Even though most of us have no genuine ambition to become serious musicians and just want to have fun, I thought given the original question here I'd post a link to Jack Tuttle's Top Ten Ways to Become a Better Musician . Jack was a legendary multi-instrumentalist and music teacher long before his daughter Molly became the hottest flatpicking guitarist since Tony Rice.
My first pipes were Walsh Shuttle Pipes. They are a variety of small pipe with a very compact drone arrangement. I was a bit of a disappointment to my mom for about 25 years because she was a GHB teacher and I wasn't interested. Then she got the first set of shuttle pipes in Fairbanks and I fell in love with the sound. I started taking lessons after that and it is now an important part of who I am. After I'd learned to play and saved the dough for a set of my own, I came to love the GHB perhaps even more.
I have only competed with great highland pipes. The shuttle pipes are for just plain fun.
I own a set of bellows-blown border pipes, but have not ever really played them. They were a gift. I imagine that using a bellows wouldn't be any harder than learning to blow the pipes I'm used to. But I haven't put in the time yet.
One of the really fun things about a dulcimer is that it has so many notes! Bagpipes have 9 notes. One octave, plus one note below. The dulcimer, you can play all 3 strings and get a lot of musical potential out of it. (I also play banjo, so I am used to having more than 9 notes with my other instrument.) One of the really great things about a limited instrument is that it is sort of a challenge to see how much music you can get from it.
A friend told me once that your reality defines your potential and your limitations define your reality. I don't know if that means anything here, but I do know that with as few as nine notes, there are thousands of tunes for the bagpipe and nobody has yet determined that we've run out of options. If you ever start stagnating with the dulcimer, remember that more notes and more tuning options means your limits are nowhere near as confining as the pipes, so the potential is much greater.
-Patrick
Patrick -- GHB, Small Pipes, or Cauld-Wind?
Great Article. Thanks Dusty for posting.
Another good idea (which I rarely follow myself, I must admit) is to record yourself now and listen again a few months later. Sometimes this can be encouraging and other times it can be dis-heartening, but it's the one surefire way to see how much progress you're making. It also tells me, with painful clarity, what I need to practice next. 
Another good consequence from recording yourself is not only to do it in order to LISTEN to how you are sounding, but in a video (made for your own use only) it's helpful to SEE how you are playing. It's surprising how one can see certain bad playing habits we didn't know we had. Stuff like maybe too much arm motion, poor posture, bad finger fretting position, facial grimacing, stiff shoulders... all things we might not be aware of until we SEE ourselves doing it in a video. 
That was a nice piece. I've made so many new friends through the dulcimer. You know, it's sometimes hard for seniors to make new friends. But the dulcimer has opened that door and others to me. I love this instrument and want to share it with as many others as I can, and encourage people to try it. Thanks for posting that ,Dusty. Nina
@susie , I do that as well! (try to end whenever I play or practice on a good note... or maybe even a few good notes if I can!) 
Thanks, Dusty. I enjoyed the video and was impressed that the group took the songs at a nice even pace (slowly).
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
I just thought I'd bring to everyone's attention this story that ran on WLOS in North Carolina entitled " Mountain dulcimer connects people to their roots and each other ."
My favorite line: The "quick learning curve and communal nature of the instrument makes the mountain dulcimer a perfect fit for aspiring musicians."
I am not sure the instrument itself has a communal nature, but those who play the dulcimer certainly do!
(I've removed a member using a fake account with ill intentions.
Sorry for the interruption in this perfectly nice and useful thread. Carry on everyone, thanks!) 
Did anyone get a new dulcimer for Christmas? 
I'm not a brass instrument player, but I'm a retired saxophone and flute player. My involvement in band from age 9 has caused me to want some continued connection with wind instruments. As a result, I play Native American Flute(s) now.
Awesome! Yeah that Dusty Turtle is a real pip. 
@jp. there are two main areas for discussion at FOTMD. One are the Forums, which are open to everyone. But there are also special interest Groups.
If you look at the tool bar on the very top of your screen, you will see "Forums" as the second item from the left and " Groups " as the sixth. I encourage you to peruse the Groups and join those you are interested in. There is a group dedicated to traditional noter/drone players, a group for players from Indiana, a group for builders, a group on dulcimer history, a group for fingerpickers, and so forth.
If you are not a member of a group, you will be able to see the most recent or sometimes the very first post in a discussion, but you will not see all the other posts. However, if you simply click the big green button that says "Join Group to Access Discussions" which can be found to the right of the group's name, then you will see all the activity.
This was so helpful. New here, and sometimes we overlook the simple things. ;-)
Good advice so far, I won't expand on that. But one thing that I will add is this (something I have done for 46 years)....
always end your practice session playing some songs that you are pretty good at, that you enjoy. It allows you to end on a good note (pun intended), rather than ending your session being frustrated with something you haven't quite conquered yet. You will feel good and be ready to sit down to your next practice session, having ended in a positive way. Just a suggestion that has worked for me.
I never practice, I just play. Practice is work! Dull and boring repetition without context. Playing is fun, challenging, and interesting. I'd rather have fun.
I'm with Ken on this subject...To me, playing is a form of practice. And it's fun.
@lisa-golladay I also find recording helpful, a useful tool which gives meaningful feedback; I can hear relative weaknesses and strengths in what I'm doing.
As Albert Einstein never said (although this quote has often been attributed to him) "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
If you're happy "just playing" that's fine. For me, I never make progress without spending some serious time focused on the tune or technique I want to learn. I call that "practice" but I do not consider it evil drudgery. It is how I accomplish what I want to accomplish and that is a good thing!
I agree with Dusty that it's good to target specific areas where you want to improve. It's hard to "become a better player" all at once, but you can break it down into smaller goals. This is a good time of year for making resolutions!
Another good idea (which I rarely follow myself, I must admit) is to record yourself now and listen again a few months later. Sometimes this can be encouraging and other times it can be dis-heartening, but it's the one surefire way to see how much progress you're making. It also tells me, with painful clarity, what I need to practice next.
Though I don't do scales or "practice" in any disciplined way, I am always working on skills. Even though I've been playing noter style for a long time now, my noter skills can always improve-- long slides smoothly, using slides to bring emotion to a tune, hammer-ons and pull-offs, and on. . .
Yeah, I spent many lackluster years strumming guitar with no direction at all. My playing wasn't horrible, but it wasn't very good either, and I knew it, so it gave me little pleasure. Then when I did get motivated to improve (what motivated me is a story for another time) the first thing I did was start to play scales, and my technique got better so fast I was totally energized and started enjoying playing again. For me, part of the enjoyment of playing music is the continuous improvement, even if it is often so slow as to be imperceptible. Learning new tunes or adding new techniques or new ideas to a song I've been playing for years is immensely enjoyable.
From time to time my playing stagnates, and I feel as though I'm not learning anything new. Then I make a conscious effort to work on a technique that had been too hard in the past, or a song I had never managed to figure out. That new direction gives me a boost and I start enjoying my playing again. Woo hoo!
That's cool, Ken. But some folks find their playing improves when they 'practice' in some manner. And if they're struggling with their playing and don't practice to improve it, then that's no fun either... it's more just frustrating. Maybe their playing is not 'fun' to them in that case. Some types of practice just are fun for people, or at least interesting and challenging.
I don't do formal practice either- I tend to think of my playing as practice. But for many people, their normal playing can repeat poor techniques or playing habits, whereas a structured practice or exercise can help them correct poor playing habits and improve techniques. If your playing does not improve on its own over time and doesn't make you happy just as it is, then practice or exercises can help!
I never practice, I just play. Practice is work! Dull and boring repetition without context. Playing is fun, challenging, and interesting. I'd rather have fun.
Hello Everyone! I am new here and to the dulcimer. My husband and I have finally gotten new strings on my 'new to me dulcimer'--with out breaking them. We broke two of the earlier set. We also had to go ahead and purchase geared tuners, and put the friction pegs safely away until I get better. We have NOT altered the original peg holes in the peg head in any way. We refuse to damage or alter a vintage instrument in any way.
For those that don't know, my Christmas gift was a vintage 1975 Lucky Diamond Dulcimer with beautiful friction pegs. We tried, and tried, but Mr. Salt Spring's suggestions about peg dressing failed to help. So we decided to put the beautiful original pegs away until I learn more. Otherwise, I could not even begin. Now, I have mastered three or four of the first lessons and can even do scales. Now, I can practice, and do scales. With my piano background, I can experiment and try other things not in the book! Yea!!
Thank you everyone and have a very Happy New Year!!!
I use Dusty's four finger scale exercise and 2 and 3 finger scale exercise to warm up. I play a song I like and can play pretty well. Then I go on to a piece I'm learning. I take it a section at a time. If I get frustrated, I stop and play something else for a while. I keep it fun. Sometimes I just play songs and don't actually "practice." I mix it up. But mostly, I don't think of it as practice. I also keep my dulcimer out and handy. I play something every day just because I like to. Nina
Hi @YeahSureOK. The first thing I'd say is that whatever you do, you have to enjoy it. If you start thinking of practicing as a chore, then you'll not play as much and just won't have much fun. Personally, I play scales a fair amount, both up the neck and across the fretboard. Scales help for both right- and left-hand technique, and one reason I enjoy them is that you see progress really fast. When you practice a song, you get better at that song, but when you practice scales, arpeggios, and other exercises, you get better at all the songs you play. And you also make it easier to learn new songs, too.
If you don't know how to get started on scales, let me know. I'll point you to some exercises that I developed for my students. I think I also developed some flatpicking exercises. I'll see what I can dig out.
I would also recommend arpeggio exercises. There are a couple that I do that I got out of Aaron O'Rourke's book Faster, Cleaner, Better: A Collection of Exercises and Etudes for Mountain Dulcimer. I would also recommend Mike Casey's book Hands-On Dulcimer, which has a ton of exercises for both hands.
Once you examine the exercises that others have designed, you'll see that you could design your own as well. I would start with a question: What technique or techniques do you want to work on? Then you can find or develop an exercise for that precise purpose.
Are there any other brass instrument players out there? I've played the trumpet on and off since I was 12. One interest of mine, as a hardwired experimentalist, is trying to figure out jazz/classical tunes on dulcimer and folk tunes on trumpet. I'm not great at it, and it's probably not for everybody, but it's alot of fun, and I actually get some pretty cool results every once in a while.
I'm trying to commit myself to a more faithful and effective practice regimen for this year. Out of curiosity, I would love to hear about other people's favorite warmup and skillls/technique building exercises, or any other favorite practice tips.
Hi Patrick, I think you will find that a great many bagpipe tunes (particularly Scotts and Irish) lend perfectly to the mountain dulcimer (though you probably already know that!) I play the cauld wind Scottish Smallpipes (somewhat) and love to try my pipe tunes on the mountain dulcimer; seems a perfect combination. Best wishes!
@dusty-turtle, it sounds like maybe you have the Randy Wilkinson tab? Is "Blow the Candles Out" as played here by @Dulcibard the Wilkinson arrangement? (Dulcibard mentions that he thinks it might be.)
What Dulcibard is playing here is the first sheet of tab I ever got, from a teacher some 45 years ago in Berkeley. It was written out by hand and photocopied, and didn't have an arranger's name on it.
It's a very different version of the tune than Barbara F. Gregory's, though.
I had the great honor and pleasure of doing a minor repair on one of Merv's personal instruments for him, a year or so before he passed away. He was a great builder and promoter of chord-melody in DAAS as well as the 1-3-5 tuning...
If you go through the course, Greg, please give us an overview?
I have three Warren May's. Two have wooden peg tuners and one has mechanical tuners. All have adjustable bridges. What I have found is that the moveable bridges need to be angled a bit to compensate for the slightly flat string. On one I simply made a new bridge out of a piece of chopstick and built one side up just a tad and it was spot on or at least pretty close. I have never had much luck with Snark type tuners. I'm sure they are fine if used properly and I'm just to numb to do it right. You might try slipping a flat toothpick under the nut closest to the melody string as that sometimes help fine tune the contraption.
On another old dulcimer that I have I noticed that when I play the melody string I can overcome the flat by moving my finger closer to the middle of the fret spacing. I guess each of the builder's dulcimers have their own individual quirks.
