Forum Activity for @melvoid

Hi, My main instrument is the 5-string banjo. I recent did a book for Hal Leonard called Do-It-Yourself Banjo. Written during Covid, it's sort-of intended as a self teaching guide, complete with audio and video files to demonstrate what's being presented in the book. Been teaching since the mid-1970s, so feel free to hit me up with any questions. Naturally, I recommend the book, but I have been getting good feedback about it.

Sounds like a good, inexpensive alternative.

Definitely going to look into that. Thanks

Jost,

Thank you very much for this. I have several books, older and newer, and I haven't found one that covers it all. I've been customizing the lessons each week, taking a little here, a little there, etc. I will definitely look into this book!

So far, we've only had maybe 6 lessons and are using the DAA tuning, but I'm thinking it's time to go to DAD as well.

thanks again

ms

Dusty,

Thanks for the thoughts. We did discuss a strap. I've not tried that myself 'cuz my lap works fine without, but I think it might be worth looking into.

Thanks again.

No problem with the move.

I just thought "How do I get this dulcimer to stay level?" seemed like a good quesion :-)

Great. Thanks!

Might be worth looking into. It just occurred to me that maybe some sort of foot stand/block might work. Like a classical guitarist uses, but for both feet? Or a lower chair?

I'm so confused.

Thanks for the reply!

Hi,

I have a student who isn't terribly tall. When sitting on a chair, her legs aren't level so she has trouble holding the dulcimer on her lap. She has better luck at her dining room table, but it's a bit high. Does anyone know of an adjustable/portable table that would hold a dulcimer? Wide enough so it doesn't jump when fretting or pressing on one end.

I've suggested a strap, so she might try that, but she really likes a table we have at the store where I teach and seems to play pretty well with that setup (although it's not wide enough).

We thought about something custom, but that might be a bit pricey...

Any thoughts?

Thanks

ms

Yes, but strictly Bluegrass on that instrument. In fact, I just wrote a methods book.

Are we allowed to self-promote? If so, https://www.halleonard.com/product/354325/do-it-yourself-banjo

Thanks again to everyone for their input. I have been ordering a few new books, so I'll add Neal Hellmanns Dulcimer Chord book to the list.

I really appreciate the information you've all been sharing!!

I see. I do understand the method, but thought maybe it was a bit tricky for new students. I find it often takes a bit for their ears to get used to tuning off other fretted strings. At any rate, my most recent convert (from guitar to dulcimer), just dropped some bucks on a nice instrument and case and she's coming along nicely... and that's mainly what matters.

Thanks. For now, we're using D as the low string, but I noticed that in some books, they say DAD, or GDG. Seeing these are guitar students and we've already learned G, C, and D chord on the guitar, I may go to that. But the scale degrees helped in Skip's answer, too. 1, 5, 5. Doesn't matter what notes we use as long as the intervals are correct.

My main problem was that in one book, they only told how to tune by setting the low string and then tuning the other strings from fretted notes on the low one... OK, but not great for beginners;

In another book, it had a few, but there were mistakes. It showed a keyboard with the notes, and it was labeled incorrectly.

In another, it had simple tunes and at the top it told the name of the tuning, but not how to tune it.

I don't have enough hair left to pull out, or I would have.

I've had these book since the '70s and '80s and hope maybe some good beginner books have been written since, but I'm starting with what I have because I already have them.

I've only been a member of this site for a week or two, and already I've had several of my questions answered. I appreciate everyone's help.

ms

THANK YOU!!! For some reason, I had a really hard time finding these.

I may have mentioned recently that I've dabbled with the dulcimer for a long time, but mostly for my own enjoyment. I DO give banjo and guitar lessons, and recently one of my guitar students showed an interest in dulcimer. Do I dug out several old books for ideas. One problem I'm having is that none of the books seem to have a basic list of the various tunings and the notes. They're all based on tuning to itself off of fretted strings. Not bad, but for my beginners, I think it's easier with an electronic tuner and note names. I'm having a hard time finding a source for more than Ionian and Mixolydian. I have one old Mel Bay book with other tunings, but it's full of errors!

Does anyone have a source for just the tunings with note names?

Update: I have since found a forum at wikihow.com/Tune-a-Dulcimer, and that seems to disagree with the Mel Bay book on a few of the tunings (Aeolian, for example - heavy sigh).

I realize that, for now, Ionian and Mixolydian are probably all I'll need, but my OCD side is showing and I want to have it all correct for my own peace of mind, if nothing else :-)

thanks

Thank you. We were talking and I guessed 6 1/2 but after thinking for a bit, 6+ seemed like it'd be easier to write.

Lucky guess on my part.

thanks!!

P.S. Thanks for all the "welcome" messages!

I give lessons and one of my guitar students recently mentioned an interest in dulcimer. I'm not an expert on the dulcimer, by any means. My dulcimer has the standard layout, meaning that from the zero fret up, I can get mostly a major scale, but with a flat 7th. My student recently bought on with that extra fret, allowing a true major scale. She borrowed mine first, and we started writing tablature, and now with the new one, and an extra fret, we thought maybe we'd refer to that as 6+ or something so the existing tab isn't changed.

Any suggestions for how to handle this?

Thanks!