At the moment I don't even no where to begin with finger picking. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Monica, do join the Finger Picking Group on this site, and get all kinds of awesome help in beginning finger picking! 
Thank you Cynthia , I will check it out
Cynthia Wigington said:
Hi Monica. I'm fairly new too. What I did was find an easy one for finger-picking, settled on Be Thou My Vision. I think the free tab is on Jerry Rockwell's site, and my video of it after I'd been playing about a month is on here too. Have fun now.
Hi Pamela
Pamela Rossetti said:
welcome Monica
Hi Monica. I'm fairly new too. What I did was find an easy one for finger-picking, settled on Be Thou My Vision. I think the free tab is on Jerry Rockwell's site, and my video of it after I'd been playing about a month is on here too. Have fun now.
First off I just want to say thank you for the "Warm welcomes".
I have been playing for only a few days. I have mastered strumming Bile them cabbage at a nice even pace. Ode to joy is coming along . Amazing grace is putting my fingers to the test with stretching and acrobatics, but I couldn't even attempt it the first two days so I know things are improving.
At the moment I don't even no where to begin with finger picking. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Ken, I definitely suggest checking out videos. I came to the dulcimer from guitar and mandolin and learned my first dozen songs or so from YouTube videos by Bing Futch and Stephen Seifert and others.
There is really only one book specifically on technique: Mike Casey's Hands-On Dulcimer: Developing Technique through Exercises and Studies.
Otherwise, for nice arrangements of Irish tunes in a soft, fingerpicking style, I would recommend books by Linda Brockinton and Nina Zanetti.
Neal Hellman also has a book of Irish tunes, and he has a whole bunch of books out there on Shaker tunes, Beatles tunes (that's a really tough one that I don't recommend), music of the world, and more.
Steve Eulberg has a nice book out there that includes a wide variety of English and Celtic tunes, including some from Scotland. I think it's called Another Jig Will Do.
Maybe others will disagree with me, but since you are already experienced with other stringed instruments, an instructional method book will be too basic for you. Dig around YouTube and when you find a really good player whose music you would like to play, and then check out their websites to see if they have any books out there.
I bought the David Schnaufer DVD a while back, but while I was waiting for it to arrive I learned his version of "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" just from watching the YouTube video. You could probably do the same.
One other thought: both Stephen Seifert and Steve Eulberg have online subscription "schools." Seifert's is called The Dulcimer School and Eulberg's is called Dulcimer Crossing. In both cases, you pay a monthly fee and have access to a whole range of resources. I have only seen samples of Dulcimer Crossing lessons, but I learn a flatpicking version of "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" from it. I am much more familiar with the Dulcimer School and although I wish Stephen were more active on there, there is an enormous amount of material there, from beginner lessons to phenomenal classical or jazz pieces that I don't know if I'll ever play. There is video, audio, pdf downloads of tab, and more. It might be worth joining one or another of those online schools and spending a month digging around to see what interests you. You can always cancel your subscription. Both of those guys are not only great players but understand the diatonic fretboard and are experienced and thoughtful teachers.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing this.
My latest dulcimentary is on our club's website:
https://athensdulcimerclub.wordpress.com/dulcimentaries/dulcimentary-articles/the-unofficial-history-of-westphalia-waltz/
Wouldn't put one inside the instrument, but that's me. If you get static shocks shuffling across the floor in socks, your house is too dry. Bowls of water set around, wet sponges on a saucer, or a humidifier will keep the humidity up where it needs to be. Winter is cold country can be very dry unless you have gas heat.
Pat, I have not had any instruments repaired at HMT, but I have visited the store many times over the years and purchased things from them. The folks have always been friendly and helpful. Reading about their repair people on the HMT website, I would not hesitate to let them work on one of my instruments. Take your dulcimer over there and see what they say.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Hello Pat, don't fret too much over that crack, probably the easiest place to fix such damage ( in my experience also one the the more 'common' cracks to be found, usually resulting from someone picking up an instrument with a 'thumb on top' grip adjacent to a sound hole and exerting enough downward pressure to cause damage) Careful manipulation of the crack to open it sufficent to be able to rub adhesive into it, followed by the careful insertion of a glue soaked piece of linen (I use a piece of handkerchief, don't tell my wife !) thro' the soundhole if possible, below the crack, massaged into position with a finger. Any surplus adhesive on the top to be cleaned away immediatly. Kevin M does good work.
I've done four or five in that manner.
JohnH
No no gorilla glue! Repairing this type of crack is the same as repairing sound hole cracks in violins. It requires fitting small cleats to the underside to stabilize the crack and prevent it from spreading. The size and thickness of these cleats is very important to to preserve the sound of the instrument. Like I stated its an easy fix ,but, needs done in the proper way.
God luck with your dulcimer. Kevin....
I am sorry about the crack in your Jeffery's, I hope that Kevin can help you to fix it Pat.
I have a question, How can we prevent this sort of thing from happening to our treasured instruments?
Would regular lemon oil treatments help?
Kevin Messenger said:
No need to tetire the Jeffreys, a sound hole crack is easily fixed. If you can't find someone local let me know, I would be happy to help you out.
TunePal......yahoo, fantastic...I'm in, gotta get it.
I knew Rob would know
Hi Dusty. Yes, it does work. I was pretty skeptical also. Maybe I'll throw up a little demo so you can see. It's not like the pop music ones that tell you the artist/song/album and where to buy it; this one takes you to the musical notation and can play back that notation. I've tried playing a number of tunes for it to try to decipher and it does a very good job. It works best if you just give it a single-line melody only.
Thanks, Brian. I had heard of that app or another just like it but I assumed incorrectly that it was for pop music and would not be helpful for traditional music. However, I just checked it out on my Android phone (where it costs $4.63, by the way) and it states that it is specifically for "traditional Irish, Scots, Welsh, and Breton music." It sounds pretty cool. Does it actually work? There are so many common phrases in these old tunes and so many variations of individual tunes, I am a bit skeptical.
Hi all! I just wanted to mention that you can use TunePal for exactly these kinds of situations. This is a free online service you can access, or you can spend a few dollars and get the app for iDevices and Android. It does a number of things, but one of the coolest is that you play what you know of a tune and the app will then return a list of tune possibilities and percentage confidence levels. You can click on a result and get the music for the tune, and the app can play the tune back for you from that music to make sure it's what you wanted. You can also search tunes by keyword, tag tunes to your person tunebook and more.
I realize I sound like a commercial, so let me state that I have no association with the App or its author; I'm just a very satisfied user who thought others might also like the app. I certainly think it's worth the few bucks being charged for it. :)
Well check out the big brain on Rob!
That's it! I used to play that one on the mandolin about 20 years ago, which is why it was in my head.
Thanks so much!
Thanks also to Bob. I had worked through some of the hornpipes on the slips and snips page, and Ricketts was coming up, so I would have found it eventually.
Rob N Lackey said:
It's Rickett's Hornpipe
It's Rickett's Hornpipe
Thanks, Patty. A few notes in the A part do resemble Turkey. And yeah, Rob might now. I also think Randy Adams and Mark Gilston could probably ID the tune in a second. But I think Bob is right that it's a hornpipe, so I'm looking through that website he sent me to and hopefully I'll find it.
A part of it sounds like Turkey in the Straw. I'm thinking Rob Lackey might know.
Thanks, Bob. Will do. What a cool resource that is! If nothing else I'm glad I posted here simply to have learned of that clips and snips page . What a great way to learn tunes for those of us who learn by ear!
Thanks, Bob and Lexie. I'll start digging around on YouTube for hornpipes and see if I can't find one that fits.
Dusty, I just wish I had old fiddle tunes bouncing around in my head.
Sorry can't help, but it is a nice tune and I am sure someone will help you out.
This old fiddle tune has been floating around my head like a familiar smell that you can't quite identify. Does anyone know what the name of the tune is? Help!
The first correct answer will earn my undying gratitude.
I would also recommend Tabledit. It is an incredibly powerful tool that allows you to enter either tab or standard music notation, and it will fill in the other.
However, it is not very instinctive, and is therefore really frustrating when you first start using it. There is help available, and if anyone gets it, I recommend Stephen Seifert's extensive Tabledit Tutorial , which he offers free on his website. Secondly, the Arranging for Dulcimers group here is available when you have question (and you will have many!) about how to use the software. You'll notice that I've posted a few questions there myself.
There is a free version that you can use which has certain length limits, such as only songs of 16 measures or something like that. However, if only those who had success with that free version bought the software, no one would do it. As I said, it is not obvious how to make certain basic indications, such as triplets or slides or alternate endings. You will drive yourself crazy trying to figure that stuff out. However, the resources above and general Google searches will get you answers quickly. And the more you use it, the faster you get.
Using Tabledit has made me a better player by helping me connect what I play to standard music notation and basic music theory.
There's a bunch of us here using TablEdit.
Friends,
I'm part of a group that meets monthly to play (We're having a blast) -- but of course some times we have a sheet of music that needs some adjustment. Maybe we want to drop out a complicated measure or bring a published version more into line to how we know the song. And, for those of us in bifocals (me!), it can help to enlarge the music - and enlarging very much can mean we really need to shift things around and make more lines.
So is there a computer music/TAB making composing program that you recommend? I am looking for recent versions that can be currently purchased or downloaded (so if you are using the 2002 version of something that is no longer sold, that doesn't help).
We'll also be grateful for what to avoid. And if you're in western Washington on the second Friday of the month, come play! http://www.oldgrowthmountaindulcimerclub.com
You are doing a wonderful thing for your folks and yourself Marilyn.
I have not been playing for but 3 months or so, but hope to bring this sweet music of the dulcimer to the people in my community. I use my dulcimer for my own therapy and find it very comforting.
Keep strumming and Smiling
and making that sweet music.
Marilyn -- You didn't say whether you are playing Fingerdancing on the Melody string, Chord-Melody across all three strings, or Noter & Drone. There is a wealth of music in the Tabulature section at www.everythingdulcimer.com .
A good trick to know is that you can easily convert DAd tab to DAA. All you have to do is add 3 to each DAd tab number to get the correct number for DAA. If the DAd tab has a 6+ fret marked, you play fret 9 in DAA. It's that simple.
I've been playing DAA almost exclusively for nearly 40 years -- although I do re-tune when a particular song needs to be played in a different Mode.
