OK, About your question about using the same tablature for different tunings (modes). It generally does not work. The only tune that I have found is " d Joe Clark" which works only with Mixolydian (DAd) and Ionian (DAA). I know that it seems to work when you only play on the melody strings but I've found it best to use the tuning (mode) that the tab was written for.
Thanks dan but no worries. It's more discoveries than struggels.
Marg, If you wish, we can chat in the Night Owls chatroom. I'll still be up for a while.
DAc & DAg ( I am playing the same fret numbers for each tuning)
Are you playing one tab that fits them both?
Marg, please quit struggeling with all these different tunings. As a relative beginner, you are only confusing yourself. Stick with the 2 most common tunings until you can play the tunes fairly well in both. I started doing what you are doing when I started learning the dulcimer 6 years and it really interferred with my progress. So much so that I nearly quit. I finally settled in using DAd (CGc on my reproduction Messenger Prichard) and DAA (CGG on my repro Thomas) with occassional forays into DAc now. I would also recommend that you check Stephen Seiferts Dulcimer School. dulcimerschool. (www.dulcimerschool.com) and watch his free lesson on reading hands. If you decide to join, the cost it only $20.00 per month and you can quit any time you please. Steve has tons of instruction videos there and you can learn at your own pace.
I do not know how it works that some tunings or modes can create beautiful sounds when playing a certain tab but try it in another tuning or tab and could sound terrible. It was the cord 447 (sorry I can't write it going down) 4 on the base & middle & 7 on the melody -
I was tuned DAC Aeolian mode and playing a DAC tab. The dulciborn tuned CGC is part of the Mixolydian tuning and you can play the DAd tab. Some tunings work with either DAd or DAA tab but DAC seemed to need it's own (not sure really on this but fron tonight that's what it seemed)
I hope you get the answer you are after, I don't know the how of any of this. I am just checking out how the different tunings or keys sound and what tab can be played with them and which dulcimer I have - what sounds better with what tunings. it is all just a learning process for now.
The red stain dulcimer I have, everytime I try a different tuning I come back to DAA thinking on that dulcimer that sounds better and even when I try a new tuning and I have the correct tab to go with it, there are some of the notes that just don't sound very nice at all. But than again, can't say my ears can really pick up on what's right only what I fine I like.
All the post above in this discussion are a learning guide for me, it's like getting a new puzzle. You have all the pieces but not yet knowing where they will fit or if they will, I am just turning the pieces over to see what I have.
So for a thread with a life of it's own and to keep up with the OP, I have a question to those who are more familiar with the different tunings: On an tuning where there might just be one string changed (I've seen some that I thought looked familiar, but the last string was changed to a C for instance in an otherwise key of D or G, or maybe A?), What exactly does that do for a player? Is it that one additional song can be played or chords achieved (I saw mention of greensleves being played courtesy of a alternate tuning) by tuning down or up that one string? Or did I miss something and players are playing off of the very same tab, but now with a detuned string or sharpened one and the differing sounds that are produced? Much like playing a song in G major but with the strings tuned in such a way as to allow a Bb to show up and make it sound in a minor key? Is the later one a viable reason?
I tuned the dulciborn to CGC from DAd and it's really nice like that. Tonight I tune my John Naylor to DAC and played 'Greensleeves'. It sounded so beautiful, some of the cords were wonderful when played, a tone I had not hear yet on the dulcimer. I look forward to many beautiful new sounds as I go through the different tunings.
There are so many different dulcimers and each member has their own way they like to set them up and play, as someone just learning all the possibilies, I thought this dicussion was a great learning post - giving us insite into the choices yet to come.
(Sleepless nights... Have to appear in court today, which is not my hobby)
Playing bones and the tempo of the tune: up tempo is easier than a slow tempo, although the last is more rewarding, special in the breaks.
I use the bones in Shanti and other sailor songs, like hornpipes.
To the dulcimer I have couple of sets: 17th centurey Dutch dance music, childrens songs and Christmas songs.
My main instrument is the double bass (pizz. & bowed) and the bass guitar (special to Israëlian dance music)
At the performances of my music group it is common the audiance will dance: that's why they visit the gig!
Cool- so Wout you are practicing to old English or Irish tunes?
Sheryl to an old country song?
When I'm practicing alone, I'm playing to Civil War era minstrel tunes and songs on cds. Here's an example of stuff i play to: https://youtu.be/VI-Ukj7c78E?list=PLSMm3dUxYUnV5epZOGii-FCbDrPdVQsFU
Or I practice just with no music, practicing very basic rhythms over and over. When I play to Brian's live fiddling, he's doing American oldtime tunes at various speeds.
Then you'd need to make an actual photo album so one can see all the images side by side... either here in your profile page Photo section, or online somewhere in a photo hosting site.
Sure, but I wanted to be grouped together, like showing the grip or how to make the 'bones' or clappers.
A song to practice? I mostly start with The Drunken Sailor. Or maybe Cockles and Mussels?
I've been practicing to an old country tune called "Song of the Cicada” out on the back porch, while the fireflies put on lightshows. But seriously, I’m still working on the rudiments of playing. And watching a lot of instructional videos.
Why?...Because the file attachment editor feature is not intended to function like a 'photo story album', Wout. 
Most folks would either just attach ONE file or image file, or if there were many, they'd just load the pictures onto a free photo site somewhere online and then post a single link to them in their post so peopel could go look at them in an album or webpage online, rather than attaching 15 or more separate pdfs in one post after another. OR, they'd create a new photo album in their profile page Photos area. The post attachment function is not meant to present a long photo album series of pictures named the way you want. That's why. 
I bought both of my pairs of bones at Bone Dry Music. They do have a lot out of stock, but they had what I wanted, good prices, and a lot of good information. I emailed them a question, Scott sent me a long, very informative email back.
My new bones are coming any time now, they were in stock. Good thing is that the site tells you right there whether a particular style is in stock or not. A lot of specific bones are hard to get, being made by hand by certain people only. Some styles are only available once in a while, too.
I talked to Scott last week and mentioned what you said about the American vs. European grip, and Scott said for the people he knows, it mostly just comes down to personal experimentation and choice. I have to say that of the American players i see all kinds of different hand/bones positions- lots of variety! 
We all have different size and shaped hands, so we all need different size/weight/balance bones, too I imagine! Brian's walnut ones he made for himself are way too big and clunky for my hands, I know that. They seem to fit him just right.
Yep, Scott is doing a great job. Most of my clappers and bones I bought there. At the moment most of the goods are out of stock...
BTW when I am looking good at his pictures: Scott is using the European style instead of the American style!
Oh, I really should mention this- here is the biggest/best website dedicated to bones, run by Scott Miller... BonedryMusic.com
Scott is awesome, and very giving of his time and knowledge. He offers the absolute biggest selection and learning material on bones .. anywhere .
Here's a video of Scott's energetic and joyful bones playing style at a Civil War re-enactment 8yrs ago (too bad it's fuzzy and has wind noise):
Well, some sanding (sharp edges) and French lacker will finish the instrument. Takes about 15 minutes to make...
BTW I choosed bamboo because of its round shape, which works the same as on the Dutch Clappers.
Which one?
The slots are placed to the players hand. They are used to get a better grip without much force.
I hope photo 06 shows how the index finger pusches the bell into the soft tissue of the hand, so together with the thumb it is a firm grip, also without too much force. I hope the difference between the American bones style is very clear, but fast triplets are easy to make.
The experiment isn't able to produce triplets, in fact it works like a normal woodblock, so not useful. I used liile bells too 
Why doesn't upload a browser just the way I entered the data? 
I numbered the PDF's which are telling the same story.
Maybe I forget this one?
Real Dutch Clappers & a grip to play spoons like.
Pretty self-explanatory, Wout. I think we can skip the text. Those are kind of cool, and would be real simple to make. Thanks for sharing.
Wout, Now you've gone and done it. Got us thinking about a Bones comic book hero!
Kandee, thanks for the beeswax tip! I'll be watching for Dom. 
I never finished the text in Dutch either, but I have the pictures, so I will post those and maybe we can find a text together. A kind of comic book.
Robins point about the dulcimer becomes the tuning is spot on perfect. I could not agree more... Robert.
Wout- maybe bones made from bamboo should be called "boos" heh heh
Hi Linda,
I think that the fret layout is one of the most facinating aspects of the instrument in terms of tuning the darn thing! The more frets the less retuning required and the more versatility at your fingertips. Although (going straight back to the OP) personally I like the 'playability' of having a pure scale. This is because once I'm tuned to whatever pitch or mode I'm using the instrument becomes that tuning. It's a little difficult to explain but I'm sure you get the concept. The other instruments I play are chromatic (guitar, banjo, mandolin) or have no frets (dobro, fretless banjo) but I've never been drawn towards a chromatic dulcimer. I'm not sure why that is because, logically, a chromatic dulcimer makes a lot of sense. I certainly can't say that I'm the sentimental type or tied to 'tradition' - I think it is simply because I love playing old dulcimers and old dulcimers have diatonic layouts - for the most part. I'm more than happy to have a 6+ on my Galax dulcimers (a pragmatic solution for old time session playing in the keys of D, G and A). And, going back to the OP, the tunings I like to use for galax are d,d,d,d and e,e,d,d which gives me the key od D, G and A (mixolidian and dorian).
That doesn't surprise me Linda. Again, in terms of the tunings that we like to use, if your scale is starting at the 3rd fret (as in DAA) then the position of the first two frets (the 6th and 7th of the scale) can be quite a bit flat of equal temperament and still sound OK. However, if the same dulcimer is tuned to DAd then those first two frets will sound well out of tune, particularly when playing chord shapes near the nut. A lot of old dulcimers don't sound too good tuned to DAd because of the flattened first and second fret positions. I have noted on the Leanord and Clifford Glen dulcimers that I have seen how the position of the first two frets moved over the years. On their early dulcimers these frets were placed for the natural scale starting at the 3rd fret. On the later dulcimers (once chord playing were begining to take a hold) the first two frets had moved to equal temperament but the rest of the dulcimer scale was still in a more natural intonation. Another factor is that the action on older instruments tends to be quite high at the nut and bridge (fine for noter playing) and if this action is lowered to enable chord melody playing in DAd it can throw out the intonation on the lower and higher frets necessitating the frets to be re-possitioned. Some makers, like Homer Ledford had very unusual fret placements. Ralph Lee Smith has had the frets repositioned on his Ledford to match his chordal playing style and I know a couple of other players who have done the same and believe so have many others. I've left my Ledford as it is because I really like the original Ledford layout (which is in just intonation) for certain tunings and it suits my playing style - If it didn't suit my playing style then I'd probably have moved the frets too.
It is actually a struggle to find any two vintage dulcimer makers who actually used the same fret intonation - or even ones who were consistent from dulcimer to dulcimer!!!! Today, we can be a bit blasé when we talk about tunings and modes that we like to use on our dulcimers as pretty much any mode or tuning will work due to contemporary fretboards using equal temperament. I have quite a few old dulcimers that only actually work in certain tunings and it does make me think that there was probably a lot less re-tuning going on pre-revival than we use today.
So the tunings I like to use are the ones that work best for my playing style on the dulcimer I happen to playing. And I have a passion for playing old dulcimers, which means I am more than likely applying those tunings to a pure diatonic fretboard that's not in equal temperament.
Robin
PS - In between writing this post I'm TAB'ing out tunes in DAd chord melody for 3 workshops I'm running with Geoff Black over the weekend. I've had to go searching for a dulcimer with a 6+ that I could tune to DAd - I have some new ones in stock for the shop but have realised that, despite owning about 15 to 20 dulcimers in my personal collection, I don't actually have one with a 6+ capable of being tuned to DAd for chord melody playing at present!!!! 
Wout, sounds interesting. And there is no shortage of bamboo in my state. If you find the text, let me know. One questions: Is it in English? My Dutch is a bit rusty.
Instead of using beewax or gorilla snot or what ever, preparing the 'bones' is an option too, at least if you know how. Somewhere on my computer I have a text about making 'bones' from bamboo which allows experimenting. And is rather cheap, but you allready I am Dutch... 
BTW don't go shaving, sanding, sawing, etc on ox bones, because the dust coming from it could be dangerous to your health!
I might also suggest that this thread has run it's usefull life? Don't you think? The original OP's question has been answered fully and Ken (among others) has clearly defiend the different number of modes and tunings. (Yes I'm a big offender and am doing it again right here in keeping the thread alive). It's just it has taken a life of it's own and I'm sorry for being a part. Back to the OP, does the questioner have any remaining issues? That would be the only salient point? Sorry again, Kevin.
14 Experiment a resonator.pdf - 208KB
