Forum Activity for @sam-edelston

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

OMG, Nate, not relevant to the topic of this thread, but that aquavina dulcimer is fascinating. Folks, check this out. youtu.be/ZpglYv9SxOU

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Thanks, John. And thanks for asking.

The album is available at edelstondulcimer.bandcamp.com/album/making-waves , and you can even preview it to see if you like it.

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

s11141827 spoke accurately. Chromatic dulcimers are more popular than they used to be.

For people who choose to play only diatonic tunes - and especially those who choose to play only melody over drones - chromatic frets would be as useless as a third pedal on a bicycle.

However, for those of us who play contemporary music or Tin Pan Alley or jazzy stuff or classical, chromatic frets can be valuable. For those of us who get together with musicians who play chromatic instruments - such as guitarists who capo into keys like Bb and Eb - a chromatic dulcimer gets us into the room. For somebody coming to the dulcimer from guitar, chromatic frets make all the sense in the world. Personally, I believe that more chromatics will help dulcimers to become more widely known.

I released my first album last year, and half of the songs required a chromatic dulcimer.

Please don't insult something just because you aren't interested in using it. There's no reason we can't all be friends.

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

@davisjames and @robert-schuler , I won't try to change your approaches to playing, but I invite you to consider other aspects of the dulcimer that also make it beautiful and unique.

For example, with only 3 strings, it's easy to use two fingers to play a two-note chord while playing a melody on your remaining string, or to smooth out your next chord change. Much easier to do that with 3  strings than with 6.

updated by @sam-edelston: 02/06/23 02:27:28AM

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

@erthling The simple answer to your question is, yes, a chromatic has everything that a diatonic has, so it's possible to play almost everything you could play on a diatonic. (Certain long reaches may not be doable.) Whether you should get one depends on what you want to play on it.

Certain things are easier to play on a diatonic, but certain other things are easier on a chromatic. And certain things are simply impossible on a diatonic.

Millions of people play chromatically fretted guitars all the time, and it's not the least bit controversial. Electric guitars, 7-string guitars, and harp guitars are not at all controversial, and I've never heard anybody ask if they're something other than a guitar. Guitars play everything from simple melodies to strummed cowboy songs, to classical etudes, to rich jazz chords, to fast bebop and bluegrass solos, to Stanley Jordan's two-hand style, to Van Halen-style shredding; while you or I may find some styles uninteresting or ugly, nobody says it shouldn't be played on the guitar. Clearly, guitars have progressed unimaginably far beyond their traditional roots.

While respecting and loving dulcimers' traditional, diatonic roots, there's no reason why the instrument needs to be limited to that.

If I think a song would sound good on a dulcimer, I use the instrument that would be best for the job. Left to my own devices, I generally play dulcimers with 0+/1+/6+/8+/13+ frets and fully chromatic ones, because they generally do what I need. I rarely play my diatonic, except for teaching purposes. And I fully respect the right of others to choose differently.

I know some people question whether or not a chromatic should be called a dulcimer, but the instrument doesn't care what you call it.

So, again, whether you should get a chromatic depends on what you want to do with it. It's totally okay to get one, and it's totally okay not to.

Sam

PS - One option is to get an inexpensive cardboard chromatic, and see how you like it.