If you could hie to Kolob (I'll post the words to this some other time)...but any one song would become boring after too many times a playing it....We all have many. I've loved the answers....who will watch the home place....amazing grace...Music is in all our souls else we'd not be doing it daily and posting and reading here in. Thank you all for your posts. aloha, irene
Golly, I gotta sleep on this one! :)
Mine would be Amazing Grace. I can never get over how amazing God's grace is.
Ditto!!!
Too tough for me. I have no answer.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
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.
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.
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)
Ohhhh… that's TOUGH!!
After much consideration..... Leonard Cohen's Suzanne a.k.a Suzanne Takes You Down
Mine would be Amazing Grace. I can never get over how amazing God's grace is.
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...
saras
custom designs, beautiful & so personal
Here is mine I designed them
...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!
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.
That is a nice looking dulcimer. How does it sound?
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.
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!
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...
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!
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 
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.
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....
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.
