For those of you who have been to the McSpadden Dulcimer Shop in Mountain View, Arkansas you probably met Judy. After a battle with cancer she passed yesterday (7 Feb).
James, my understanding is that the tenor guitar is tuned to fifths, usually CGDA or GDAE. AndGDAE is exactly how a mandolin is tuned, though an octave higher than a tenor guitar). So you might seek out mandolin tab for tunes. Even if you tune CGDA, you could still use that tab; you will simply be in a different key. But chord charts and tab for the mandolin are certainly more popular on the internet, so you might look for that stuff instead of limiting yourself to lessons on tenor guitar.
Thanks Stephen. I ultimately did get an Ibanez tenor guitar from Sweetwater, and printed out a sheet of basic chord shapes I found on the internet. I'll be looking for some tenor banjo books on Barnes and Noble later on. I did post a picture of my Ibanez on my profile page a few minutes ago if interested in seeing it.
I was looking around for any recent things on tenor guitar - I found this Youtube lesson - it's a good introduction. The playing is not always legato - but the information is good. It should get you started.
Not many resources out there - but tenor banjo and manual are tuned the same (CGDA) you can find chords for them. Mel Bay has some tenor banjo resources. You can find some Youtube video of Wayland Holyfield playing the tenor guitar. I'd played a mandolin and fiddle which I'd viewed as an upside down guitar - when I got a manual, I just transposed. You can actually tune it as DGBE and treat it as baritone ukulele - I currently have my mandola tuned as a tiple - I could play in mandola/tenor guitar tuning but I didn't find it useful to sing with. It depends on your voice though - clearly Wayland Holyfield has made great use of a tenor guitar accompanying his singing,
Your best bet for finding things online is to look for tenor banjo material - there is a lot of it - including methods - some of them are on the internet archive. Good luck and have fun!
I'd been playing guitar since I was 16 years old, and decided since I will turn 40 in March (ugh), to add another guitar to the arsenal, an acoustic tenor guitar. I saw a modest priced Ibanez that I am looking at, which should fit the bill nicely.
I was wondering if anyone on here owns a tenor guitar, can point me in the direction of some resources etc. so I can halfway have a clue when the time comes when I get a tenor guitar.
That's really nice work Mandy. You made a beautiful instrument which I am sure you will enjoy forever. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
I just saw this. It's a beauty for sure
Full of wonderful mistakes 
I already broke a string, LOL. Too much messing around tuning. I decided to go with DAA on this one. I found some DAD tab for this and didn't like the way it sounded so I winged it.
Great Mandy, we will be watching for it.
Enjoy strumming your sweet dulci.
Mandy said:
Next few days or so hopefully. I'm working on a song I want to play on it now and once I feel it's pretty good I'll post it.
Next few days or so hopefully. I'm working on a song I want to play on it now and once I feel it's pretty good I'll post it.
Mandy, looks like you've done really well. Can't wait to hear it.
You did good Gal !
JohnH
I'm going to be playing this forever and I'm so thankful that I was able to build it.
Great when that happens and such a beauty too.
I've got a beat up old mongrel that I've had for 40 years, wouldn't swap it for the world.
Mandy what a beautiful dulcimer you built. What a great experience to be able to do it in the class.
Really amazing process and will love to hear your dulci sing
Thanks y'all. I love it. Now I just have to figure out what I want to play on the vid. Hmmmm.
Wow, that's great, Mandy. The dulcimer looks great, and I really like seeing all the pictures of the process. Good job! I look forward to hearing it, too!
I did blush a little, seeing a naked dulcimer.
That is such an awesome looking instrument! And to make it yourself in that class must have given you a complete sense of satisfaction. I can not wait for you to make a video playing it so I can hear this beauty.
WOW that's amazing Well done - what a great experience leading to such a wonderful outcome
OK, I'll take it. I love the almost elliptical shape. Very sexy indeed!
Hey Everyone, been awhile. I just finished a class at the John C. Campbell Folk School and made this beauty.
Here are the woods I got to choose from. - 
I chose sassafras for the top, butternut for the sides and back, and walnut for the headstock backstrip and fretboard and tailpiece. Here they are with a few cuts - and you can also see the sassafras piece i used under the headstock here also
Here's the walnut fretboard piece I chose, I chose the sapwood on purpose because of it's uniqueness and beauty (in my eyes anyway)
Here are some assembling pics - don't mind the center strip, it's just a spacer and will come out later. notice my banjo case sitting there too, LOL, had to jam some!
Here's the lining strips being glued in to give more gluing surface - you can also see the back piece there with the center strip of walnut.
My beautiful back - as I was looking at the butternut we had I noticed the grain and purposely cut it so that the grain would match the curve of the instrument. With walnut strip.
Here's the front closeup of head and fretboard, I cut the little curve at the top of the head to just give it a little uniqueness also. The fretboard and head are from the same piece of wood. I loved all the color in the fretboard.
Closeup of body - dogwood flower cutout with wood-burning. I would not recommend trying to wood-burn on a wood as soft and grainy as sassafras (lesson learned, but I think it still looks good) more of the fretboard color - there is sawdust everywhere still (LOL).
Finished front -
Overall it turned out beautifully I think. The fretboard is nice and flat and I love it. The instructor for the class was Mark Edelman. He has a shop in Gatlinburg, TN. and is a fine player also. Great instructor and fun week. Hard work too.
Got it home and yanked out my Folkcraft hourglass dulcimer. Side by side I like mine much better (no favoritism or anything, LOL). Seriously though my fretboard is a touch wider and that allowed me to still have plenty of room for the string spacing without ever worrying about pulling a string off the side of the fretboard while playing (which does happen on my Folkcraft). A big surprise to me was that this one is louder than my Folkcraft also. Quite a bit louder. Not sure if shape has anything to do with that. Mine is also a much warmer (less tin-ny) sound.
I'm going to be playing this forever and I'm so thankful that I was able to build it. Thanks to a mentor of mine whom I must give a huge thank you to here - Aubrey Atwater - without your kindness I never would have been able to take this class. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I would recommend Mark's class to anyone and everyone who has the desire to build their own dulcimer (there are a LOT of tools involved). Mark has been building dulcimers and playing for 40 years. He's not much of an internet guy, but if you are ever in Gatlinburg, TN be sure to visit Smoky Mountain Dulcimers and tell him I sent ya.
I'll get a video of me playing this beauty up soon.
Mandy
Randy, I believe it's not an alternate bridge per se, but the way the bridge is aligned on the dulcimer. A tuning with an octave spread requires a slight change in angle in the placement of the bridge so that the bass string (which of course is thicker) is in tune with the much thinner high string. This change is significant from a tuning such as DAA to DAd.
Randy Adams said:
McSpadden would send along the alternate bridge for a couple of bucks?
McSpadden would send along the alternate bridge for a couple of bucks?
I fully agree with Robin. A Ginger in Gdgg is a GOOD thing. A Ginger in DAd is an OK thing. Having two dulcimers set up in two different keys -- D and G is an even better thing.
For playing solo in high noise backgrounds, nothing punches through crowd murmur better than a dulcimer in G. I play in G for open mic nights every week.
When I'm with a bunch of other dulcimers players, especially those not experienced at re-tuning out of DAd, I'll chose one of my other dulcimers tuned to the key of D.
DAd and Gdg both use the same tab. There are many other tunings, of course. I spent decades playing in DAA/CGG, but lately have come to appreciate the Bagpipe tunings Ddd, Ccc, Ggg.
Thanks for your response. Everything everyone suggests helps inform my choice
Hi Monica,
The Ginger is generally offered in two different set-ups by McSpadden, which are Dadd or Gdgg (4 tones higher). I don't want to complicate matters for you too much but it could be this difference that Jim Woods is talking about. The dulcimers requires completely different strings and bridge compensation for each of these tunings.
Most folks buy the Ginger in Gdgg tuning as the short scale suits having the instrument pitch up higher - it is very sweet in this tuning and packs quite a punch for its size (in the same way a that mandolin can be heard above a guitar). The key of G is also very useful when sitting in with guitar players as many popular tunes are generally played in that key or can bemoved to that key on guitar. Luckily for us dulcimer players the tuning Gdgghas the same intervals between the strings as Dadd - so we can playany DAdd TAB and it will work (but be in the key of G rather than D).
A number of folks do have their Ginger set up for DAdd so they have a smaller travel dulcimer in the key of D. This requires thicker strings for the instrument. However tuning down to DAAA would require thicker melody strings again as, due to the shorter length, the melody strings are not as flexible to different tunings as they are on a longer scale instrument. So if you wanted DAAA on a Ginger dulcimer you would need a different melodystring pairthan for DAdd or be prepared to compromise on playability.
I would think that it is for these reasons that Jim Woods strongly suggesting you think about which tuning you want to work with as he will have to use a different set up for each one.
The Ginger is a lovely instrument and I have one that I take on trips. I keep it in Gdgg as, for me, the higher pitchsonically suitsthe shorter scale and smaller body. And it is handy to have a dulcimer in high G when sitting around a campfire on holiday with other musicians knocking out pop songs
Hi Monica,
As I'm sure you know, many folks are using DAd as their "usual" tuning these days, and much TAB is written for that tuning. If you expect to rely on TAB to get you started on tunes, then it would make sense to go with DAd and have the compensation set for that. It is a tuning that is very well suited for Celtic music. If you already have a dulcimer, you could leave that instrument in another tuning that you use - perhaps one that is the most different from DAd, such as DAA.
I'm not sure what you mean by "more complicated tunes." One can play very complex music out of a DAd tuning. Can you elaborate?
Linda
Thanks for your reply Bob, Jim from Mcspadden strongly suggested I do, so I am wondering what to go with.
You're right about the 'A' string, I am constantly having to tune it
I really enjoy reading through this forum and learning more about this sweet instrument.
I am considering purchasing a small dulcimer. I wish I could hear a sample of a Clemmer tennessee sweetie Church style. In the mean time there many people playing Mcspadden Gingers. So I might just go with that. As a Novice I do play mostly in Dadd, but as I try out new pieces I am continually tuning it back forth and I haven't quite mastered the capo yet.
I am not sure what tuning I should go with as my repertoire is still quite small but I hope to be able to play more complicated songs over time i.e..traditional, celtic and medieval music. Any suggestions for which bridge compensation is the most ideal would be gladly welcome
Thanks heaps!!!!!
Strumelia said:
Hi all,
You know, I hadn't been aware of this thread until just now, and I did not realize that we have over 50 members on FOTMD from Australia- but I saw that after reading this thread just now and doing an 'advanced' search by country as Mark suggested above. I now see that there are many more Aussie members than I thought, and that you are indeed having a hard time connecting effectively.
Anne did ask me yesterday about having a new Aussie group, and I decided against it, since I am very reluctant to add more new Groups over time.
But you know what? I now think that wasn't the best decision and I can see a real need for this here. I'm changing my mind.
Let me go ahead now and create the new Australia Group for you all, and you can all join up there and dive in.
You are a sweet lady Lisa, I am happy our Australian Friends have a group of their own. I hope that they will have a great time connecting.
Strumelia said:
Hi all,
You know, I hadn't been aware of this thread until just now, and I did not realize that we have over 50 members on FOTMD from Australia- but I saw that after reading this thread just now and doing an 'advanced' search by country as Mark suggested above. I now see that there are many more Aussie members than I thought, and that you are indeed having a hard time connecting effectively.
Anne did ask me yesterday about having a new Aussie group, and I decided against it, since I am very reluctant to add more new Groups over time.
But you know what? I now think that wasn't the best decision and I can see a real need for this here. I'm changing my mind.
Let me go ahead now and create the new Australia Group for you all, and you can all join up there and dive in.
Hi all,
You know, I hadn't been aware of this thread until just now, and I did not realize that we have over 50 members on FOTMD from Australia- but I saw that after reading this thread just now and doing an 'advanced' search by country as Mark suggested above. I now see that there are many more Aussie members than I thought, and that you are indeed having a hard time connecting effectively.
Anne did ask me yesterday about having a new Aussie group, and I decided against it, since I am very reluctant to add more new Groups over time.
But you know what? I now think that wasn't the best decision and I can see a real need for this here. I'm changing my mind.
Let me go ahead now and create the new Australia Group for you all, and you can all join up there and dive in.
I asked Strumella about an Aussie interest group, but, as there are over 60 other interest groups already, she suggested we just keep it at the forum/discussion level for now. I guess if enough people post often enough we may be able to think abut a group...
