Forum Activity for @wout-blommers

I asume you cut them in half and swith the end part? You are kidding me? Both end the same, so starting Mixolydian STAYS Mixolydian (same end as Dorian). :D The same goes likewise for the Dorian. You can't connect starts or ends... These will not create an octave.

I looked at Kitchen Girl, but the modes can be described as Mixolydian and the second part as Aeolean, but it is just a modelation in the song itself, not in the mode or scale!

Why end so many fiddle songs on the fifth? Mostly because they are follwed by another song in D or something like that, it's not a coda...

Modes makes theory difficult, simple because we don't think in modes anymore. Mostly just major and minor. I believe modes are an immigration feature, but we need another discussion about that, not in the capo pages.

I know it is folk music, because I play in my folk band (#194 in the repertoire). It is not special Turkish; could be Pakistan or even India... We simple don't know. But to call it modified Phrygian? There is a name to that scale: gypsy (BTW it isn't a mode!). But that doesn't make it Phrygian, which I asked: show me a Phrygian song :-)

There are a lot song going around which are called Mixolydian and don't have that 6th in it...

Still, in dulcimer land the players like it difficult. And it is such a simple instrument.

Misirlou isn't copyrighted :-) In fact the melody is traditional as traditional can be!

Funny...

I add the score of Misirlou how I play it in my band, although transposed to E, which means only white keys in Phrygian mode. There shouldn't be accidentals... There are. There is an interval f-g#, which is special to the gypsy scale, in fact, Misirlou is in gypsy scale... Not Phrygian at all.

Misirlou E.pdf - 37KB

Please, show me a Locrian tune or Phrychian one. (better notes on paper than a youtube link) 

Why do dulcimer players make theory so complicated? The risc of making mistakes is always there... So don't read this when you are not familiar with musical theory and want to avoid a head age...

A capo offers you the possibility to use the same left hand position, special the grip of a chord, at another place of the fretboard which means to play in another key. Capo's are handy on a chromatic fretboard. On a chromatic fretboard it can avoid barré chord grips. They are a disaster on a diatonic due to its inflexible nature.

Playing chords or chord/melody style in D without capo becomes G when the capo is placed on the 3 fret (don't use the 6+; it will show the disaster...)

Ken, placing the capo on the second fret changes DAd into F#C#f#, or do you mean the 1+ fret? The mode becomes Phrychian using the 6+ and Locrian when using the 6 fret) Tuning a string is changing the tension of it, so is bending. The capo is changing the VSL or length of the string usualy known as stopping. It's a the same as a barré chord grip.

some video's

The are in a familie with the Indian Bulbul Tarang, wich is in the same lay out.

The keys stop the strings on a fret board underneath the hood by levers like on an old typewriter. You can find video's on YouTube.

I always thought the jug has to play the bass, by definition

In most music groups the bass tells the other musicians what the tempo is and 'where are we in the song'. Riffs and breaks are used to communicate. If the chord is in 'hold', mostly a kind of improvisation mode, play just the notes of the chord or partial, like tonica-third-fifth-third-etc or tonica-fifth-octave-fifth. Create a nice rhythm with these tones.

In your old avatar you hold a guitar, so record a chord progression and try to create bass lines for yourself. You will find a repertoir for yourself. There will be a moment a descending bass line in triplets will blow yourslf and the others away  

I understand it very well, believe me  I play a lot with other instruments, special the violin. The violin is a chromatic instrument and transposing, or just shift your fingers, is rather easy, where on the dulcimer the diatonic fret board is a hazard. Violin players won't give up playing open strings , unless they are more secure about there playing. (When a singer better sings in Eb rather than in D, the violin player is against plying a different key, not the guitar nor the bass player. I will not mention the percussionist.  To use a capo the best way is on a chromatic dulcimer, so playing a lot together with other instruments, leave the diatonic ones behind.

BTW to make the sound of the guitar more flamenco, flamanco players use another guitar made of different wood. Using a capo is a trick, but doesn't make it sound gypsy like. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamenco_guitar

That's what I said: a different quality in sound, but a flamenco guitar is a chromatic instrument, the dulcimer isn't...

Transposing to D (Dm) allow same chords. Once you know these in these two keys, you can play everything without learning new grips.

Anyway, I have a capo

I don't understand the use of a capo that much, unless you are playing on a chromatic dulcimer. To me transposing a song to D or Dm is easier than using a capo. I can use the same chords grips. Surely, there are songs which need a high register sound, like German Zweifager, but that's an exception to me

He is a good performer, for sure. Makes very good slides, which makes the ocarina sing!

Nice, a wall full of ocarina's

I used a cheap guitar stand and a wrench to bend the holders to fit a dulcimer. $10,- and 10 minutes work.

 Stand01.jpg - 141KB

Being a non native speaker has some advantage, so is being naive

Sticks?

Chinese pick?

Ticker?

Mallet?

Hammer?

Rhythm Beater?

Snare drum or String durm?

Dulcimer bone?

I have a String drum bass hommel, which is played using a beater. Have to restring it, so no pictures yet. It plays a two or three tone very low drone. The thing which hit the strings is called a 'klopper' in Dutch, which should be translate as 'knocker'.

Very usefull playing chord/melody style. It leaves the melody string diatonic, which is nice playing noter/drone style.

I also like the possum board using the transporting case.

The beater... There goes my free weekend ;-)

Don't forget the three ways to produce sound: the pick (I use a stiff one); the thumb (plucking down or slap: thump up and hit the snare with the first thumb knockel) and the fingertips of the index and middle finger. That's all at the right hand...

Ah! An asset!?!

:-)

Being a not native speaker I thought that Hubby was just a nice guy, buying a lot of things for every one. Reading the last post here I realised you mean 'husband' :D Or spouce or yokefellow or helpmate or old man...

BTW write the SpellCheck or another name of the spell controller: it doesn't recognise its own name. Never trust someone helping with how to spell who can't spell its own name, doh?

Not only the temp, but also the question: "Where are we in the song?"

Dusty, you are a guitar player already, which is the normal way to get to the bass. You are used to think in chords. The bass uses the chord indication in the score and the players' ears. The bass guitar and the double bass both have the same string setting as the 4 lower strings of the guitar (which is already the bass of the guitar family), only one octave lower. You have to know where the notes are on the neck and which notes are in each chord. Also the exceptions, like the blues, so don't start practising that, unless you have to play it already in an ensemble.

But most of all: PLAY in an ENSEMBLE! The only way learning to play the bass is playing together. In contrast to the guitar, a bass never plays alone.

Also, bass players are a certain type of people, at least, here in Europe: don't like to be in the spotlight, a practical sense of humor (watch out, ladies) and highly social people, on stage and in  the bar. And they can ignore the drummer of the band who's telling you have to be there at his/hers bass drum hit... No, that hit has to be there at YOUR bass note.

Happy time playing as much as you can :-)

The reason can be you aren't playing with a pick, but with your fingers.

The same as an normal accoustic guitar with steel strings. To less to play with drums, but surely to hard when played with a dulcimer. I play the double bass. In pizzicato (plucked) it is also to low in volume to play against a violin, but when bowed... When I play practising in the ensemble (steel string guitar, clarinet, accodeon, violin, bass and percussion) I need an amplifer, but also playing the double bass pizzicato or a steel string ABG. Bowing the double bass means a constant input of energy into the string, so it is much louder. BUT... when tuned in perfect pitch with the other instruments, the bass will sound louder, much louder! The overtones of the louder instruments will emphase the bass volume. You will experence that when you are more secure in bass playing. And that's why the intonation of the frets are so important, or that's why bass players prefer a fretless bass like the double bass.

So buying a small amplifier is a good thing. A http://www.music-group.com/Categories/Behringer/Loudspeaker-Systems/Portable-Speakers/B205D/p/P0957 will do. You don't need that much power :-)

Take a look at this video:

Hi Dusty,

The nylon strings are called 'Tape Wound'. I don't know how they sound on a fretted bass, but on a fretless they sound great.

Being a bass player I have 3 ABG's (1 frets, 2 fretless). In general, be carefull with fretted AGB's: be sure the intonation is right. Also an AGB shouldn't play heavy. If you have to push hard the action is to high. A good luthier can fix that. Also the strings are important. On the ABG I prerfer 'nylon' strings, which I like to call 'clothline' strings... Don't know the real name. On a fretless the sound is much more double bass like. Most AGB's use piëzo to amplify. When I need the snappy sound of steel strings and pick I prefer a solid body BG.

I wonder if the Boulder Creek is realy louder than other ABG's: it has a sound hole right into your face, but can the other musicians hear that as well?

Don't wory about your pinky, or you have to have rather small hands. Most bass lines I play need three fingers, mostly index and ring. If you realy need the pinky use the middle and ring on the same string to help the little one (double bass technique). But be sure the action is right!

BTW the AGB is the first step to a double bass :-)

This video is about changing the sound of the clapper:

1 just one finger between the clappers

2 two finger between;

3 the bell hitting the bell-hammer way up.

The lower sound is made by an almost complete 'resonator', the air inside the clapper. The 'room' is made by the two clappers, the palm of the hand and the fingers in front. When opened, the sound is higher and sharp as always. A difficult technique, which I can't master myself, is closing and opening the 'fingers'-door while playing. I try it in the end. Anyway, the lower sound is made by the resonator (kind of a soundbox made of wood and flesh :-)

I don't know if I speak English well...

But like a friend of mine says 'the Dutch speak better English than the English speak Dutch' :-)

It's the same with 'the journey London to Stradford-apon-Avon has more miles than Stradford-apon-Avon to London'.

BTW the sighing I do is what I always do when I am concentrating myself. :-)

Here some more information about the bamboo clappers:

Here's a video about Dutch clappers:

Hi Strumelia, you asked me to demonstrate the Yin-Yang sculptured bones made by Adam Klein. See

Two configurations wouildn't work because the energy wasn't able to make to right swing.

This is the first time I create a video on YoyTube and I used a photocamera...

My ten years old son just hides my bones, but I have a rather large collection.

Thanks Dusty. So in a way it's like a friend of mine who once said to me about playing the guitar: "Concentrate yourself on the right hand: that's where the music comes from. If it is the other way around people would play the guitar reversed." That knowing it changes a lot in my techniques.

Do your thing, that's what is going on...

I wanted to understand the feeling of the words 'game-changing', because it can mean another way to play the game, but also changing the rules or even the complete game... I think this discussion is about growth and the moments one is aware of this growth. And as every preacher or shrink can tell you: growth is a mile stone on the road to happyness. So are picks...

Hi Bob,

Are you left handed?

Most people who are only strumming think the left hand is more important than the right. I thought so too until a teacher told me the right hand is the most important, because it produces the tone and the dynamics. The left hand will follow the right. If the left hand would be the most important we would plat the instrument reversed.

As soon one switches to finger picking there will be a moment this game changer will show itself. (BTW I hope I understand 'game changer' right in the way being the thing which changes one's playing; I am not a native speaker...)

About the thickness of the pick: an eye opener to me was the use of a 'hard' pick gives a better tone control than a 'sloppy' one. The sloppy pick absorbs the energy of the arm muscles. Sloppy picks sound always the same.

What happened is this: take a wooden plank, hard with no bending and put this under a heavy box using a piece of wood to make it to swing-like operate. The hard plank works fine. Using a thinner or sloppy plank the box can't be lift or just a little bit...

To practise the left hand (or right hand when you are left handed) a good exercise is playing both hands the same, special a changing rhythm. Also playing the right hand playing the rhythm line first and in the same tempo repeat it with the left hand. Another exercise could be playing the beat with left hand and a rhythm at the right, while at the end playing both hands the same rhythm.

About the sound of the left hand, I play one bone between the thumb and the index finger with the latter pressing that bone into the thenar of the hand, so it stays fixed, Placing the other bone between the index finger and the middle finger results in a higher 'pitched' sound than placing it between the middle finger and the ring finger. In the last situation the small resonator 'room' made by the V-shape between the bones and the palm of the hand is larger, so it emphases lower over tones. Doing so with the left hand it will sound lower than the right hand. This effect is much greater than using different types of wood. An exception is made when using different materials, like slate stone, iron or aluminum.

At http://www.bonedrymusic.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=419 one can find Adam Klein who makes also strange shaped wooden bones. There are some from which you will think: "Impossible to play!" but which makes different sounds by changing the grip. See

To contact Adam http://www.adamcjklein.us/lilycontact.html using adamcjklein@adamcjklein.us

I noticed today playing the bones and playing the bodhran is in a way the same technique.

The best changes are those who are reversable...!

Bob, I don't know what style of music you play on the guitar, but did you ever tried 'Silk and Steel' strings? It is a set with three nylon like wound bass strings and three steel treble strings.  They do a wonderful job when you play fingerpicking.