010 on the melody.
My guess is that you could tune up to G if you want. Go slowly. Wear goggles. And know that breaking strings and learning to restring are among the hurdles you will overcome only to wonder why you found them so challenging to begin with.
Lisa, the point is not that everyone will be able to reach every single possible chord on an instrument with a 30" VSL, but that you don't know what you are capable of until you try. And I don't mean try once, I mean try every day for a year or more. My first dulcimer had a 28" scale length. When I first got it, I could neither stretch to the 1-2-4 chord or scrunch my fingers into the 6-5-7 chord. The muscles in my fingers just wouldn't do it. But instead of immediately trading my dulcimer for a shorter one (which would probably have a less rich tone, less volume, and less sustain), I kept playing. I faked that 1-2-4 chord by playing a a 1-0-1 chord instead and I rarely ventured up the fretboard to those skinny frets. But two years later, I was able to play both of those chords with ease. The muscles in my fingers had to become both more flexible and stronger, and that happens when you play.
If you did exercises with your left hand, the pain you feel now from stretching to 8" would eventually subside, and you might indeed be able to stretch that way comfortably. And remember my point that other issues affect our reach as well. If you have very low action, stretching for a chord will be much easier than if you have high action and have to press down with lots of pressure.
I cannot do the splits. But there is no doubt that if I started doing stretching exercises, eventually I would be able to. Along the way I would stretch enough that it would hurt, but eventually I would develop the flexibility and strength to do it. The length between my feet when doing the splits might not be as long as other people who are taller than I am (which is most, for I'm only 5'6"), but until I spend the time stretching, I have no idea what my limit would be.
We all have our limits, and you are certainly correct that some people have longer fingers than others. But the point Rob made here is that people should not give up too early on longer instruments without giving their hands time to stretch and strengthen.
When I was a kid learning the guitar, I, too, thought that I could never do barre chords. Even the barre across the B and E strings that's necessary for a simple F chord seemed impossible. But one summer I decided to attack the problem. I would push my index finger down with my right hand to force it into position. It hurt. I forced myself to hold some of those (painful) positions as long as I could. I did that many times every day. Little by little the pain went away, and little by little the muscles in my finger strengthened, and by the end of the summer I was playing barre chords with ease. What is necessary for barre chords is not a long finger, but sufficiently developed muscles in our finger. Theoretically someone might have a finger that is too short to reach across the guitar fretboard--but toddlers and midgits aside--I don' t think there are many.
No one is born with a pinky strong enough to depress a heavy bass string and get a pure sound. Some people try and decide that their pinky can't do it and they never use their pinky. Others work on it and eventually develop the strength to play. The lesson that Rob is trying to impart is to not decide "I can't do something" without genuinely taking the time to work on it.
There's a guy I see at local dulcimer events a few times a year. He plays a McSpadden Ginger tuned to DAd because he says his hands are too small for a full-sized dulcimer. But when we held our hands together, he realized that his hands were much longer than mine. I tried to convince him to get a bigger dulcimer for tuning in D and tune his Ginger up to G or A where it belongs. He decided that he's been playing too long (over ten years) to make the adjustment now. Maybe he's right. Ten years is a long time to things one way. But I bet ten years ago had he stuck it out with a full-sized dulcimer, he would be able to play it perfectly well.
There are fancy hangers out there, but as the Kens and Dan have explained, you just need a chord and a picture hanger. I just use leather boot laces that I bought at the hardware store. If I spent a moment or two to even out the lengths and hide the knots, it would all look nicer, but since I pull them off the wall to play all the time, I don't normally worry about it. Here are four on one wall in my office.
Oh, and in case you can't tell, that's a picture of Pete Seeger's banjo head.
It's about time someone made this statement. I could not agree more with Rob and John. First, no one has ever said, "I have long fingers, making the dulcimer easty to play!" On the contrary, playing a musical instrument is a challenge, and rather than convince one another that we have some physical limitation that makes that challenger more . . . er . . . uh challenging, we should encourage one another to accept the challenge and patiently overcome it.
Yes, be patient. As John says, take the time to discover what your comfort zone is, but at the same time realize the the more you play the stronger the muscles in your finger will be and the easier some of those stretches will be. Over time, fingerings that seemed impossible will become possible, then comfortable, and then easy as pie!
And believe me, for every person who has trouble stretching into a 1-2-4 chord, there is someone having trouble scrunching into a 9-10-9 chord. Dulcimers with long VSLs have their challenges, but so do those with short VSLs. And the length of the VSL is not the only factor that affects comfort of playing. I find some fretboards to be too narrow or two wide, although my preference depends on whether I'm fingerpicking or flatpicking. And more than anything, low action makes left-hand fingering so much easier. Low action enables me to stretch my fingers more because less strength is required to depress a string.
Rather than decide that you have some physical limitation that won't allow you to play dulcimers of certain designs, take the time to play a while, to develop the strength and finger independence good playing requires. Who knows? You might find not only that you can handle longer VSLs, but that you like the deeper tone, extra volume, and increased sustain such instruments bring.
Cindy and others, its clear there are lots of opinions on this. The original question was whether to get a "possom board built on" the dulcimer. That is usually called a Galax back or false back. I have one on my Modern Mountain Dulcimer. The only "con" is that it makes the dulcimer a little bigger. But it allows the back to vibrate and definitely provides greater volume. Mine is similar to the dulcimer Don Pedi is playing here .
But you don't necessarily need a possom board; you can just lay your dulcimer on any piece of wood. Peter Tommerup just uses a piece of wooden shelving and places his dulcimer on it. Check it out here .
There are basically two principles here. One is that when you place your dulcimer on your lap, the back cannot vibrate; lift it off your lap and it can, thus producing more volume. The other principle is that the board the dulcimer sits on can vibrate as well (if it is not on your lap), which will increase sound. That is why putting the dulcimer on a table will increase volume so much.
I would also like to voice my vote against that tiny HoneyTone mini amp. Yes, it is inexpensive. Yes it runs on batteries and travels very well. But it barely amplifies your sound at all and it is mainly intended for people who want to mimic electric guitar sounds, not those who want to amplify an acoustic sound. I bought one of them, played around with it, and sold it for the price of shipping to someone here at FOTMD. I was so disappointed with it that I would have felt guilty charging the next buyer for it, even at a discounted rate.
Perhaps this is it, Patty. It's Dulcimerica 194 "Getting the Bends."
I always thought Cajun music worked well on the dulcimer because so much of it was written for the diatonic accordion. But there was a droning tradition, too. Check out these fiddlesticks playing a rhythmic drone to one of the oldest Cajun tunes around.
It kind of fits what you do, Rob.
Rob, Skip has a point. You should probably work on two things simultaneously. One is a bio, which can be as short as a few sentences and as long as a few paragraphs. The second is a short title for what you do so a list of acts could say "Rob N. Lackey, the dulcimer outlaw playing folk/roots music. Where the coffeehouse meets the jailhouse!" or whatever you come up with.
I would work on the longer bio first along with a head shot or other image you want to use. Perhaps in writing the longer bio, you'll find a few choice words to use for the shorter description.
roots/americana is a good one.
And Rob is kind of a living logo, isn't he?
Rob, I think your issue is different than Mary's.
Mary puts poetry to music in the style of traditional English and Scottish song. So her issue is how to describe that. It is not exactly folk music, because the melodies are original. But it all sounds traditional, so the singer/songwriter label doesn't work either.
You have a broad repertoire, and I think how you describe yourself should be determined by what you plan on playing. You play a lot of traditional music but you also do covers of country tunes. You play fiddle tunes but also sing. You flatpick but also fingerpick. Heck, you do some drone tunes and also add really cool chording to others. I think you could call yourself the "dulcimer outlaw" if indeed you were going to play mainly outlaw country on the dulcimer. But if you would include a range of other tunes, perhaps something else would be better.
Last Labor Day I played at the Gold Rush Days in Old Sacramento, and needed a few words to describe my act. I simply called myself "dulcimer player and songcatcher." Then my "character" was someone who had traveled from the Shenandoah Valley out to the "diggins" in California, picking up songs along the way. That gave me the ability to play songs from different areas of the country and even from different countries, since people from all over the world came to the Gold Rush.
Maybe that notion of "songcatcher" is something you can use given your broad repertoire.
Mary, it is possible that the issue you detect here is not male/female but professional/amateur. Most people here are amateur musicians with no plans to "take their act on the road" or record a CD. In that light, how you define what you do is less important than just doing it and enjoying it. Several years ago I posted a question on Everything Dulcimer asking for exercises to help develop my left hand technique. The first dozen or so responses told me "not to worry my little head about it" but just to play and enjoy playing. Those were not the exact words, but that patronizing tenor colored nearly all the responses. People were encouraging me to just play and have fun and not take seriously what I was doing. I was offended, but obviously not because of any gender issues. It felt as though people were telling me that I would never be good enough to be a professional, so I should just smile and play and not care if I got any better. Eventually, Stephen Seifert chimed in, mentioned some exercises that he does regularly, and then recommended a technique book.
And my guess is that yes, Steve has indeed told men to enjoy what they are playing and not worry about it. In fact, I think he has told me that in response to my own obsessive comments about mistakes in my playing.
Mary, I think you have to be careful here. There is nothing in copyright laws that makes poems available after 50 years. Except for special cases, anything before 1923 in is the public domain. But published and even unpublished works written after that date--whether or not they were registered with the copyright office--are most likely still under copyright. You could certainly put a copyrighted poem to music and share it with your friends, but you couldn't post it here in an open forum online, for that would constitute illegal distribution.
Attached you can find some guidelines about copyright law.
Hi Inkdork (do you have a lot of tattoos or something?) and welcome to FOTMD. I think you'll find that you can play simple tunes on the dulcimer pretty quickly. But it is also capable of very complicated music, so there are plenty of challenges ahead. There are lots of resources here, so poke around the site, explore, and pose any questions you may have.
"A moment to learn and a lifetime to master"
Yeah, jazz is a different beast, and usually the band will play the tune straight once or twice and then improvise over the chord changes, stretching and bending the boundaries of those changes but still retaining the harmonic structure of the tune. In bluegrass, too, the focus of the playing is not the repetition of the melody but improvisation over the chord changes.
In my mind, as long as those chordal structure of the tune remains, the melody can meander. But if you change the chords, then the the song no longer has the same structure. What would Woody Guthrie think of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings ? I love that tune (gotta love the bass and those funky horns), but it is not the tune Woody wrote. The words were borrowed, but the song ain't the same. A better-known example is Stevie Ray Vaughan's Mary Had a Little Lamb . Taking the words of a nursery rhyme and playing them over a blues structure just makes a blues tune; it is not the same nursery rhyme.
Kandee,
First, congratulations on getting your dream dulcimer. My dream dulcimer is always the next one!
Second, you might want to join the Dulcimer Care and Maintenance group here. I'm sure you will get better advice than I can offer.
Third, I am no expert, and I don't even play one on TV, but my sense is that extreme temperatures, extremes in humidity, and quick changes in both of those are all potentially harmful to any wooden instrument. I would not leave an instrument in your car all day in the Indiana summer unless you can ensure that it not get too hot.
I've hesitated joining the fray here for a while, but I think I've finally "percolated" on it enough to be able to explain my thoughts. There are a few issues intertwined here.
One is whether we should try to replicate some supposedly "authentic" version of a song or reinterpret it. Obviously, opinions differ. Some people still play Dixieland jazz more or less as it was played in the 1920s. In the dulcimer world, we are lucky to have people doing their best to preserve traditional styles of play as well. My own opinion is that we should study traditional sources of our music, but if we do nothing but replicate slavishly those traditions, then the tradition would be dead. However, even in trying to copy those traditions, we necessarily re-interpret them, don't we? When I was trying to play blues guitar and copied note-for-note what Robert Johnson played, I knew I did not sound like him and had to make the tunes "my own."
If we accept that copying exactly what some earlier performer has done is worthwhile to try but ultimately impossible to accomplish, then we should be freed up to study those earlier versions but make our own music.
A second issue is how precisely we should play on beat. I would suggest that we should all be able to play on beat, but that once we have that ability we need to free our creativity to pause in between lines, hold some notes or chords longer than others, play some sections louder than others, and so forth. I would only insist that those variations should be done on purpose rather than the result of an inability to stay on beat. A couple of years ago I arranged a version of "Ashokan Farewell" and was kind of proud of myself. I posted it at Stephen Seifert's Dulcimer School, and his feedback was eye opening. He praised some of the chords I chose but also suggested that I vary the tempo and the dynamics to create a more expressive piece. He was basically telling me that I was playing on beat but sounded like a robot. If you're playing a contradance, you obviously have to stay on beat. But if you are playing solo, especially if you're singing, then the dynamics and tempo should follow the emotional expression of the song and vary accordingly. At our family reunions for years we would gather around a campfire in the evening and sing songs. My mother was the main singer, and from the age of 10 or 11 I began to accompany her on the guitar. One year I had been trying to play with some really cool rhythms and I got frustrated that my mom would pause in her delivery, or hold some notes way too long, or whatever. My uncle saw my frustration and whispered in my ear that my job was to accompany the singer and not impose any kind of speed or rhythm on her. That comment changed my perspective about what I was doing and how to add creativity to a rendition of a song.
I, too, hear Barbara Allen as in 4/4 time, even though this discussion led me to seek sheet music and several versions on YouTube in 3/4 time. I don't know if anyone could prove that one is more "authentic" than another. But I would suggest singing it however it feels right to you. A big part of maturing as musicians is learning how to play within ourselves. If a rhythm or chord or note or word does not feel right, don't play it. Find what feels right to you.
Finally, I have to confess that I can't hear Joan Baez's voice without crying. The lyrics don't even matter. There is something in her voice that is too pure for this world.
I've often used the same end wire cutters that Ken does. But I also have a string winder by Planet Waves that works as a wire cutter. I put it in my dulcimer case and take it whenever I'm playing somewhere. I've seen prices as high as $15 but I'm sure you can find it for $5-$7 if you dig around. It's actually 2-3 tools in one, although most dulcimer players don't need the little part that pops out end pins.
Here is is from Musician's Friend .
Edit: The one I have is exactly like the one in the picture above. But I read some of the customer comments and it appears there is also a cheaper, plastic version out there that might not work as well. The one I have is very sturdy and works great. I use it on my guitars, dulcimers, and mandolin.
I make loop ends out of ball end strings this way - pushing the other end through but I'm always at a lost as to how to finish the strings off neatly. I will try Butch's way, over than under and under and under than back & forth till it breaks off.
Sounds good, thanks Dusty
Marg, when you say "finish the string off neatly," do you mean what to do with the excess string that sticks out of the tuners? Butch's method of twisting the strings until they break will indeed work, though sometimes you have to be patient. It might take several "back and forths" before you succeed. I have a metal string winder that includes a wire cutter on it. I just cut the excess string as close as I can and then push the end (not with a finger!) so that it bends back and can't cut you.
There are lots of solutions to this common problem. One is simply to punch a hole in the pick so that your fingers actually touch each other. You are absolutely right, Kusani, that you don't want to hold the pick too tight.
Personally, I use Dunlop Tortex picks and I find a tiny bit of moisture is all I need on my fingers to get the pick to stick. It might look gross, but I constantly lick my fingers and then wipe them on my jeans just before grabbing my pick to play a song. 
I figure if Steph Curry can lick his fingers before hitting a foul shot, I can do so before banging out Napoleon's Retreat.
For folks who are still nervous about changing strings, there are several video demos out there about how to do it. Just a few months ago on the first and second Dulcimer Road videocasts, Butch Ross demonstrated how he changes strings. Note how he uses a capo to help hold the string in place while he winds it. (Now why didn't I think of that?)
Here is his demonstration on a flat head dulcimer: https://youtu.be/AyqayWugB9w?t=1m22s
And here is his demonstration on a scroll head dulcimer: https://youtu.be/sSwOjjhI_8Q?t=57s
Also note how Butch makes a loop end string out of a ball end string without removing the ball but by pushing the other end of the string through it. (Now why didn't I think of that either?)
For a bass string in the 27"-29" range I would go with a .024 or .026 wound string tuned to the D or C below middle C. It should not be flappy at all, if by "flappy" you mean loose.
Heidi Muller also has a duet book out called Dulcimer Duos.
You could also just use regular tab with chords and one of you can play the melody while the other chords. Then you switch around. If you start adding different voicings of chords (for example, in DAD you play 0-0-2 for D the first verse but then move to 2-3-4 for the second verse and 4-5-7 for the third, etc.) and playing the melody on the bass string for a spell, you can create pretty interesting arrangements that don't take a whole lot of planning.
Michael, what you are referring to is called pick clack. It is more pronounced with thinner picks, so you might try heavier picks. Heavier strings, and a softer strum.
And make sure you are not hitting the fretboard with your pick. Just strum or pick across the top of the strings.
When you strum you don't want the pick to get down into the strings but merely skim the top of them. Angle the pick ever so slightly so that the tip points toward you when you strum out and away from you when you strum in. Also, angle the pick ever so slightly so that it is the edge of the pick that hits the strings. Assuming you are right-handed, the left edge should hit the strings when you strum out and the right edge should do so when you strum in. These techniques minimize the amount of the pick that comes into contact with the strings.
One final question. Where was the microphone when you recorded yourself? Conventional wisdom is that pick clack sounds louder to the performer than it does the listener. You can test that by putting the mic right in front of the dulcimer and recording yourself, then moving the mic progressively further away and seeing what happens. Presumably, the notes will ring out louder than the pick clack, so that the further from the instrument the listener is the less noticeable is the pick clack.
Chuck, first remember that there is a difference between single-instructor events and larger festivals and gatherings. To add an Event, you start from your home page and click on "Events."
Once you are on your Events page, you click the "+" sign to add a new event.
Then you will get to a screen where you can put in all the information for your event. When you are done, don't forget to click "Create Event."
Thanks, Brian, for that link to the Great Canadian Tunebook. There are loads of great tunes there.
Kristi, "Four Strong Winds" was written by Ian Tyson in the 1960s and is surely copyrighted, so Ken cannot post his tab here.
You can easily find lyrics and chords for it on the internet, though. And just noodling around I was able to find the melody pretty easily. In DAA the melody ranges from the open A string to the 6th fret. You can also play it in DAd on the melody string if you have a 6+ fret.
As Ken suggests, FOTMD member Marc Mathieu is the one to contact here. Check this out:
I think I remember him sharing some information, including tablature, for this song somewhere.
There are also plenty of fiddle tunes of Canadian origin that have entered into the standard old timey and bluegrass traditions. " Saint Anne's Reel " is one that comes to mind.
And it shouldn't be hard to create tab for the Ian and Sylvia Tyson classic "Four Strong Winds," a tune I would consider the Canadian "This Land is Your Land."
Thanks for reminding us all of this date, Patricia.
Folks who have listened to the Hearts of the Dulcimer podcast on Neal Hellman know that when he was still in New York he prepared a book of tablature of Richard Fariña's music. A few year's back, he made that book available free online as a pdf. You can read Neal's blog and download the pdf here .
Rod was the first one who welcomed a lot of us to FOTMD. He was a true gentleman. I remember fondly playing with him as well on the Tuesday Dulcimer Club on Paltalk. After his passing I just found it too sad to continue joining that online gathering.
Patricia and Wayne, I finally had a chance to listen to the Neal episode. Even though I've seen your film countless times and enjoyed innumerable conversations with Neal directly, I still found the podcast both informative and entertaining. You managed to get some details out of him that he doesn't often reveal. Your choice of music is also impeccable. Although I have all of Neal's CDs and many of the Gourd Music titles (including the Shaker trilogy) I still came away from your podcast with a renewed respect for the "sometimes folk, sometimes classical, always acoustic" or "folk baroque" vision with which Neal infuses all the Gourd Music recordings.
I haven't seen you guys in a while but I hope our paths cross again soon.
Look out, Dana's gone electric! She's gonna be playing Pete Townshend power chords soon and rockin' the neighborhood.
copyrightterm and pd in the US January 2016.pdf - 525KB