Question about fret layout.
Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions
Hi Ray, welcome to our wacky but wonderful world. I've included a link to my article "I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What? which is an illustrated glossary (so we all talk the same way about the same things) as well as answers to many beginner questions about tuning, playing, care and feeding of your new "friend".
First thing is, we talk about going "up" the fretboard (not down) because the notes go up in pitch as you move from the tuning head towards the tail end.
Second thing is, we usually write DAd rather than DAD. DAd reminds us that the bass string is tuned to D, the middle drone is tuned to A, and the melody string (closest to you) is tuned to d -- an octave higher in pitch than the bass D.
Third thing is that your dulcimer has what we call a 6+ or six-plus fret. There is also a 13+ fret. There's a long explanation that I won't go into here, but when you count fret numbers (when playing from tabulature for example), on your dulcimer you would count -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6+, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 13+, 14, 15, 16
Fourth thing is that your dulcimer has 4 strings -- a "doubled melody course" as we say. Lots of people take off one of the two melody strings to make things simpler, especially when you're just starting out.
If you are tuned DAd, this is sometimes called a Mixolydian tuning, and the scale starts at the open (un-fretted) note. That note is d. The first fret is e, then f#, g, a, b, c', c'#,d'...
If you tune to DAA, then the scale starts at the 3rd fret, with d, e, f#, a, b....
A lot of players pay no attention to the letter designations (A, C#, Db, etc.) they "play by number" pressing fret 3, fret 4, fret 6 as called for by the song. You don't have to know about chords (although a lot of people will tell you that you really should) -- you can play traditionally by picking out the melody on the melody string (nearest to you) and just letting the other two string drone.
I Just Got A.pdf - 1MB
