I like the Ionian (Daa) and Dorian (Dag) tunings best. With a 6+ fret, the Dorian tuning is really flexible. Both (mostly) major and minor scales are available and it is great for Blues.
I agree Robert, if you stick with just one tuning, we will not learn what our dulcimer will sound like, and you will not know which sounds the best, also you will not learn about what tuning's your strings will handle.
Yah and so if you break a string, then ya gotta change it, well now we learn how to change the strings.
Tunes sound different in different modes and it is fun to be able to play with it.
This is my relationship with my very "Sweet Lil' ButterNut" dulcimer!
I Love everything about it!
When we were kids and self taught musician wannabes we thought a given instrument only had one correct tuning. It was quite a joyous revelation to discover we were wrong. I'm constantly changing tunings. Although you can go through life tuning a dulcimer to Dadd, the dulcimer being a modal instrument cries out to be played in many tunings. I love experimenting with modes. Its amazing how changing the pitch of one string can evoke emotions of joy sadness or excitement. This is a gift we receive from the dulcimer... Bob.
Babs, you can play DGd tab, just use an Ionian mode tab for DAA. Same tab numbers, just will sound in G other then D.
So for tunings I mostly use DAd, DGd, DAc and DAA. But I really like to think of them in numbers rather than letters. That way I can pick whatever pitch is comfrotable or sounds good. So that would be 1-5-8, 1-4-8, 1-5-7, 1-5-5. What I like about numbers is that it helps me reference the intervals in my head when I tune the instrument to itself rather than to a tuner.
A trick I learned a long time ago is that the interval between 1 and 5 sounds like the first two notes of the song the witch's guards sing in The wizard of OZ. (OH-EE-OH-OH-OH if you remember the tune). The interval between 1 and 4 is the first two notes of Here Comes the Bride. And the octave (1-8) is the first two notes of Over the Rainbow.
I kind of have a love-hate relationship with electronic tuners. I love them when restringing an instrument or when I am trying to tune in a noisy location. But I also think they are kind of a crutch because it is easier to accept what the tuner says than to really listen to the tuning and intonation of the instrument.
Tunings, eh. I use DAd and its variant CGc. I retune those to DAc, DGd or DGc. I have 2 or 3 tuned DAA or CGG. Drop them down to DAG or tune up to EAA for mixolydian tunes. Then there's one DDA that I sometimes bow. One's in Ddd. The Mawhee's in AAA. Then there are the Jim Good's which I keep in Jim's tuning: b G d d d. Then for 4 strings, DAAd is probably my favorite, then DAdd. DAdc gives some great drones for songs such as Lord Thomas and the Fair Elender. DGGd and DGdd and DGdc and good, too. Oh yeah, I have one that can go up to EBe.
Like you, James, I prefer an Ionian Modal tuning or a Bagpipe tuning. With those I can cover most of the 200+ songs in my repertoire. However I do have a complete set of Dorian tunes that I play as well as a set of Aeolian tunes. Those of course need to be retuned from one of the following:
I keep one traditional dulcimer (Bobby Ratliff Hog Fiddle) tuned BFF Ionian as it suits my voice even better than C for singing along at Open Mics and such.
I keep another traditional dulcimer (John Knopf Thomas replica) tuned Ggg for instrumentals in Open Mic settings, because the G tuning cuts through crowd noise well.
I have a Harpmaker Student Model in DAA for playing with clubs
I have a Til Holloway (my only dulcimer with a 6+ fret) tuned Ddd for playing with clubs.
I'm slowly building a 'coffin shaped' (think angular teardrop) traditional dulcimer that will have just intonation.
By 'traditional dulcimer' I mean one that is less than 7.5" wide and less than 1-1/4" high, with a fretboard a minimum of 3/4" high, preferably 1" high.
Here is a thread I decided to start, rather then to hi-jack another thread, so here it is: What tunings do you like to use?
For me, I personally either like to use some form of Ionian tuning, or a Bagpipe tuning. Here is my list of tunings, and on which instrument:
D-d-dd, Bagpipe tuning. This is on an hourglass that I bought from Robert Schuler. It has the 6.5 fret on it, so from the open fret, I can do D mixolydian, D major (as long as it doesn't dip below the scale) and from the 3rd fret, key of G major. This, btw, is the only dulcimer I have with the 6.5.
E-B-BB, Ionian tuning. This is on an hourglass I ordered from Jack Ferguson. Nice clear, bell like sound.
DGd, Reverse Ionian. On a prototype student dulcimer from Dan Cox. To me, and a couple people people I'd played it for, it seems to have a bagpipe type sound. I know it isn't a "true" Ionian tuning, but most out of the box dulcimers these days are set up and strung for DAd tuning (which I don't use) so I personally feel that it is easier to take the A down to a G, rather then that d on down to A, because with the string gauge used for that high d going down, it will flop around like a clothesline, and sound dead.
DAA, Ionian tuning. On a student dulcimer from Dan Cox. This seems to be another that beginners would use. I don't know if it is the 155 specific scale Dan used for this, or what, but this does, like my E-B-BB tuned dulcimer, has a good bell like tone to it.
These, of course, are what I *prefer* to use, and on which instrument. Hopefully it isn't too too confusing
Thanks to everyone for the great tips on making my Dulcimer sound better. I have to still finish my Possum Board and will share later a sone go celebrate my thanks for all of you who help anyone who comes here. Please excuse the video quality. I usually use a better cam.
Again Thanks to you Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer
Babs, personally, for me, Iplay by the numbers. I currently have four dulcimers I use, and since not a one of them is tuned the same, I just use a tab, and see what fits with what dulcimers. I won't hijack this thread with my tunings etc. To answer the question, and from what I learned over the years, Ken is right that it was around the late 60's. For example, in Jean Ritchie's The Dulcimer Book, she has everything laid out in C, but in her later teaching material, it's D.
I assume that traditionally dulcimers were tuned to whatever keynote sounded best. A luthier would "hoo in the hole," meaning sing into the soundhole and find the tone that resonated most saliently and then tune the instrument to that key.
Obviously if you are singing with the dulcimer, you will tune to the key that best fits your voice. And that might vary by song. I can sing some songs in D, but others I have to sing in C, C# or even G depending on the precise range of the melody.
For just playing, though I tend to switch between C and D depending on whether I am fingerpicking or flatpicking. I like the extra slack and the soft pull of the strings in C for fingerpicking, for that allows a more precise touch. But for flatpicking, especially playing fast, I want the strings tighter and with less give, so I tune to D. I also tend to flatpick back toward the bridge and fingerpick toward the 10th fret or so.
I think Ken is probably right about the timing of the switch from C to D. Whether it was specifically to play fiddle tunes or merely to play with other instruments in the keys of D, G and A, I am not sure.
But you are certainly correct, Babs, that the norm these days, regardless of what modal tuning one uses, is to tune to the key of D, at least on standard sized dulcimers.
I'm still new to the dulcimer, but I've found that I like the way a D tuning feels on my fingers than a C tuning. My fingers like the stiffer tension of the strings as they are easier to pick and ring a bit brighter. I don't sing much with the dulcimer at this point so that doesn't affect me as yet.
So maybe part of the reason has to do with D being maybe a little more resonant for instrumental playing than C. Also, in today's musical world, we seem to have a need to be in a specific key with specific pitch frequency. However, A was not always 440 htz as it is today.
At this point I like 1-5-8, DAd, but as I said, I'm still new to the instrument. I'm finding however that the beauty of the dulcimer is that its seeming diatonic simplicity actually makes it a very easily versatile instrument.
I believe that the key shift occurred during the Revivial of the 1960s and early 70s, and the reason for the change was that lots of people wanted to play scots/irish fiddle tunes, for which D is a more common key. You'd have to go back to early editions of DPN to find any possible hard information. Or you could question some of the folks who were there -- like Howard Rugg, Robert Force, Bonnie Carol, Lois Hornbostle, etc.
IMHO most of today's D diehards are that way simply because that's the way they were taught and they were (unfortunately) taught that DAd is the only 'right' way to do things
. They have little or no desire to dig into the background of the instrument, and no desire to learn to re-tune to become more involved with the instrument, because it takes them out of their 'comfort zone'.
Most of the books today are in D for those same reasons. For those of us who use different keys and understand that the key makes no difference, it's all good. Personally I've been playing in B a lot lately as it's easier on my voice than D or falsettoG. For instrumentals in a high noise environment I personally love Gdd or Ggg as that note seems to cut through a lot of background buzz.
DAA is the proper notation, also DAC (you tune down to the C not up to c from A), and Ddd or ddd, but not DDD which would be all bass strings.
Because the key note doesn't particularly matter, many people today simply refer to 1-5-5 or 1-5-7 or 1-5-8 or 1-8-8 tunings to indicate they they are note-independent.
I've tried to tilt my dulcimer up as described here. The instrument does resonate much better that way but certain fingerings are also more challenging. Just have to stick with it I guess. Somewhere between the angle of the tilt and how much you point the dulcimer away from you seems to be the key.
Someone mentioned putting it on a hard surface like a table top. I'll have to try that. I'm a telephone tech of 30 years. Putting the phone (an old phone with REAL bells) on a hard surface was a good cure for customers who were hard of hearing and often made the difference in hearing the phone or not hearing the phone when it rang.
Thanks again.
Maybe I am getting the angle wrong. I play banjo and Guitar and possibly that is why I try to hold it at the wrong angle. When I chord it seems harder also. Will have to chat with you one day. If you can message me or e-mail me your skype name and the best time to contact you.
Have a great day.
Hi Gary,
Too hard in what way? It takes some "fiddling" to get the angle right - too great an angle from the horizontal of the lap, and the left hand has a hard time with fretting. Was that the problem you had? This has worked for all my students, though the angle varies, depending on the person and the style/size/shape of their dulcimer. If you want to Skype sometime, I'll talk you through it.
Linda
Gary Major said:
Thanks Linda.
I tried that and found it too hard for me to play. Great idea though and I think it may work for others also.
Thanks Linda.
I tried that and found it too hard for me to play. Great idea though and I think it may work for others also.
Gary, The increased resonance of a dulcimer tilted up off the lap is one more reason that I, like many others including Steve Seifert and Aaron O'Rourke, play with my dulcimer strap around my back and the dulcimer tilted away from the body. The scroll end is out on the left knee and the bridge end is tucked close on the right side. Though I made this choice mainly for ergonomic reasons, the improved sound is very noticeable and welcome.
Linda
Pam -- a possum board is simply a rectangle of 3/8" or thicker plywood or board that is a bit wider and longer than the body of your dulcimer (tuning head doesn't count). To that board you glue two short lengths of square dowel about 1/4" to 3/8" square and as long as the board is wide. Glue the dowels so they will be a few inches in from the ends of the dulcimer as it sits on them. Don't pad the sticks -- it will negate the effect of freeing up the back. If you find you need to hold the dulcimer in place, drill holes near the ends on either side of the instrument and use small bungees or rubber bands.
Thank you all for the quick response. I have the plans for a Possum Board and I think that would work.
What a great place FOTMD. You are all truly good friends.
Hi Gary, Have you tried playing your dulcimer setting it on top of a table?
This may give you a different sound and maybe similar to having a possum board.
Hello all:
As I am playing my Dulcimer I have it on my knees with a strap for support. However as I played a chord then tilted the dulcimer I got a more richer sound and more vibration. When I returned to the regular position on my knees it went a bit dulled again.
Would this be because of the wood the dulcimer is made up with? Am I stopping the vibration by it on my knee support? Is there a apparatus or some way to keep the sustain when the Dulcimer is on my knees as the same if I tilted it? I play through a pic up and amp also and one can really see the difference in the sound when resting on the knees and off the knees.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Sherrie. There is no really definitive answer. Some dulcimers in the late or mid-1800s had a 6 1/2 fret, but no seventh fret. Regular use of the 6 1/2 fret probably began in the mid-to-late 1960s. The 1 1/2 fret has been around for quite a while as well. It has gained more popularity in recent years. I think we have discussed this in the History of the Dulcimer forum. You can look in that forum or do a search.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Although not dulcimer specific, County Sales is having a sale on all of their 3500 series of old-time music CDs. The CDs are just $7.00 each. For fans of old-time music there are some great gems here.
http://www.countysales.com/categories.php?category=SPECIAL-SALE-ON-COUNTY-3500-SERIES-CDs
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Hi Dusty,
"I'll Tell Me Ma".
I've added this to Val's "A New Tune to Learn" thread in the Irish Group.
(bottom of the page)
Thanks, Martha. I don't know that one but it looks approachable enough from the tab. Thanks for the suggestion.
Martha E said:
One of my favorites is Keel Row:
Thanks, James. I play all three of those with my regular dulcimer group, so they were among the first I put on the list.
James Phillips said:
Dusty, a couple I'd suggest are already on that list - Water Is Wide, Southwind, Morning Has Broken. Good luck with this!
I have to admit, John, that I didn't know that one. But I just gave it a listen and it sure is fun! I'll put some tab together, maybe even some lyrics and chords, and add that to the list. Thanks for the suggestion!
john p said:
You have to include 'I'll Tell Me Ma' as well.
You have to include 'I'll Tell Me Ma' as well.
Ken,as two songs (different in lyrics and tune) in the Irish folk canon are routinely called "Banks of the Bann," I prefer "Be Thou My Vision" tospecify the tune commonly called"Slane."
Ken Hulme said:
William -- Be Thou My Vision is the "churchified" version of the old Irish tune called Banks of the Bann. Be Thou is much slower and the emphasis is completely different, although the notes are the same.
Dusty, a couple I'd suggest are already on that list - Water Is Wide, Southwind, Morning Has Broken. Good luck with this!
William -- Be Thou My Vision is the "churchified" version of the old Irish tune called Banks of the Bann. Be Thou is much slower and the emphasis is completely different, although the notes are the same.
Thanks, William. The Minstrel Boy was the first fingerpicking tune I ever tried, and I'll definitely add that to the list. I also learned Annie Laurie from some tab Nina Zanetti posted on her website, so I'll definitely add at least those two. the list of songs I have to learn, though, is getting pretty long, so I'm not sure how many of the others will make it to the list before the event itslef. Thanks for the suggestions.
William Craig Mann said:
Consider:
Scotland the Brave, The Minstrel Boy, The Green Hills of Tyroll (The Scottish Soldier), The Battle's O'er
and a little more complex:
Mo Guile Mear, Be Thou My Vision, McLeod's Reel, Annie Laurie, Endearing Young Charms
I think that history is accurate, Peter. And I just paid for another year of the website. As long as the website is up, the list will be, too, although it may evolve over time.
Peter W. said:
I read that Irish emigrants went to Liverpool first to escape from unemployment. From there the big ships to America departed, and many of them decided to give it a try.
Please keep your list online - I guess I'll like to try out some of them during the summer...
Consider:
Scotland the Brave, The Minstrel Boy, The Green Hills of Tyroll (The Scottish Soldier), The Battle's O'er
All of the above are commonly played on the bagpipes and are fairly simple dulcimer pieces.
Not common bagpipe tunes, and a little more complex:
Mo Guile Mear, Be Thou My Vision, McLeod's Reel, Annie Laurie, Endearing Young Charms
Scotland the Brave is a good suggestion, Babs. Thanks.
Babs Greene said:
That's one of the reasons I didn't mention tunes by title but gave the book information instead, Dusty, I know it has Scotland the Brave and other familiar tunes in it but they may only be familiar more so to people in the UK
... I always thought of it as English rather than Irish since it mentions Liverpool. Now that I think about it, though, it was always sung by those Irish groups like the Clancy Brothers, the Pogues, and Tommy Makem, wasn't it?
In several sources (like here in German: http://www.grapeviners.de/Main/Lyrics/Leaving%20of%20Liverpool.html ) I read that Irish emigrants went to Liverpool first to escape from unemployment. From there the big ships to America departed, and many of them decided to give it a try. So there's at least a chance that the song's roots are Irish... But I can't proof. It is a beautiful song anyway... 
Please keep your list online - I guess I'll like to try out some of them during the summer...
I guess it's fair to say, Guy, that you are an uncommon musician in many ways. Peter mentioned Down by the Sally Gardens as well, so I'll be learning that one and adding it for sure. Thanks!
Guy Babusek said:
Looks like a great list to me. I tend to do a lot of so called "Celtic" music, but I don't think most of mine is very common LOL. Down By The Sally Gardens might be a nice addition to your list.
