Adding Extra Strings to Courses
Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions
Interesting question Nate! First about 6 string dulcimers and things: I have a mcspadden baritone with 6 strings. Before I restrung it, it was A2A3-E3E4-A3A3. I also thought it was a little annoying to play, since the pairs of strings are not equal in size. But I thought it had a very rich sound with the octave courses.
Then you're also talking about some 4 string ideas. I think those are fun. However, going off what Ken was saying, a 4 string dulcimer is not really a "trational" dulcimer. You'll have to do more chords usually and be more careful what strings you play.
A few different tunings:
D-F#-A-d:
I haven't done much with this but I think most of the time, folks are using this to access more chromatic notes on a diatonic instrument. If you're not familiar with chromatic stuff, this probably won't be very intuitive.
D-G-A-D:
This is the first 4 string tuning I really tried. I also played Rondo Alla Turca with this tuning. I think it's more intuitive, because both DAd and DGd are hidden in there. I also like it because you can get more 4 note chords in a tighter range, and have extra strings for fast melodies. However, this tuning is harder with strumming because one of the middle strings will often get in the way.
D-A-d-a:
I of course like this tuning. It's got a larger range, but with four strings more 7th chords and other 4 note chords are avaliable. Another observation to help playing in this tuning: the higher three strings, (A-d-a) are actually the same intervals as DGd tuning. If you know DGd chord shapes, you can play them there.
One thing to think about is what you want extra strings for. Do you want to play songs you already know, just with a different sound; or do you want to dive into a completely new tuning and different techniques?
Grant
