Since it's only been a very few months ... that's easy. I would have started asking questions sooner here at FOTMD. I knew so little that it was difficult to even ask anything. I still don't know much, but I do know to go ahead and ask and then we'll work it out in the ensuing discussions.
That would be my advice to any one new to music, the mountain dulcimer or FOTMD.
Sam
Thanks. Are you able to play everything in CGC that you could play in DAD?
Yes. Just tune down to CGC and pretend you are still in DAd. (Just remember you are now playing in the key of C- in case you ever want to play with others this will make a difference.)
Sam says:
I too know more less.
Well Sam, you know what the definition of an expert is:
Someone who knows more and more about less and less until finally they know everything about nothing.
Hi Paul;
MERRY CHRISTMAS ... hope she's a plum good'un!
Folks got me a subscription to Outdoor Life when I was 9 years old. First stop was the last page. McManus had a gift that I doubt will ever be challenged... certainly not by me.
Thanks for the kind words.
Paul Certo said:
Between McManus & Zern, it's not your fault. You were destined to write this way, I gar-on-tee!There's 3 of my favorites already.
Paul
Morning Dana;
MERRY CHRISTMAS !
I remember Jerry Clower and Justin Wilson too. Read a lot of Pat McManus, Ed Zern and Will Rogers while growing up too. So you see ... this is not totally all my fault .......
... that's my story an' I'm stickin' to it ..............
Dana R. McCall said:
That was to funny! Better than Jerry Clower and I love his Ledbetter stories.
... weeeeel then I reckon I orta caution you to keep a close eye on yer tweezers ... Cousin Scooter's took to borrowin' Aunt Holly's to catch grampuses with an' they don't always get wiped off too good ... just thought you'd want to know ...
Evenin' Ma'am... ;)
Robin Thompson said:
Sam,
When I got to the part about Foo Foo being, uh, born breach, I laughed so loudly it caught my husband's attention. And it's still funny! And don't be making too much fun of Aunt Holly's moustache-- I'm working on growing a fine one. ;)
Like Paul said, a yarn can go on. . . :)
Have a good one, fellas!
My thanks to YOU Paul;
Just knowing that a couple of you have gotten a little chuckle from Uncle Burley or Turnup's Christmas has brightened mine considerably.
Blessings
Sam
Paul Certo said:
A good dinner only lasts until breakfast next morning, but a good YARN can go on fer years, and get better every time! Thanks, Sam.
Paul
Thanks Mizz Robin ...
Uncle Burley, Th' Dame Grimmandower, Scooter and the whole gang from Posey wish you and everyone at FOTMD a very Merry Christmas.
(Oh ... and Aunt Holly was just fine once they got the giblets outta her moustache .................. )
( Robin Thompson said:
"Foo Foo was a breach!!!" LOL
Sam, I enjoyed the tale-- thanks for the posting. An entertaining Christmas dinner is a treat!
Guess Whos Coming To Christmas Dinner?
Yep Uncle Burley, now how did yall know?
Once Cousin Scooter had got big enough to run, hed took to runnin a right smart with Uncle Burley. After all, theys a lot a young feller could look up to in a well seasoned genaman like Uncle
Burley. (Even if the seasonin was closer to pickled!). Why Burley knowed ever
den tree on Hickry Flats and could spit durn near 20 foot without even a
runnin start.
These self same talents, however was lost on Ol Lady Grimmandower, Scooters prim but stern mother. She had little use for Burley Gillin or his bad habits
until th weasels came.
Aunt Holly Grimmandower had waged many a battle over th years to protect her fine coop of domineckers, not the least of which was that hushed up incident with Cousin Scooter that never quite got
hushed up. Shed whacked possums with hoe handles, snatched up black snakes by
th tail an bullwhipped their heads off an once even stared down a polecat
(an he aint never come back!). Weasels was differnt. They stalked th hen
house, come an went an the only trace was a few neck feathers. They come in
th night like hobos er Baptists an left with a fat hen. Aunt Hollys stock
of fryin pullets an layin hens was sufferin somthin fierce.
She tried to catch em stayed up many a night, just to have em come the one night she didnt. Shed fair wore the end off all th paper hulled 00 loads fer
Paps ol double from a loadin an unloadin the venerable side by side 12
guage. Finally Cousin Scooter put into words what Aunt Holly had known for some
weeks now.
Maw we gonna have to git Uncle Burley to trap them weasels.
I know son. I know siiiiiiiigh you skitter on over to that rascals shack an invite him up fer Christmas dinner. Reckon Ill roast yall a turkey. Ill have
a little crow to swaller mself. You tell him what I want him fer, an that th
dinners hissin yea er nay but if I know Burley Gillin, hed tackle a grizl
bear with a switch fer a slice of punkin pie. Aunt Holly was right, Burley
sent word back that hed be there an after dinner hed have a little parlay
with her over pie an coffee about them weasels.
As is fittin when in need, Dame Grimmandower met Uncle Burley at th door. Her watery eyed, French ankle biter Foo Foo peeped from beneath her full skirt and yapped
and yapped and yapped
It was right much of a struggle, but finally Scooters pack of coon hounds were swarped, kicked and otherwise persuaded to stay outside while Uncle Burley was ushered in an Foo Foo had him. Right by
the ankle.
grr, grr, grr, grr
no-no Foo Foo bad girl stop that!
Foo Foo was in heat an Burleys wooden leg smelled a lot like Spruceperrrrrrfect place to leave a little er invite
FOO FOO go to your box !
Well, good day Mr. Gillian. How good of you to come. Step into the dining room and take a seat whilst I fetch your supper.
Lands a Goshen, maam, hit shore smells good in hyear. Burleys mouth was waterin already.
Uncle Burley an Scooter pulled up to th dinner table an Aunt Holly went to th kitchen to bring in th turkey. Burley couldnt help but notice th fine table Aunt Holly had laid out particular
the large shiny spoons
Now Uncle Burley was right partial to spoons specially if they was played right an he considered hisself fair to middlin er maybe a might better specially if hed had a nip which he had
Folks the biggest difference in spoons marked Made in Japan an spoons marked German silver is probably bout seven dollars a spoon, but smacked agin Burleys
wooden leg boy did they ring! They sounded so good that as a broad smile broke
across Burleys scraggly jaw, he broke into an impromptu an highly animated,
rendition of Jambalaya.
As Burley found his rhythm with his good leg Scooter commenced a ifen into his fist.
eef a ife eefa eefa ife eefa eefa ife a ife.
Slobbers not withstandin th boy was purty durn good!!! As he whopped the big leg of his bibs with his free hand, the two of em let the music take em. Burley was almost to shoofly pie an that was
his favorite part them spoons was fair hummin,
trrrrrrrrrr ricky tic tic, tika, rickety, tic, tic, tika,tika,tika, trrrrrrrrrrrr tik
Burley was a keepin time with his good toe and jookin his head at the same time.
Foo Foo seen her chance.
The hairy lil fuzz ball sneaked across Aunt Hollys newly braided rug, sidled up to Burleys wooden leg an squatted. As the trickle turned into a stream down the side of Uncle Burleys brogan an
began to puddle on the rug Aunt Holly come through th door with th (German
silver) turkey platter!
What she seen was Scooter (did I tell yall what a fine boy hes a turnin out to be?) uh what she seen was Scooter head drawed plumb back twixt his boney shoulder blades, shakin all over, spittin
an a slobberin at th mouth bouncin on his chair and beatin hisself
alternately about the legs and chest
eef a ife eefa eefa ife eefa eefa eefa eefa EEEFA iiiiiiiiiiiiife
By now Burley was in that other place the place where Jim Ed Brown, Maxine an Bonnie strived to go th place Hank Sr. was a headin when his liver played out th place Elvis seen once at the end
of Love Me Tender eyes rolled up in his head ears laid back an them
fine German silver spoons Aunt Hollys granpa brung over on th boat was now
all but in-a-visible as Burley jooked an headed into the finale.
Jambo-lie, shoofly pie an nanner puddin.
DEEEEEMONS
Aunt Holly screeched, as th platter fell to th floor soundin like the symbols from the VFW Marchin Band. Th turkey splatted to the floor, and ricocheted toward the wall gathering speed and Foo Foo enroute.
Uncle Burley stopped playin right away he needed both hands to hang on to the German silver chandelier above the table.
Scooters chair turnt straight over backridge an alls you could see of him was bony ankle bones an tenner shoes sticking up over th table.
All this took place whilst Aunt Holly was a fallin to a swoon..
Doc Stokes place was at the mouth of the holler, so it didnt take him long to get there. Onct hed examined Aunt Holly an found nothin more serious than th vapors he popped open his little bottle
of smellin salts an she started to come around first thing that met Aunt
Hollys blurred vision was the beautifully browned an basted Christmas turkey
over in the corner. It was on its back, legs spread and appeared to be giving
birth Foo Foo was a breach! ! !
DEEEEEEEEEEMONS ! ! !
uh, here Dame Grimmandower take another snort, an Doc stuck th bottle under her nose agin.
Uncle Burley could see that shed probably had enough entertainment for th night an quickly climbed down from the chandelier an excused hisself. He figgered thingsd quiet down a might quicker
if he wasnt there when Aunt Holly was finally at herself. Probably was a good
idee too cept Uncle Burley stepped out on th porch amongst 13 ornry
coonhounds with fresh Foo Foo all over his leg.
.. folks they was a ruckus in th holler that night
Uncle Burley should have a new leg whittled out an harnessed up come spring Aunt Holly had Granny Wren in fer a day er two to roust out th DEEEMONS an Doc got the end of
Scooters tongue, what hed bit off laughin sewed back on purty neat
hope your Christmas dinner turns out a might better.
Dear Dennis;
I'm only about a half step ahead of you in the learning process. Maybe not that much as you will most likely learn a lot faster than I have. I think CD has given some very good advice. I'm finding (in my experience) music theory AND mountain dulcimer theory. Like CD, in reflection, I would start with a little of the latter. A good student or quality cardboard dulcimer will not only give you a basic instrument to actually feel and hear it will also give you tons of knowledge about construction, construction methods, structural requirements and some insight on what you will need in tools and/or equipment to make a functioning fretboard/tuning head.
I was impulsive and wanted to whittle. I'm paying for that in lost time now. You'll get very good advice here. Read through everything you can. Weigh each response and try to be objective about the content and author. I'm finding that , for me, I wish I had started strumming with a good 3 string instrument with NO extra frets. I think starting there would have let me learn the tradition, the music, the instrument and the appreciation of all.
Most of all, enjoy the journey.
Thanks. I use internal rhyme and alliteration quite a bit. Glad you noticed!
Flint Hill said:
Nicely done. Love the internal rhymes, especially.
Could get close, I guess by adding 'nui' ... as in "malihini pupula nui". Nui being much or very much if memory serves. I like Oni Oni better though.
Dear Robin ... Glad you enjoyed Turnup. He's not really a bad cat ... just smells that way.
Aft'noon Paul ... 'Catfolk' understands huh? I planted catnip in the yard. Our current cat 'Maybe' became an instant junkie. Loves the stuff. He's really funny when he's buzzin' too.
Strumelia ... Don't feel too badly for Turnup. He's a survivor. No tellin' where he'll 'turnup' next. BTW, he wishes EVERYONE at FOTMD a very Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season.
Turnups Christmas Card
Recently
The wife was makin Christmas cards
To send, come Christmas next
In Turnups thoughts, the ribbon box
Was the perfect place to nest
So
He snuck inside the tangled mass
An curled up in a ball
This curlin took some furlin
He is chubby after all
When
The wife run out of Elmers
She went lookin fer some glue
Sure enough she found Super stuff
It was frikkin sticky too
Well
You might know the phone would ring
An it would be her sister
Yackety yak fore she got back
Turnup woke an missed er
Yaaaawwwnnn
He thought hed check the table top
Fer unattended treats
But what he got, sure was unsought
Stuff was stickin to his feets
What th ???
Hed stick one out an shake it
But when he set it down
Tinsel, glitter and other litter
To his toes was bound
It gets worse
In amongst the clutter
Were brightly colored balls
When Turnup sat, imagine that
Got the picture yall
Helllllp !
With a bowleggd, straddle, waddle
The poor cat tried to run
With hiss an spit an tizzy fit
An decorated buns
Stop, drop an roll Turnup !
The room was gettin smaller
As Turnups tensions grew
As super glued an paper shoed
Up the drapes he flew
Helps on the way
Thats where the missus found him
Atop the curtain rod
She left the room to fetch the broom
Ill get you down, by God!
Epilogue
To clean a cat by shaving
Might seem akin to sin
But scissors cuts around his nuts
Took me an two good men
Hey ... if anyone finds this intrusive, invasive or offensive I certainly have no objection to moving it to my blog or removing it entirely. Turnup (because he just 'turned up') is a character from my anthology 'Tumble Creek Tales'. He is a survivor of several poems and short stories.
Back to work on the pine box. With excellent advice from Tish, I replaced the bridge. The dulcimer now tunes true. Couple more coats of tung oil and it'll be finished. Didn't stain it, can't hide plain old pine. Burning could have been a lot neater. I don't have a wood burner. Used a home made veiner that I used to use to put borders around checkering and straighten lines on gunstocks. Heated it with a torch.
Morning Ken;
I'd like to do a scroll head, but I don't have any tools that would be much good for that. I'm working these down with a Stanley round sureform, some coarse files and one or two round rasps. Wish I had some kind of table saw, scroll saw, sander, planer or something with a flat edge to keep things square and get nicer fitted joints easier. I've looked at some of yours ... I have a ways to go yet. Thanks for lookin'.
Sam
A very good friend in CT thought she might like to try playing a mountain dulcimer. Finished this one in cherry up and packaged for shipping Saturday. She requested 'teardrops' as soundholes.
Striking;
The Mountain Dulcimer is exquisitely understated. Both instruments are just beautiful.
Thanks Ken and Joe;
Ken, the bouts are exactly the same width. The narrow, slightly elongated waist toward the bottom bout makes it appear narrower. Should I name this one 'Dolly'?
Finished this little dude this morning. 25" VSL, bobbed pretty short to fit in my locker at work. All wood is poplar from a local Lowe's. Fretboard has NOT been stained. It ranges from almost snow white to purple, to golden brown to almost black. Went with traditional heart soundholes. I think this is my favorite build so far.
Have you considered a very sweeping script style letter of one of your initials? The 'M' could be done very nicely with slightly enlarged 'feet'. Go through the alphabet in different fonts in word or something. I bet you'd find some very attractive styles that would add that personal touch you are looking for.
Sam
Sorry I just can''t let this go by without offering my 2 cents worth....thinking if some of these notions aren't challenged every so often they might be taken as fact...or that there is some kind of majority agreement here.
There are legit reasons to have just one melody string....ignorance or a lack of motivation notwithstanding.....it simply sounds better with some playing styles....& not having much to do with ease of play...it ain't very hard to play with the double melody string....in fact it's easier to slide a noter over 2 strings.
And while we're on the subject....DAd is by far the most versatile tuning...& that's the reason most people use it....2 or 3 modes can be played out of it....& 3 or 4 keys....it's a good tuning to start out playing in.
Also while we're on the subject....For my playing in 2010 I don't really care about how the very 1st dulcimer was configured or the method of play of the very 1st dulcimer player or when the 1st dulcimer was invented...like anyone knows anyways....or the ability to play all the modes by tuning DAA, DAB, DAc, DAd, DAe etc.....that's all well & good f'sure.... I appreciate those who study the origins of the dulcimer and I enjoy looking at the pictures and reading the scholarly stories & speculations & I respect the history & traditions of the music....
But for me the dulcimer is a tool to play the music I want to play...however I need to strike the strings or make the notes or tune the strings or configure the instrument to be able to play the tunes I like....& I'm sure that's what the very 1st dulcimer player was after too....
THAT'S not gonna happen !!! ... temps get below 70 I lose my sense of humor altogether .........
John I'll have to say that FOTMD has some real HOTTIES!!!!!!! Think we should do a calendar?
WOW!!!My Sophmore High School Yr ! oh the good old days
Sue Simms said:
Google 'harpkit' for an online tuner. It will get you through till you can get one. I just got a new SN8 (from that 'e' place). $12.00 free shipping. It has a larger, easier to see illuminated scale. I like it.
Dana R. McCall said:
Great Gobbs of Goose Grease I've lost my SNARK!!! and my dulcimer is out of tune. It is my favorite and most valuable accessorie. I can't live without it. I need to learn to tune by ear. What am I going to do till I get another one?
I'm glad that you and Brian can find time to play your music together. The music and chemistry make this one of my all time favorite vids to watch. I'd almost bet I've watched it more than the two of you!
Strumelia said:
I asked my husband Brian this evening if he wanted to play some music together after dinner- something we just don't make the time to do often enough! To my surprise out of the blue he asked if I would give him a banjo lesson. So I did!
He did very well. We had to get creative due to his lacking the use of his left index finger and thumb (he has learned to get around this quite well while fiddling). We started with a non-chord style approach in G modal tuning to take advantage of the open drone strings as much as possible. I was very flattered that he would actually ask me for abanjo lesson, considering what a wonderful fiddler he is! I'm very lucky to live with a good natural musician.
So it was an interesting and rewarding musical evening for us both.
