Forum Activity for @ken-hulme

I've just downloaded it and will give it a good viewing.  You may find recordings of some of those tunes on the Contemplator website:  www.contemplator.com  Tons of old tunes and lyrics. 

Looking forward to this!  I marvel at your talents, Ariane.

This sounds like a real good idea, thanks Ariane!!

Aw, this will bloom into so much joy for everyone and you! You're awesome.

NEW ONLINE PROJECT "MUSICAL SPRING 2020"
Since the "Musical Advent/Christmas" online calendar was so much joy and fun there is the idea of making a new online calendar project: "Musical Spring 2020"
Filled with preferably original compositions preferably on mountain or hammered dulcimer.
It is of course possible to participate with a recording of a public domain tune ideally having a kind of "spring theme" (flowers, warmth, blossoming, awakening, cycle, love, feelings etc.).
The recordings should be newly made - so to say recorded especially for this "Spring Calendar".
You will need to upload your recording as "not listed" on youtube or soundcloud and send me the link per private message.
(In case you do not have a youtube channel you can send me your audio file (best as mp3 file) per private message and I can upload it on to my youtube channel for you.)
The beginning and ending of this "Spring Calendar" is depending on how many musicians will participate.
Most probably the "Spring Calendar" will start on Easter Sunday (April 12, 2020) and will be posted in the dulcimer Facebook groups and dulcimer forums.
I make this post already now so that you will have enough time for creating your original composition.
And now...I am looking forward to all participants! 😊

Thanks for the link, Dusty!  I hope no one feels the need to correct the fretboards being referred to as "necks".  Our humble instrument is a wonderful thing.  

A few comments, some of which have already been stated.

A thicker pick will lead to less pick clack.

Holding the pick so that less sticks out of your fingers will decrease the contact between the pick and the fretboard. Remember that you only have to graze the top of the strings. You don't have to actually dig down beneath them.

Some pick materials make more clack than others.  I am not  fan of the felt picks Lois recommends because it is too hard to pick individual strings or play fast.  But you might experiment with different brands of picks and different models from different brands and see if some have less clack than others.  (I've actually started using pretty expensive picks because they have a warmer, less plasticky tone and very little pick clack. But the really expensive one I have was given as a gift. I would never spend $35 on a single pick, and you shouldn't either!)

You probably hear the pick clack more than your audience.

Some people, as Strumelia explains, don't mind the pick clack at all.  Personally, I enjoy hearing fingers sliding on strings and picks hitting the instrument. It's a reminder that playing an instrument is a tactile experience as well as a musical one and is not merely a computer producing clean digital tones. (I like to hear the valve noise of jazz saxophone players, too.)

If you really hate it, play with your fingers.  I love the soft sound of bare fingertips caressing the strings.  Linda Brockinton and Nina Zanetti play such moving music. You can, too.

Folks, here's another newspaper article on a dulcimer club in Jasper, IN.

Dulcimer Group Relaxes the Strings of Life

This won't help with any "bad habit", but if you're playing a piece where you don't want that percussive sound I strongly recommend felt picks.  I also find they don't produce as loud a sound.  I tend to think of myself as having a fairly strong voice, but picks produce so much louder sounds that it can be hard to be heard over it in an acoustic setting without a microphone.

Pick click comes from a couple of things.  Thinness of the pick; how deep the pick goes below the plane of the strings; and your wrist action together with how you hold the pick. 

Thicker pick with less of it sticking out of your fist (and not going deep below the string plane) usually go a long way towards solving the CLICK.  

Still, your hand/wrist action is an important part of controlling the sound of the pick.  If you are holding the pick rigidly upright like this: |   as you strum across the strings, the drag as the pick passes each string and releases it -- causes the dreaded CLICK.  If instead, you rotate your wrist and the "attack" of the pick, you'll get a lot softer sound.  As you strum outward and inward, rotate your wrist a bit in each direction so that the pick slips or brushes across strings rather than digging into them.  Like this:  /outward and this:  \inward only even flatter angles...  

You can try a thicker pick to soften that pick clicking noise.  Or you can try angling the pick differently.
Some people (myself included) actually like that pick clicking/percussion effect and use it as part of our personal playing sound.  One person's "bad habit" may be another person's 'bonus effect'! 

I'm learning to play quickly after almost 50 years with other stringed instruments, but it feels like I may be developing a bad habit.  When I strum with a thin triangular pick over the lower bout sound holes to get a sweeter tone, I'm also getting a consistent click from the pick striking the fretboard. 

I watched a very experienced player recently and noticed some clicking from him, too.  Is that sound just inevitable, or is there a technique I should be using to minimize pick click when I'm not strumming over the scooped portion of the instrument?

Thanks for any advice!

I'm sure I'll be trying a variety of styles. I am going to grow my nails. I am currently trying just a thumb pick to get a better strum. My thumb nail works for picking, but I'm not satisfied with the muted strum my thumb provides.I have moved to the hollow  when finger picking, as suggested. Not so much, flat picking. I'll be having a work shop soon for Twinkle Twinkle. lol

~L~ Yeah, I saw that! No worries, I think a lot of us feel the same. When there is a real passion for playing, both the music and the instrument, there is always something new to learn...and a lot of practice.

Make sure to join and the Fingerpicking group/forum. Lot's of good people there. Just 'cause y'all don't JUST fingerpick! ~L~. Grow your nails or don't. How far up or down the fret board do you play?

Lot's of good people at FOTMD. This is one great site.

Thanks!  Only a little over a year ago, I decided to make a cardboard dulcimer more as an art/craft project, and if it was fun/easy to play, bonus.  Who knew it would lead to all this?  I'm having SO MUCH FUN!

I spent 7 years practicing guitar ( notice I didn't say playing). I flat picked the whole time so it feels natural. I just always wanted to try finger picking and figured since I'm just starting, why not. 

Thanks. I'm definitely going to look him up.

A beautiful and unusual looking dulcimer, Gennaro! Congratulations!

This is the guy I deal with for wooden pegs...

http://www.violinwoodworkshop.com/violin-pegs.html

I've gotten pegs from both these, and been very happy. 

Here's a source for inexpensive pegs of various sizes.
http://www.newarkmusical.com/index.php?cPath=322_25_332

A little more expensive, but good selection of woods:
https://fiddlershop.com/collections/violin-pegs/product-type_pegs

Phroedrick, you can look on eBay or Amazon for them, available in several wood species.  I've seen ebony, rosewood, maple and others.  Any local violin repair shop should have some.  They are remarkably inexpensive, at least to me, if bought online.

John Calkin has a facebook page noted as JohnCalkin.92.  The guitars that Huss & Dalton build cost about 4 grand, so I would venture to say that John is a top notch builder of acoustic instruments.  Drop him a note on facebook if you wish.....

Congratulations on your success. I went in the other direction: from the guitar to the dulcimer, and you're right that playing one instrument makes the next one easier to pick up. But the bigger lesson here is that as the muscles in our fingers stretch and strengthen, chord formations that once seemed impossible become do-able.  Newbies need to be reminded that instead of saying "I can't play that chord" they should be saying "I can't play that chord yet!"

And that extended slant chord down near the nut is the toughest chord to finger, so you are doing great!

I have to admit to a bit of a bias. I was initially taught to play by fingerpicking. It is all I do. But then, I lack some of the needed coordination to use a pick. That and toe tapping for time keeping.

~L~ None of it matters when the instrument is sweet and the desire is 'there', eh?

Thanks guys. To my untrained ear it sounds great. The pic doesn't do it justice. Walnut body with cherry fret board. 

I have to echo the others. That is one nice looking dulcimer! I really like the carving work in the strum hollow.

Like KenH, I've never heard of him and agree that you have a very nice looking dulcimer. Working for Huss and Dalton he should have good experience in instrument building.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Glad to hear that playing one instrument is helping you play the other. When I first started playing guitar I did stretching exercises for my left hand to reach some of the chords. The span of my left hand from tip of thumb to to of pinky when spread to its widest is greater than on my right hand. After you play for some time, I am sure you will notice this difference as well. Have fun learning your instruments.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Never heard of the man, but that's a fine looking dulcimer, certainly.  Hopefully it sounds as good as it looks!

Dusty , I was just trying a tuning someone said they were using but I realize they didn't give me the right tuning and that is why my string kept breaking. Yes - right  Strumelia, a standard size dulcimer just can't tune way up high - that was the problem

thanks

So, I could just barely manage a 1-2-4 on my first dulcimer, the cardboard one. On my second dulcimer, the Cedar Creek walnut kit I built, the VSL is longer, and so a 1-2-4 was pretty much impossible.  I got an acoustic guitar a few weeks ago and have been learning that.  I was idly noodling on the walnut dulcimer while waiting for something, and was doing some chord shapes from a Bing Futch video I'd watched.  And I landed the 1-2-4!  Shocked, I tried again.  Yep, I can make it now!  I've found that the guitar requires more strength/agility in my left/fretting hand than I previously had, and I think the additional strength I've already gained gave me the ability to open my hand that wide and land the 1-2-4.  Exciting!  As a side note, I'm finding that learning the guitar has given me new revelations about the dulcimer, and coming to the guitar from the dulcimer has helped me pick up the guitar more readily than I think would have happened otherwise. It's all good!

Just bought a used dulcimer. Made by John Calkin in 1985. Marked as #50, so hopefully he had it down by then. Can find very little about him, other than a few articles he's written. Also it seems that he currently works as a luthier for Huss and Dalton guitar company. Just wondering if John has any kind of reputation in this community.

 IMG_1890[1].JPG - 305KB

@hugssandi & @gordon-hardy Jerry Rockwell used to live in a county adjoining the one in which I live.  For some years, he hosted an annual little dulcimer fest. . . Jerry is a fine luthier-- I own a couple instruments he made-- and a great player and innovator.  I found his TEDx talk inspiring, too, Gordon!  

You're fab-o in my book, @hugssandi!  <3

Robin, I finally took the time to review this video, I don't know why it took me so long. Thank you, it's very inspirational!

Thank y'all so very much!  I'm not fantastic, but I always love being asked to play.  

I agree with the others; a job well done. Thanks for sharing this delightful performance.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

You sound great, Sandi! And that little wren sounds perfect.  Nice job!