Forum Activity for @rick-kennedy

Photos? Love to see you holding a different instrument. Kind of wonder if the two instruments (MD and mandolin) are complimentary... You continue to surprise!

No - I've not seen that one. I must case up a copy

R N Lackey said:

Good for you, Robin. Nice to see someone unafraid to take on a new instrument. I'm sure you'll be posting video of your mandolin technique really soon! Oh... have you heard the Baldissari/Schnaufer Appalachian Mandolin/Dulcimer album? I'm sure you have, but just in case

Good for you, Robin. Nice to see someone unafraid to take on a new instrument. I'm sure you'll be posting video of your mandolin technique really soon! Oh... have you heard the Baldissari/Schnaufer Appalachian Mandolin/Dulcimer album? I'm sure you have, but just in case

My youngest son bought me a Kentucky make A Style mandolin for Christmas and said "I thought that you may be able to play this in your band". We lost our mandolin player about a year ago, but picked up a fiddler

I really wasn't sure if my left hand with its finger damage would cope with a mandolin but 2 weeks in and I seem to be managing to reach everything I want to OK. In fact, the 4 finger G and D chords may be a little easier with the top section of your first finger missing (not that I'd recommend it ).

YouTube has been great. I watched Bill Munroe on Christmas Day to get an idea how to stand and hold the instrument and use a strap. I did a full set-up onthe instrument.In the past two weeks I'veworked my way through stuff like pick grip and technique (I bought a load of mandolin picks and have tried different styles - at present the Wengen 1.00 is my fav for tone and handling),easy chords, bluegrass chop chords, scales, vibrato, simple riffs and solos, double stopsand played as many old time tunes in differnt keys as I could work out. This evening I took the instrument to band practice and had 3 hours of flat out bluegrass speed chops standing next to the bass player (boom chick heaven ) plus I was being chucked solos on each tune (which I played really badly ). There's nothing like peer pressure from the rest of the band to sharpen up your playing!!!!

It looks like we may have a gig on Friday - if we do then I'll give the instrument its first stage outing for a couple of tunes

Pedant? What's that about your feet? It's never pedantic to ask for a clarification!

My bad. I should (as I advised someone else yesterday) provide a 'reader's guide' to my tab. There is no standard for writing tab.

Yes - repeated numbers are repeated strums (notes) at that fret.

I use periods rather than blank spaces between notes to indicate "relative timing" timing. Some websites cram several blank spaces into one, so I use the periods as space holders. With three dots you hold the note longer than one or two dots or no space between the strums.

Hope that makes sense.

Welcome James, to our little corner of musical paradise.

Most tab does not indicate strum pattern, because in many, many cases the direction you strum doesn't matter if you exercise pick angle control to emphasize the melody strings rather than the drones.

Tons of tab at www.everythingdulcimer.com that is not chord-melody style. Also a site called sniff.numachi.com ... depends on the kinds of music you like.

You won't find much published tab for anything by Dylan as it is still covered under US Copyright law.

Maybe these will help:

Amazing Grace - DAA tuning

0..3.5.3.5.4.3.1.0

0..3.5.3.5.4.7

5.7.5.7.5.3.1.3.1.0

0..3.5.3.5.4.3

Blowin' in the Wind -- DAA tuning

7.77.8.7.6.7.5.4.3

7.77.8.7.6.7

7.77.8.7.6.7.5.4.3

77.77.6.55.4

5.66.5.4.4.555.4.3

5.66.5.44..3.2.3

Congrats on your new dulcimer. IMHO--it is very normal to enjoy playing your new dulcimer. Everytime a new dulcimer arrives at my home--it gets lots of playing and attention. :) Fortunately, I don't have an additive personality--but instead, I'm very active in dulcimer, banjo, and guitar rescue--a compassionate and humanitarian calling

mzc

Enjoy all of it, and juggle the time however it most needs to be at any one time. Whatever gets shorted one time will come out ahead some other time. The babies will someday be grown, and won't require as much of your time as now. And you'll be glad for every minute you spent with them. Just enjoy the ride.

Paul

Mandy, something that may help is to get a schedule book (if you don't already have one) and physically schedule times for X and Y and Z and A and B on a daily and weekly basis.... Then, of course, stick to the schedule. the secret is to also schedule in time for nothing specific -- sit back and take a breath time.

Hi ya'll. I'm much more calm tonight about it. Of course that's because I've been playing music for the last hour and a half!!!!!

I do try and live the most balanced life I can right now, but it's just hard when I want to be playing more. I know I'm a whiny baby and all, but it is a constant test to try and squeeze in the time I want.

As for giving up things like the business, I don't want to do that. Giving up helping some folks learn in my home, naw don't want to do that either. It's totally not about the money either, believe it or not. It's because I now have people who are depending on me and I don't want to let them down. Plus it's fun watching that spark in their eyes as something clicks and the sheer joy of playing music.

I'm learning everyday to prioritize everything I do at home. If it's supper or something I'll try and get the dishes done while I'm cooking or I'll put them away and try and take out the trash and stuff like that all together. That way when my daughter goes to bed most things are already done so I can go watch TV (BLAH) or go play music. Some nights I'm really lazy and just sit there like a zombie watching TV, but most nights I can sneak up and play for an hour or so before bed. The problem is that I've come from being able to play for hours a day anytime I want to now having to squeeze it in.

Tanya - welcome to our little corner of musical paradise. I'll give you a short answer here, and suggest that you start a new separate discussion in the Beginner Group rather than side tracking Mandy's discussion. Tht way too mor epeople will see your questions and respond to them.

The first thing I suggest is that you read the article I wrote called I Just Got A Dulcimer Now What?? It's an illustrated glossary of dulcimer terminology, plus answers to many beginner questions about the tuning, playing, care and feeding of our favorite instrument.

The article is here: http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-just-got-a-dulcimer-now-what

Things to understand... With a given set of strings (diameters) you can only tune the dulcimer up or down a couple of keynotes before things get too tight or too sloppy. Generally speaking, you can only play in one Key at a time. To change keys you must re-tune the dulcimer. Most dulcimers are tuned to the key of D and with the 'normal' string set can tune down to C or maybe B, and up to E and maybe F. Any other keys require different strings. Under most circumstances the Keynote of the dulcimer is defined by the note to which the bass string is tuned. That's the farthest string from you, The middle and melody string(s) are tuned to higher pitches relative to that keynote -- for example DAA, CGG, DAd, CGc. For each keynote the multi-finger chords will be different.

Never heard anything bad about a Folkcraft dulcimer. Hope to hear yours soon.(Hope you sing too!)

Sounds GREAT Mandy~

Careful there Mandy, the other instruments may get a little jealous and wont come out and play anymore. It's great to see someone enjoying music this much.

When are you going to post a picture or are you going to keep us in suspense?

First of all, ha ha made ya look! No seriously though I am having some issues.I've heard people talking about having lulls in music and that I would have phases where I would eventually go for long stretches without playing music. Funny thing is that I'veNot had that happen yet at all. Actually it's more the opposite. My desire to play has only gotten stronger over the years. Now I've done the insane thing of playing a bunch of different instruments to top it off. It's totally fun, don't get me wrong, dut dang I feel like I have a crack addiction or something.So now that I'm working again full time, trying to take care of my 6 year old, my husband, be in a band, run a minuscule business, and still teach a couple of people at home, YIKES I am in way over my head here. I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong, but my crack addiction is suffering and it's actually painful!My wonderful husband is helping me, so that relieves some things, but now I have a beautiful new dulcimer!!!!! I'm physically in pain here people!! Can u feel me?I play it every second I get and MAN it is AWESOME. I'm playing TONS better just in the 5 glorious days I've had my hands on it.So here goes - Hi I'm Mandy and I am an addict. HELP. Insert goofy sad faces here.....

This is lovely Phil. Thank you for posting this. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas celebration.

Great job, Phil! Keep up the good playing. Keeping those fingers moving will help the arthritis in the long run.

Thank you very much. I only wish I could of have been as good as you would have done. I always enjoy hearing you play.

Merry Christmas

Carrie Barnes said:

Phil, very nicely done, and many thanks. I hope you and yours have had a lovely Christmas this year!

Thanks John Merry Christmas

John Keane said:

Merry Christmas Phil!

Dusty you found out my secret Identity.

Merry Christmas

Dusty Turtle said:

Thanks Santa, er, uh, I mean Phil. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Thank you Jim. I hope my next one will be a lot better.

Merry Christmas.

Jim Fawcett said:

Not bad at all, Phil. Thanks, and Merry Christmas.

Ron Thank you, I hope you've had a Merry Christmas. I think I have a good Doc he keeps check on me once a month and makes sure I have what I need. But I am just an old Jar headed Marin They never thought us how to give up or go backwards. so I just keep pushing forward. gues in short what I am saying if something don't work for me I find another way to do it.

Here's to 2013 best wish.

Thanks Santa, er, uh, I mean Phil. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Not bad at all, Phil. Thanks, and Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas Phil!

Very nice, Phil.

Thanks ya'll Hope your all having a Merry Christmas.

I knew there was a link just could not find it, looks like I did the right thing.Thanks Strumelia.

Thank you, Phil! I hope you and your loved ones are having a nice Christmas!

Your link works fine now. Nice job Phil !! Great spirit, and love the hat. It sounds real pretty to me.

(Yes, I believe little drummer boy is copyrighted. A good list for checking some carols can be seen here . Thanks!)

Thank you John Merry Christmas from Indiana

is little drummer boy copyrighted?

was not sure where to post this so here it is. You could call this playing with Arthritis my hands where not working to good. I still hope you can enjoy it. I was not sure if the first song was copyrighted or not so here is the link to youtube.

I have ebony on my Aeolus dulcimers, and I agree it makes a superior fretboard. But then again, Dale has a large amount of high quality ebony that he has been aging and storing properly for a great many years. I'm not so sure about the ebony that is currently on the market. It's becoming threatened due to unsustainable harvesting practices.

I have a rosewood overlay on one of my dulcimers. My son has a wenge overlay on his. Both are nice, but I think ebony is best the fret board material. I have it on one of my guitars and two banjos. I just like the feel and speed of an ebony fret board. I have walnut fret boards on my other dulcimers and have not problem with them. I do not use Fast Fret on any of my instruments, do not treat the fret boards often or regularly, nor clean them often or regularly. My rosewood fret board is oiled from the oil in my fingers. All the other fret boards are oiled the same way. I have fret boards finished with violin varnish, lacquer and no finish at all. I never noticed any appreciable difference in sound quality or volume from different fret board construction. Ken Hulme likes Titebond. I like Elmer's Carpenters' Wood Glue. Their formulations are similar I think.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song.'

"How does one attach an overlay?"

Glue. Titebond II or III for preference. The fret slots are them cut in the overlay.

Rosewood and wenge are nice alternatives to Ebony.

Here are a few of the downsides to ebony fretboards.

It is brittle and can be hard to work with. It is prone to chipping if you ever have to re-fret. It is prone to cracking over time. The best trees are gone and the quality is not what it used to be. The good stuff today is likely to be unethically obtained at best or even illegally logged so a lot of what's sold as ebony now is actually other spieces not quite as black or hard. It doesn't take staple frets easily - it must be pre-drilled and the leg spacing and angle on the drilled holes perfect or the frets will not bed properly. It is expensive.