Choose just ONE song for all eternity...
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Too tough for me. I have no answer.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
updated by @ken-longfield: 07/21/18 07:28:09PM
Forum Activity for @ken-longfield
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
updated by @ken-longfield: 07/21/18 07:28:09PM
Choose just ONE song for all eternity...
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Shipwrecked and for all eternity are two separate things. If I have to pick one song for all eternity, I'll assume I traveled down and not up.
Choose just ONE song for all eternity...
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Interesting, does for all eternity mean until I find the next favorite? My choice is "Who Will Watch The Home Place" written by West Virginia song writer Kate Long. This song really struck a chord with me (pun intended). It makes me think of the many folks who have had to leave the land either because of external forces or of their own volition. I find it both sweet to play and sweet to sing.
Choose just ONE song for all eternity...
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Lisa, that's an IMPOSSIBLE question for me to answer. I love so many songs and hymns!
"Next to the Word of God, MUSIC deserves the highest praise..." (Martin Luther)
Choose just ONE song for all eternity...
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Ohhhh… that's TOUGH!!
After much consideration..... Leonard Cohen's Suzanne a.k.a Suzanne Takes You Down
Choose just ONE song for all eternity...
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Mine would be Amazing Grace. I can never get over how amazing God's grace is.
Choose just ONE song for all eternity...
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Here's a challenging 'shipwrecked on an island' type of question for all you Friends...
If you were somehow only allowed to play ONE song or tune on your dulcimer forever more, and it could only be one that your currently have already in your list of songs you play... which piece would you choose as the dulcimer ONLY tune you could play? 
no cheating now, don't name multiple songs... just name your ONE choice. 
The one I'm playing, the other one, the black one, the one Bobby made, the one Til made, the Gross replica...
updated by @ken-hulme: 07/19/18 07:45:45PM
Show us your sound holes!
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
saras
custom designs, beautiful & so personal
Show us your sound holes!
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Here is mine I designed them
Introduce Yourself!
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Craig:
...but I like to play and I find that different instruments make me think differently. On guitar, mandolin, or dulcimer, I come up with different things. The modal nature of the dulcimer, in particular, forces me away from my natural tendency toward chromaticism.
Hey Craig good to meet you!
Wow - a Capritaurus AND a D-00. What a great pair.
I played guitar for many years before I started the dulcimer. The main draw for me was exactly as you say: diatonic forced me to rethink composing and experimenting with different tuning and string configurations.
As a result, I've now gone back to playing guitar again and started noodling in CGCFCD - what an amazing find courtesy of Martin Simpson!
Introduce Yourself!
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Hi, I'm Craig and I'm new around here. I discovered the site the other day while searching for info about my dulcimers.
I first got interested in the mountain dulcimer in the 1980s; I forget why, exactly, but Dave Cousins' use of the instrument on "Witchwood" by the Strawbs may have had something to do with it. I was already a guitar player at that point who could also find his way around a piano. I bought a Rugg & Jackel (the teardrop-shaped one in the photo) along with an LP by Michael Rugg ( Rugg's Celtic Collection for Dulcimer -- charming album) and a couple of instructional books and started playing. The D-00 is quite small (22" VSL), so it's easy to play, though the tone is a bit boxy. More recently, I bought a vintage 1973 Capritaurus (the hourglass-shaped one), which at 29" VSL is the opposite -- great tone, but kind of hard to reach chords, and easier to play when tuned down to C. I may have to split the difference and buy a 26" model...
I'm not really a great dulcimer player; I'm better at guitar, but I like to play and I find that different instruments make me think differently. On guitar, mandolin, or dulcimer, I come up with different things. The modal nature of the dulcimer, in particular, forces me away from my natural tendency toward chromaticism.
E. Dale Eckard/Smoky Ridge dulcimer?
Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions
I don't know yet, it should ship out on Monday! I have a cherry hourdrop built by Warren May and I love it for traditional tunes. Cherry is my favorite dulcimer tonewood.
E. Dale Eckard/Smoky Ridge dulcimer?
Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions
That is a nice looking dulcimer. How does it sound?
E. Dale Eckard/Smoky Ridge dulcimer?
Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions
I did find out he passed in 2013... I have found a couple examples of his work online, but was curious if anyone here owned an instrument or knew anything. I was just excited about the all cherry construction!!
E. Dale Eckard/Smoky Ridge dulcimer?
Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions
Well, 3 minuts with Google tells me that he lives in Claremont, NC, apparently does not have a website or blog, and sells through Ebay and a couple of NC dulcimer shops.
E. Dale Eckard/Smoky Ridge dulcimer?
Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions
Newest addition to the collection! It is all cherry, so I couldn't resist... Any info on the builder would be appreciated! Thank you in advance!
How does your pet react to your Dulcimer playing?
OFF TOPIC discussions
Our last cat (of the four we adopted 20 years ago) sleeps quite peacefully on our bed most days, but when I tune up, she yells to beat the band and gets up. She is a sweet girl, but at over 100 in human years, a bit of a crank...
How does your pet react to your Dulcimer playing?
OFF TOPIC discussions
Here's Maggie as I was playing this morning. She always comes to be with me when I play, and loves to sit on my case and get the occasional scritch. Cloudy, our other cat, is content to stay on her perch on the sofa, instead.
Hi MarkStarCrashes! As you can see from my post below, I own two of David's dulcimers. Love them both! My post below was 3 years ago and still stands. Mine are both natural in color...one big standard form and one curvy (Tater). Lovely, light, great sound. He seemed to slip into the dark staining a while back, but I like the natural looks better. Will have to go see what he is offering now. I have a bunch of dulcimers...sighhhh… Like tater chips! Also, you can't go wrong with Folkcraft (have 3). Just finished restoring an old cherry that had more dents and dings than my hay truck and a mouse eaten 'f' hole. It turned out wonderfully, gorgeous sound! I doubt you would go wrong with a Honea dulcimer for $190. I looked at his Ebay offerings and liked liked #678 with Western Cedar top and Walnut back. Might be louder, rounder sound with Cedar. #691 semi hour glass with Cherry top and back might be a crisper, brighter sound with hard wood cherry. Enjoy your choice and let us know your pick!
Techniques for accidentals
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Strumelia. Thanks for the encouraging words. I'm nowhere near the player I'd like to be. Been at it off and on for 2 yrs. I spend a lot of my down time at work studying up on theory and techniques and watching youtube videos. But I have such a hectic schedule that I don't get to practice as regularly as I'd like. I can play a lot of melodies, but I continue to stink at rhythm strumming and fills. I'm gonna keep working at it, though.
P.S. Loved the Bob Ross reference...lol.
Techniques for accidentals
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Wow, you have very wide-ranging music genre interests! You seem to be a fairly experienced player.
So, it seems that most of the accidentals you are running into are in the most modern types of music you play- modern film scores, which can be especially daunting since movie music tends to change moods mid-song, often not following the usual expected structure of a song. I would think a chromatic dulcimer might be your best bet in the long run if you intend to pursue playing a lot of that kind of music. And certainly the modern chording style of playing would be the way to go as well for that.
Now you've got a whole bunch of great ideas and options from the good folks here in terms of methods and tools to use to get those elusive notes when they pop up. 
Go forth and create many happy accident(al)s ! lolol 
Show Us Your Pets!
OFF TOPIC discussions
We have a writing desk with a writing space that drops down, it is next to a table that our 'puter is on. For the last week or so on the desk I had a primary turkey feather that I put there waiting to get around to doing something noter/droninsh with.
The other night, my wife had already some to bed, while I was taking care of business on the 'puter, Sally snuck up behind me on the chair I was in and stealthily got on the writing desk to my left, and quick as a wink snatched the turkey feather and went dashing off with her prize.
I let her think she got one over on me, figuring I'd later find the turkey feather with her stash of kitty toys, wadded up paper, and other treasures she's collected.
When I finally went to bed I found that turkey feather laying on top my sleeping wife.
Techniques for accidentals
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Thanks for all the great advice, everyone. Most of what I play is hymnals, southern gospel, contemporary christian, and american and irish folk. To a lesser degree, I've enjoyed attempting Glenn Miller era swing/big band, classical, bluegrass and orchestral film scores. There are a few secular pop and rock songs I've added to my repoirtire but not many.
I've so far ran into accidentals mostly in film scores, specifically the themes from Back To The Future and Pirates of the Caribbean. I will be playing around with all these different approaches. I'm especially intrigued to try the turning the noter on it's edge thing.
On the subject of the chromatic issue, I wouldn't say that I care about what people think as much as I tend to get curious about how people form their opinions. Although it's not really any of my business I suppose. But, yeah, I just wondered if people found the playability especially problematic or if some people are just die hard traditionalists. Either eay, I'll probably still get me a chromatic at some point, just cause I want one to experiment with.
Do you play any popular songs on your dulcimer?
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
OH MY GOSH I LOVE Y'ALL!!! Our phone/internet was out a few weeks after a storm, and I come back to see how amazing y'all are! I LOVE IT!!!! And I kinda wanna hear it all, too....
What has music done for yor?
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
If I am not mistaken, the original post here was written in verse. My guess is that the formatting got lost when we moved from the old site to the new one. It would be wonderful if Linda could edit that post so that we can see her original poetic intent more clearly.
Happiness in a new song
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Thank you, Lisa. I really love these two songs played together.
As I said, "Why did it take so long."
Happiness in a new song
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
I just saw this post Terry. GOOD STUFF! 
Techniques for accidentals
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
@yeahsureok, you've gotten great advice so far, and I'm going to do my best not to repeat it. I just have two points to add.
First, bending strings is very difficult if not impossible with a double string. There is a reason guitarists bend strings all the time and mandolin players almost never do. You might consider playing with a single melody string. It makes bending strings as well as hammer-ons and pull-offs much easier. And I think you get a cleaner sound all around.
But keep in mind that you don't always have to play the string as you are bending it. As you improve your touch, you can bend a string and then pluck it, so you don't hear that bend up but merely the note you are trying to get. That technique takes some practice, but you can get good enough that no one would know you are bending a string to get a particular accidental.
Second, accidentals are not, . . . uh, . . . accidental. That is, they are notes purposely included in a melody. Not all music is diatonic. If you can retune to get a song, then the song might still be diatonic but in a different mode. In that case, we are not talking about accidentals at all. But some music does indeed have more than the seven notes of the diatonic scale. If there are only one or two chromatic notes that appear occasionally in a song, you can employ the techniques others have laid out here. But if there are a lot of accidentals, perhaps that song is not really good for the dulcimer. I tried to learn a tune from a Carolina Chocolate Drops album a while back and realized that there were 4 half tones in a row in an important part of the melody. That was my clue that my dulcimer efforts were better spent on a different piece. Right now I am arranging tunes for a tab book on lullabies of the world. I found a few tunes from Israel and Russia that I really wanted to include, but there were too many accidentals, so I just left them out. In another case, a tune had a single accidental, which I get by bending the melody string at the 4th fret. That one I included, with a note that the melody works fine with the straight 4th fret, but adding that bend gets closer to the original melody. So a little extra effort might be worth it, but if a tune is defined by too many chromatic notes, perhaps its better to leave that one for chromatic instruments.
Having said all that, let me add that I now use dulcimers with the 1+ and 6+ frets, and I find that with those two extra frets, I can get almost all the tunes I want to play. It took some time to get used to the 1+ fret, but I wouldn't want to go without it now.
updated by @dusty: 07/11/18 02:37:16PM
Techniques for accidentals
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
With a noter, the slant thing like John said.
Without a noter, I pinch the string between my thumb and forefinger in the place where I wish I had a fret. This works well if you've got fingernails that are neither too long nor too short (experiment).
As Ken said, you can skip the note or substitute another. Try a note that harmonizes with the missing accidental -- often two frets up or down. Whatever sounds good is good.
When in doubt, strum the chord and sing. Your voice is chromatic :-)
If your dulcimer has high-enough action, get a metal or glass slide and play without letting the strings touch the frets -- now it doesn't matter how many frets you've got!
If you can set your dulcimer up with 4 equi-distant strings, you can try a chromatic tuning. I use D-A-d-c#. This works like a piano: the white keys are on the "d" string and the black keys on the "c#." The disadvantage is you can no longer simply strum across all the strings. My solution is to make the chromatic string the one closest to me, so I can mute it with the heel of my thumb while fretting the other strings. Or fingerpick without touching the chromatic string except on the accidentals. I have done this successfully, but it is a bother and my preferred solution is...
Play a chromatically-fretted dulcimer. Not the cheapest option and maybe not possible for you right now, but long-term it SOLVES the problem while all these other techniques are just work-arounds. If your favorite music includes a lot of accidentals, it makes sense to use the right tool for the job.
Techniques for accidentals
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
If you're playing noter style and the chromatic note passes pretty quickly, you can use the noter like a guitar slide. You can get the "in-between" note this way.
Leave the tip of the noter on the fretboard. Lift the noter on a slant, tipping it downward so that the string is off the fret, but still making contact with the noter. You want to have the noter where the chromatic fret would be. The tone isn't the same as a fretted note, but most people won't notice. It is a little tricky with a doubled melody string, though. That can get buzzy.
updated by @john-gribble: 07/11/18 10:53:52AM