Forum Activity for @soledad

Introduce Yourself!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Hi @ginaB  - I'm in same position - Kent in England, not a dulcimer in sight! I'm working it out slowly but must say it has a distinctive warmth of sound that is really distinctive and good. I have family members pick it up and get simple tunes out immediately. I got the Mel Bay chord book which is useful and also gives one of the best explanations of modes I've seen anywhere. But it's still upside down to me  (guitar player you see).

enjoy

Introduce Yourself!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Thank you Dusty - that's the book I need. I'm getting that tunings is a big part of dulcimers, not generally a thing I've done much with in life (the occasional drop D, that's about it!).

Off to explore the making area now.

cheers, Douglas

Fret necessary?

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

Thanks for the responses. I am building this for my own use and am coming from a background of finger style guitar so I may be best building in flexibility. If I never used the 6+ it probably wouldn't matter to me (?).

I shall read Dusty's 'what are half frets?' thread. This is all an explore for me, don't even know how this first build will sound! My guess is rather bright - I've done some things that are not traditional like a graphite reinforced floating neck... sorry!!

Fret necessary?

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

Is this the right place for my question? I'm new to dulcimers and want to understand why some frets are left out but others included. In particular is seems it's fretted for a mixolydian scale, plus the  6 1/2 fret (major 7 of root/open). It appears some makers delete that major 7, and some keep it and add a minor 3rd.
I'm making a dulcimer at the moment and am approaching the fretting stage - so, keep the 6 1/2? add a minor 3?, leave both off... 
It may help if I say I come from guitars and am likely to want to try chords and finger style, minor keys as well as major, explore various modes etc. The one I'm building is 4 tuner, but I'll probably string it 3 at first (can change bridge & nut easliy later to adjust string spacing).

If this question belongs somewhere else, please help relocate me!

thanks, Douglas

Introduce Yourself!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I'm new here and new to the dulcimer (as a player and maker) but listen to a lot of traditional music so not new to hearing the dulcimer played. Two questions please: is there a recommended or favoured chord chart book for the most common tunings? And how do I find the group here about building them - I'm building one at the moment.

Many thanks for all help!

Douglas

Just for background, things I have and play: Fender bass, Mayones fretless bass, Furch OM31 acoustic; Esteve 8F flamenco.
Listen to: huge variety but e.g. Aoife ODonovan;, Adrienne Lenker, Emmylou Harris, Tim O'Brien, (etc).