Forum Activity for @lisa-golladay

They always say the most important piece of safety equipment in an automobile is the nut behind the wheel.  Well, the key factor that determines a dulcimer's sound is the player.  Heavy strum, light strum, where to strum, type of pick... never mind fingerpicking.  Five players can take the same dulcimer and make it sound entirely different.  That's one reason why we'll never come to a definitive agreement about wood or anything else.

I once had the opportunity to work my way down a vendor table, playing standard McSpadden hourglasses that were identical except for the wood.  I once browsed the Folkcraft showroom, where I sampled various woods and body depths (and other factors, too... the Folkcraft options can get overwhelming) (clearly I need to buy them all).  I borrow and play every dulcimer I can lay my hands on, and over the years I've come to some conclusions about what I like, but someone else could do the same and come to entirely different conclusions.  Different ears, different personal tastes, and different playing techniques.

If at all possible, try to attend a dulcimer festival or go to Fort Wayne and visit the Folkcraft showroom.  Or go to Mountain View and visit McSpadden.  Even if you don't buy a dulcimer there (good luck with that) you'll get the chance to play similar models with different woods, shapes and sizes.  Barring an opportunity to try dulcimers in person, your best bet is to talk to builders, and maybe you can listen to them play some models over the phone.

Incidentally, as a former apartment dweller who likes to stay up late and hates to annoy neighbors, I've tried keeping dulcimers quiet.  A softer pick, a slower strum, resting the dulcimer on a towel or some other thick fabric to keep the back and sides from resonating, using a piece of paper or a corner of an envelope as a pick, giving up on picks entirely and using my fingers, stuffing fabric into the sound holes, leaving the fabric resting on top of the dulcimer, tuning the strings down to low tension, playing near upholstered furniture, rugs and curtains that absorb sound rather than in an empty room... there are many things you can try before giving up on a dulcimer as too loud or too bright. 

It seems you're looking for exactly the opposite sound compared to what I prefer.  So... given that I greatly prefer a cedar top over an all-walnut dulcimer... I conclude that you would probably prefer the all-walnut!  Vive la difference :-)

Give Folkcraft a call or email them and ask what they recommend.  They are very nice people and they can help you pick out not only the wood, but also the body size, shape and depth.  A deep body gives a mellow sound, but also increases the volume so I'm not sure if that's the way to go. 

Leading a Jam

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Jan, those are really good points.  A jam can be anything you want it to be :-)

A lot of times when there's an informal jam, and nothing is pre-rehearsed, and it seems to a beginner like these people are performing magic -- what you actually have is a group of players who know each other and have played these songs before.  Or they're playing within a genre that has a core set of tunes that everybody knows.  Or they're improvising within a narrow set of boundaries, like with 12-bar blues.  Or... they all go to the same dulcimer festivals and they all learned the same songs from the same books because it's a small world.   

What do you do when you get a room full of players and nobody knows the same tunes? 

My last refuge in a room of singers and chord players is The Lion Sleeps Tonight, since it's 3 chords in a steady repeating pattern and people only need to remember one word from the lyrics (and wimoweh isn't even a word anyway).  I don't have a good fallback for melody/drone dulcimer, unless it's Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  I keep running into people who don't know Go Tell Aunt Rhody, for crying out loud. 

What are your fallback tunes to get a jam rolling?

And Kimberley, good luck on Saturday and tell us all how it went!

Leading a Jam

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

The dulcimer jams I've attended mostly played fiddle tunes, which do tend to accelerate faster and faster until there's only one player left standing.  Maybe the solution is to mix in some ballads -- how fast can they play Barbr'y Allen?  Do we really want to find out?  Well OK, yes, I would love to watch a competitive high-speed Barbr'y Allen, but only once. 

I wish I knew more dulcimer groups that encouraged people to sing along.  Lots of people find it hard to play and sing at the same time, but in a group they could just sing, just play, do both at once, or take turns, whatever is comfortable for them.  When a tune is too hard for beginners to play, they could sing.  Or strum chords.  Or strum drones.  Or tap rhythm.  I think it's more fun when people don't feel like they all have to play every note, in every song, exactly the same way everyone else does.

Eureka!  I just had my genius idea for the day: Everybody gets a kazoo!  If that doesn't loosen them up, I don't know what will.

With the holidays coming, this is a great time to play songs that everybody knows.  Chances are, you'll not only have singers, you'll get harmonies.  Surely they won't accelerate to breakneck speed on Oh Come, All Ye Faithful.  Will they?  Maybe the kazoos were a mistake...

Tell us about your VERY FIRST dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Evanston, IL, used to hold a huge annual "garage sale" in the multi-level municipal parking garage.  It was said that you could find anything in there.  When I needed a typewriter stand (remember those?) I found one for 2 bucks.  When I needed a bicycle, I found a snazzy retro white Schwinn for 20 bucks.  And when I was a couple years out of college and convinced I had the time and money to spare, I grabbed a friend and we ventured out early opening day on a quest to find a mountain dulcimer.  I had wanted to play dulcimer since high school, and managed to touch one once in college.  Dulcimers were not exactly common in Chicago in the 1980s. 

Outside while the crowd waited for the sale to open, there was a guy playing a hammered dulcimer.  He said he was a pianist and only started dulcimer a month before.  He played beautifully.  I took this as a good sign.

I found my dulcimer halfway up the ramp to the first level, where a music store of questionable quality was unloading a wide array of... um... stuff.  It was a new, damaged box, generic c. 1980 Pakistani import.  Probably spruce on top with dark hardwood laminate (walnut?) sides and back.  1-1/2 fret.  Four worthless old strings.  25 bucks. 

Triumphant, I carried it several blocks to the nearest guitar store, where I got a set of strings and some picks.  The clerk offered to sell me a case (black, chipboard, generic) for 12 bucks.  They sold the exact same dulcimer model.  I think every store sold that model, if they had dulcimers at all.  Then I headed home on the L with all the dulcimer I would need (or could afford... or would even see) for the next several years.

The intonation was reasonable and the action was ok.  Mind you, I did not at the time know about "intonation" or "action."  Heaven knows what key it was in.  Lacking an electronic tuner, pitchpipe or keyboard, I tuned the bass string to whatever sounded ok, fretted that string on the 4th fret, and tuned the other strings to that note.  Obviously, I was playing alone.  When I tried chords, I thought the dulcimer had intonation problems... but eventually I learned that when I tune by ear, I tune to perfect fifths.  Not equal temperament.  To this day, I can't tune anything by ear and I am ever so grateful for electronic tuners.

I got a fancier dulcimer eventually, which is when I christened the original "Junior" and he continued to sit on my coffee table.  Good to keep a spare dulcimer around for guests, or alternate tunings, or just variety.  Junior had a guitarish sound, which I blame on the spruce top (I never have liked a spruce soundboard on anything, not even guitars, although I try to stay open minded).

Junior is in the closet 8 feet to my left as I type this.  Hasn't been playable for years: the glue dried out and the headstock is pulling away from the body so it won't take string tension.  I think this would be an easy fix for someone with good clamps and knowledge about adhesives -- which is not me.  I know some people who might be able to fix Junior so I can pass him along to someone who can use (get this...) an entrance-ramp dulcimer.

Sadly, the Evanston Garage Sale ceased to exist decades ago.  Something about bollixing up traffic all over town by attracting thousands of visitors -- on the one weekend each year when they have nowhere to park because the garage is closed! 

Creative song mix-ups (NOT mistakes!)

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Of all the "Amazing Grace/House of the Rising Sun/I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing/Gilligan's Island/Goodnight Irene" mashups my favorite (so far) is Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" sung to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas."

Anything goes in 4-line iambic tetrameter.  Personally, I like "Amazing Grace" to the tune of "Freebird" but I wouldn't inflict it on the general public.

OTSFM sometimes has a dulcimer or two for sale.  Hogeye usually has a few dulcimers.  Not much selection at either.  Sadly, no place that I've found in Chi-town has a decent selection.  Some regional builder (hey, Folkcraft!) should bang on the door at OTSFM and throw us poor starving Chicago MD players some dulcimers!

The Old Town School of Folk Music is a must-visit: https://www.oldtownschool.org/musicstore/

Check the schedule for concerts and workshops.  When will you be in Chicago?  There's a workshop on Appalachian Singing on Sept. 28.  The ongoing MD classes meet on Thursday nights and the dulcimer ensemble meets on Mondays -- maybe you can sweet-talk your way in.

If you get up north, visit Hogeye Music in Evanston:  http://www.hogeyemusic.com/hogeyemusic.com/Welcome.html

 ETA:  heeheehee, I am not fast enough ;-)  Did we mention you MUST visit the Old Town School?

updated by @lisa-golladay: 09/14/15 05:08:36PM

Positive game-changers in your progress

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

You make a real good point.  I said "this is easy" but that's only true in retrospect!  It does take some time to work through.  Have fun on the journey.

Positive game-changers in your progress

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Long years back, a guitar-playing acquaintance asked me what that instrument was on the coffee table.   I handed him my dulcimer, he looked at it for a moment, said “oh, I get it!” and played a blazing hot blues riff.   Then he handed the MD back to me.   I was gobsmacked.   I had no idea you could play blues on the thing.

 I was hosting the party, too busy to buttonhole him and ask how on earth he did that.   Soon after, he skipped town ahead of the IRS and hasn’t been seen since.   Exactly what you’d expect from the guy you want to learn blues from, right?

 Well, for the better part of a decade I was stumped.   I tried all the modes, all the tunings.   Nothing.   I blame this on the Internet, which obstinately had not been invented yet.   The few other MD players I knew thought I was insane when I asked about the blues.   But I knew it was possible .  

 I doubt that Steven K. Smith will ever fully appreciate what a revelation it was for me when I finally stumbled upon his three-part blues tutorial:   http://www.sksmithmusic.com/virtual_classroom/dulcimerblues.html

 My first thought was “hey, this works!”   And my second thought was “are you kidding me!?   This is EASY!   Why doesn’t anyone TELL us this stuff?”   Now I share Steven’s page with other MD players at every opportunity.   As I seize every opportunity to use the word “gobsmacked.”  

updated by @lisa-golladay: 09/10/15 12:17:16PM

Thank you, John, that was beautiful.  It's fascinating how a tune can change. 

You've given us the perfect solution to our dilemna: 

Q: Which version to play? 

A: All of them! 

Modern Songs for Guitar and Dulcimer

Dulcimer Resources:TABS/Books/websites/DVDs

The whippersnappers in the local ukulele club taught me a couple of Death Cab songs that I think would sound wonderful on MD and guitar:  I'll Follow You Into the Dark and Stay Young, Go Dancing. 

In return, I teach them Bob Dylan songs.  You Ain't Going Nowhere.  Wagon Wheel (not entirely Dylan, but hey).  Mr. Tambourine Man. 

What about those '70s folk groups like Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention?  All those versions of Matty Groves and John Barleycorn aren't "modern songs" but they do seem to split the difference between indie rock and 17th century ;-)   Also Paul Simon in his Scarborough Fair and April Come She Will period. 

Are you playing chords, playing melody, or both?  The chords for all these songs are easy to find on the internet.  Sheet music for the melody can be purchased in a fake book (be sure it includes the melody lines and not just chords). Dulcimer tab will be hard to find.  If you need tab, then Matty Groves and john Barleycorn are looking better than ever!

Drone style, courtesy of our intrepid hostess: http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2009/05/blackest-crow.html

Tunings you like to use on your dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Yes indeed, worth repeating.  At the risk of making this thread even longer!  Heeheehee

Tunings you like to use on your dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

The important thing when you're working with tab is the way strings are tuned relative to each other.  In DAd tuning the middle string is tuned to the note that is 5 steps above the bass string.  And the melody string is tuned one octave (8 steps) above the bass string.  That's why DAd is often called a 1-5-8 tuning.  Any 1-5-8 tuning can use DAd tab.  There are 12 such tunings:

C-G-c

C#-G#-c#

D-A-d

D#-A#-d# (which a horn player would call Eflat-Bflat-eflat)

E-B-e

 

And so on up the alphabet.  Anything is fair game as long as your strings can handle it.  Popular 1-5-8 tunings include DAd, CGc, Gdg and AEa.  If you are playing alone, it doesn't matter if you tune to a concert pitch.  Tune your bass string to anything that sounds good, fret it at the 4th fret and tune the middle string to that note, then fret the bass on the 7th fret and tune the melody to that note.  Now you are in a 1-5-8 tuning and you can play from DAd tab. 

 

DAA is a 1-5-5 tuning.  You can use DAA tab for any 1-5-5 tuning such as CGG or Gdd.

 

DAc is a 1-5-7 tuning.  And so on.  Pay attention to how the strings are tuned relative to each other and you'll know which tab you can use.

 

Remember as you change tunings that while you can still use the same tab, you'll be playing in a different key.  This doesn't matter if you play alone, but don't let your guitar-playing friend play a D chord when you're actually playing an E-flat.  Do not ask me how I know this ;-)

 

Per Robin's explanation of why people change tunings: you would change from DAd to another 1-5-8 tuning for the purpose of changing keys or to change the timbre of the instrument.  It will not put you into a different mode, nor will it enable you to play different tunes.  Does that help?

updated by @lisa-golladay: 08/27/15 12:34:07PM

Tunings you like to use on your dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

This page maps dulcimer tunings to the piano keyboard: http://www.get-tuned.com/dulcimer.php

We really are making this too complicated.  Tune the bass string to a note that sounds good.  This note is the key you will be playing in.  Then fret the bass string at the 4th fret and tune the other strings to that note (which is a 5th interval higher than the bass string).  That is how people tuned dulcimers for a hundred years. 

Here I am, someone who mostly plays chord/melody in DAdd, telling people to use Balis Ritchie's "bim-bim-BOM" tuning!  Honestly, these forums are wonderful but we send beginners on wild goose chases.  Tune DAA, put away the tab and chord charts, play a scale on the melody string starting on the 3rd fret, and listen to what happens.  Until you get to know the instrument and how it works, jumping around to new tunings and following paint-by-numbers tabs is just wasting your time.

Tunings you like to use on your dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

When I started playing MD back in the last century, I had several books like that.  Those books WERE written specifically for the purpose of introducing beginners to the various modal tunings.  Expectations and playing styles have changed a lot over the last 30 years, but a lot of the same books are still on the market. 

 

I never saw a book of all-DAd tab until post-2000.  And when I saw it, I wondered "why in the world would anybody pay money for that?"  It takes all kinds.  I agree with you about ED and other online resources: we're lucky to live in a time when lots of materials are available on the internet and we are all free to learn what we want.

 

As for the main topic of this thread:  It's worth noting that sometimes you retune because you want a different mode (DAd vs DAc) and sometimes you retune for a different key (DAd vs CGc) and still other times you retune for a special effect (DAd vs Ddd). Or maybe you don't retune at all.  There's nothing wrong with picking one tuning and sticking with it.  No worries. 

updated by @lisa-golladay: 08/17/15 02:11:22PM

Tunings you like to use on your dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Good points, Ken.  I have no problem re-tuning the dulcimer, especially not when I'm playing drones.  The tenor guitar, however, is a different beast and I fear I will make no decent progress until I pick one tuning and learn it well before branching out.  Chords, you know. For me, it's much harder to switch tunings when fretting 3 or 4 strings at the same time.  I never got any good with chord/melody on MD until I picked one tuning (DAd, yeah, boring) and stuck with it for a while.  Now I need to pick a tuning for the ceegar box and buckle down.

Tunings you like to use on your dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

How about 4-equidistant strings?  Even more options that way.

I use DAdd, DAdc, DAdA, DAA#d (chromatic) and DGdd (which is really cool: a traditional G-Ionian with an extra low D at the bottom)

I just got a cigar-box tenor guitar.  4 strings tuned DGbe... or DGBd... or DGAd... or DAAd... or DF#Ad... or ... ?  I can't decide, except I know I want an open tuning.  Any suggestions? 

Is ARRGH! a tuning?  I'm pretty sure I've played that one a lot!

Blank Tab Paper

Dulcimer Resources:TABS/Books/websites/DVDs

Here are some PDF files:

http://dulcimermusic.org/music/blank/

 

Do You Have A 'Go To' or Favorite Dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I am a lazy person.  My go-to dulcimer is the one that's most convenient to get to.  Usually that's the dulcimette hanging on the living room wall.  Unless I'm in the kitchen, where the cigar box dulcimer is hanging on the wall.

When I leave the house, I take the McS Ginger because it has the nicest gig bag.

I need a dulcimer that comes when called.  And I want to hire a guy to tune it.

Friends of Don Neuhauser Needed

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

As an actual female person, I can say that never for an instant did the phrase "Double D Dulcimers" strike me as having a sexual connotation. However, now that you mention it, Don might not be happy with the image search results if someone Googles "double d dulcimers" and accidentally hits return before typing the "dulcimer" part.

Like Travis, I learned melody first on MD and chords on uke and guitar.  True story: some years ago when I had just figured out how to chord on MD, I was jaming with a uke-playing friend.  I was frantically grasping at the chords (would have helped if I knew the song better).  We finished singing the first verse and chorus and I thought thank goodness, now I can take the instrumental break and I started playing melody which was so much easier.  And my friend said, "oh that's right, unlike me you really know how to play!"  The easy beginner stuff for me was the hard stuff for him, and vice versa.  

I take this as proof that we're all meant to play together. 

 

updated by @lisa-golladay: 06/25/15 12:39:04AM

I've used a variation on Janita's tuning: D-A-d-A#.   Also D-A-d-c#.  I can mute the near string with the heel of my hand.  That means I'm playing D-A-d (that's easy and I can strum!) with an extra string I can play only when I need it.

Another chromatic tuning is D-F#-A.  See this site: http://www.mountaindulcimer-1-3-5.com/

With 4 equidistant strings, try D-F#-A-D. 

You can substitute a "power chord" when you can't get a major or minor chord.  A power chord contains only the root and 5th notes.  It's the 3rd note that determines whether the chord is major or minor.  When you play an open DAd you're playing a D power chord, which can substitute for either D-major or D-minor as needed.  Not the same sound, but it works in a pinch, especially when playing with other instruments that will supply the missing 3rd.

When dulcimer tab shows a barred 1st fret as an "E-minor" chord, it's actually an E power chord.  It's the kind of workaround that dulcimer players use all the time, but a guitarist won't know about. 

I think it's great that you've found a guitar teacher who's willing to explore dulcimer with you.  However, he may need an occasional gentle reminder that a dulcimer is not a guitar.  The typical lesson plan for beginning guitarists is not well suited for dulcimer. The dulcimer is NOT designed to play in multiple keys from the same tuning.  Nor to play chromatic runs.  That doesn't mean it's impossible -- but it ain't easy and it's very uncommon for anyone to attempt it.  The addition of a 1-1/2 fret doesn't really change things -- it makes a few more chords and scales possible, but it does not mean you can take the normal scale boxes and movable chords that you'd learn on guitar and translate them directly to the dulcimer.

If you're hunting for a Gb, G and G# in the same song, then you're playing a song -- or an arrangement -- that might be easy on guitar, but on dulcimer it's crazy advanced.  If your heart's set on that style of music, your life will be much easier with a full-chromatic fretboard.

Looks like your song list is mostly in the key of G with a few songs in C. I would tune a dulcimer to GDG (the key-of-G equivalent of DAD). Learn the basic chords in G (G, C, D, Em and Am). When the song is in C, put a capo on the 3rd fret and use the same fingerings to play the chords C, F, G, Am and Dm. That covers almost everything you'll need. Remember to smile, sing, and skip the chords you don't know!G and C are popular keys among uke players. Thus, uke-playing friends are an excellent reason to buy a Ginger or baritone dulcimer. ;-)If you don't have a dulcimer that can comfortably tune to GDG then try the reverse Ionian tuning DGD. That puts you in the key of G (with the scale starting on the 3rd fret). And I guess a capo on the 3rd fret will put you in C.Yet another option is to tune a DAD dulcimer down to CGC, which puts you in the key of C. And then for the key of G you could capo on the 4th fret. I haven't tried this, but in theory it should work.If none of this makes sense, give a holler and I'll break it down. Do you have a good chord book? Mel Bay's giant encyclopedia can get you through pretty much anything a uke player will throw at you. http://www.melbay.com/Products/93858/dulcimer-chord-encyclopedia.aspx Of course, your last-ditch option is to borrow a uke and make your friend show you how to play it!