The other thing as well Monica to consider is the style you are playing. If you are doing noter/drone, it really does not matter how long the vsl. However, for chording, 27 vsl or so in DAd seems to be the norm for what I have scene.
Thanks for your thoughts Rob and Robert.
I wasn't playing the full size much, however since I got the ginger I am really enjoying playing. ..unfortunately in Canada there are no local luthier shops where I can try them out. So its all a guessing game.
Monica, A 25-26" scale dulcimer is ideal for tuning Dadd. A 28-29" scale is great for Daa... 28-30" is best for a baritone. Learn to stretch your fingers, over time you will find it easy to play a longer scale..., Bob.
My 1st dulcimer has about a 30" vsl so I'm probably not one who should comment. However, my hands are small though I was a classical guitarist before the dulcimer. I play many different dulcimers with different vsls. I would get the standard size with the short fretboard. You already have one ginger, so I'd think a full size body is in order. Just my 2 cents.
I bought a full sized cherry mcspadden about a month ago and though I love the sound i find it very uncomfortable to play. 1 week ago I bought a ginger cherry from a friend. I am really enjoying it, in fact every chance I have.. I play it. I am 5 3"..though I have long fingers my hands are small I suppose.. I know that I want a walnut next ..maybe with a redwood top. I am debating another ginger or 26 vsl..though I wonder if that too won't be comfortable to play ..any thoughts
I don't mind the sound but it is awkward for finger picking.
Pamela Rossetti said:
I always play 3 strings or 4 equidistant...do not like double melody..the sound or the feel on my fingers.
Thank you for your suggestion Mandy.
Mandy said:
I'd remove the one closest to the soundboard (the outermost string). I find myself using 3strings a lot now and I like it.
Thank you for the suggestion Geekling.
Geekling said:
I find removing the inner melody string is best for noter playing, and makes the strings equidistant for fingerpicking. :-)
Measure between the bass string and the middle string. Use the same measure from the middle string to the melody strings and leave the one that's closest to that measure. As an alternative though, have you thought about 4 independent strings for fingerpicking? I love to use 4 strings tuned DAAd, DAdd, DAdc, DGGd, DGdd, DGdc, EAAd, etc. Gives you a lot of options.
Thats a good idea Skip !!
Thanks for the tip Robert :)
I loosen the inside one and pull it over the side, makes a spare if needed. This gives me an even spacing between strings.
I am focusing more on finger picking, using both pick and bare fingers as i am learning celtic songs and finding that the 2 melody strings don't sound great. Which melody string would you recommend that I remove , the one on the outside or inside?
thanks
Thank you Lexie, I'm so glad Lynn Austin is building these now.
Excellent, I love the sounds of your Kantele Cynthia. It is nice to have all three songs in one place.
Vermont Kantele Maker
Just as I thought, Lynn Austin of southern Vermont has a new 5 string kantele up on ebay for sale, her second one. I knew she wouldn't be able to resist making them. And it's a beauty, for all of you who want to enter this wonderful world.
Thanks Lynn, I couldn't have done it without you. There are tunes here, so I'm wondering whether it's the bells or the old Finnish tune you're talking about...wait until you hear Supplication with improv. and...I'm thinking soundholes...cross with thorns maybe?
Aw shucks Patty thanks, I do work hard at things though...sure am loving that instrument though.
Steph thank you, I sort of did this one so people thinking about it can hear what you can do with the 5-string. It is not tab, it's music, but not so hard to learn 5 notes if those who can't read music. Lani's first book teaches that and she has several, so for those who don't play by ear, you'd have plenty of music. She seems to be the only one writing books for it.
Cynthia, you are very talented. I love it that you are showing us the kantele. It's a beautiful sounding instrument. Wunderbar!!!
Thank you Lexie, that is the song that bewitched me first, and now playing that simple 5 note song, I'm even more convinced there's a lot of magic in that strange instrument...I think you might just have some fun with a 5 string. I may actually learn to make them. Never know...
Cynthia, I loved that song, very pretty to hear the bells.
You are really going on that Kantele and love hearing you play.
Keep em coming!
Here's s sweet Finnish folk tune trad. played on 5 string kantele, which I'm playing on my 10 string as I don't have a 5. This is something not so do-able on a noter/drone dulcimer!
and my first song played a couple of days after I got it:
I'm having fun with my 10 string kit from Musicmakers made by Lynn Austin.
Has as much to do with availability as anything else I think Grahame.
Where did you get a dulcimer from back in those days? It took me nearly a year to find one, and I was really looking ... and it was crap. I ended up almost rebuilding the thing.
Joni Mitchell broke hers on tour and her Road Manager was near to desperation trying to find a replacement. There just wasn't that many instruments around.
As I remember those days, Irish bands were more interested in adding mandolins and bazoukis anyway.
The other side has more to do with what the record distribution companies put out, Steeleye Span were one of the few and Tim Hart got featured. Otherwise it was small lables like Bill Leader's that carried a few players, Roger Nicholson, Pete & Chris Coe, Stephan Sobell etc.
I have always wondered how Richard Farina's music would have developed had he not died so young. Compare their two albums, the second one is much rockier with more conventional instrumentation, and dare I say it, a more straightforward writing style. Would he have given up the dulcimer altogether and become a rocker!?!
Grahame
Right you are, Ken. I don't think there would have been a California dulcimer scene back in the 1970s had it not been for Joni and Richard.
Ken, you'll be happy to see that Faria is using a noter. And I have to smile when Pete Seeger asks "What key? D?"
By the way, many years ago Neal Hellman put out a book in which he transcribed every dulcimer tune by RichardFaria. The book is long out-of-print, but Neal has made a pdf available online free of charge. Follow the links in his blog called LiberatingFaria .
Joni Mitchell although she was a solo performer. Richard&Mimi Faria duo (she was sister of Joan Baez)
I wouldn't call it folk/rock, but Cyndi Lauper has been playing dulcimer on stage and TV for the last few years.
Kenny Loggins current group Blue Sky Riders uses a dulcimer, the Rolling Stones song Lady Jane used a dulcimer, and I think Take Me to the Other Side by Aerosmith did as well.
David Schnafer played with the Judds on some of their country/rock albums. also John Foggarty has used one
of mine on several albums in very brief lead in solo's
Grahame, I can't think of a folk rock band in the US which used a dulcimer. My 1st record with a dulcimer on it was Steeleye Span's "Below the Salt." I had no idea there was a dulcimer on it nor what a dulcimer was 'til a trip to Mt View, Arkansas the next year.
Of course I am forgetting Gay Woods of Irish duo Gay & Terry Woods. She played dulcimer in their duo and also on "The Woods Band" album, notably on "January Snows" . G &T were also in briefly in Dr Strangely Strange but never officially recorded with them though there is a very poor quality tape of them playing a gig in Bunjies. London, which shows that the two acts just joined repertoires.
Grahame
Val, I would love to hear that recording! Paul Brady on dulcimer with Mick Moloney - wow!
Linda
Grahame it was used sparsely down through the years by different bands and musicians. I gave examples of it's use by different musicians from the 60's to the present day some years ago. My first encounter with the dulcimer in Irish music was Paul Brady backing Mick Moloney on a 1969 LP by the Johnston's. Mick Moloney played The Kilfenora Jig on the Mandolin and Paul did the backing on Dulcimer.
