My new Berg!
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
As requested.
Forum Activity for @dave-shattuck
My new Berg!
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Congrats, Dave. My first dulcimer was Bill Berg student model. I still play it often and it seems to get better with age. Heck, maybe both o us do. You made a great find and buy.
My new Berg!
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
I just bought a 5 string Berg hourglass on eBay for $78.00. This is one made by him and his wife. I have played many builders, including Mcspadden, and lots of others. This is by far the best sounding dulcimer I have played. All solid wood, book-matched back, all walnut with butternut, or cypress top. It is the first 5 string I have touched, and may never go back to a 3 string. Tuned dadD. I love it. Who ever said you need to spend hundreds for a great dulcimer?
updated by @dave-shattuck: 08/02/23 09:43:30PM
Show Us Your Pets!
OFF TOPIC discussions
Here is a thread where we can all show off our animal buddies!
Let's see your favorite furry friends.... :)
updated by @strumelia: 07/31/23 09:29:55PM
The Positive Thread...
OFF TOPIC discussions
Tell us one positive thing in your day today!
updated by @strumelia: 07/31/23 08:38:43PM
Though I have all my digits, I have physical problems with my hands. For picks, I cut large ones out of plastic lids and use quills, too. Both of these give greater points of contact with the hand than smaller picks of whatever type. The more points of contact my hand has with each type of plectrum, the better it is for me physically.
I'm happy to see you're going to explore further options, Julian!
Julian, sorry to hear about this terrible accident. I'm sure it will take a while for you to recover.
My husband Brian had his left thumb completely detached by a table saw many years ago. He was lucky in that they were able to put it back and it's there, but it doesnt function at all- neither does his index finger next to it. They are just sort of there for looks. After two years of recuperation, he took up the huge challenge of playing oldtime fiddle, as a sort of physical therapy. Now 20 years later, he's a wonderful fiddler despite the fact that he cannot use his left thumb or index finger at all- he frets notes with his other 3 fingers and probably has the world's strongest left pinky at this point. That's one finger more than famous guitarist Django Reinhardt used to fret with- only 2 fingers- you might want to read about Django and his fingering challenge.
I don't know the details of your injuries, but I'm still hoping you will 'never say never'. The mountain dulcimer, because it can be strummed broadly across with a simple sweeping motion of the right hand, and played with a noter stick or a single finger with the left hand, might well be the ideal stringed instrument to play if missing several fingers. Please do consider the possibility that one day you will be able to play it again.
Meanwhile, my sincere wishes to you for a good recovery.
And keep in mind that one doesn't have to be a player or builder to part of the family here on FOTMD! 
Oh, Julian, I am so very sorry and hope your healing is progressing well!Though I do not wish to presume anything, there are various styles of dulcimer play which could, perhaps, be managed if you wished to explore options for playing mountain dulcimer.Again, I'm sorry about your accident! Take care.
Playing dulcimer with a ukelele
Playing and jamming difficulties...HELP ME!
Thanks, everyone! We will have to get capo for the ukes and give thata try....
Playing dulcimer with a ukelele
Playing and jamming difficulties...HELP ME!
If he knows D,G and A chords he can play with you.
He can capo 2 and play in C - CFG, which will please him.
If you have specific questions on specific songs, I'll help you if I can.
CGC tuning for you is fine too if you mostly are going to be playing with him.
Have fun, I do this all the time and they sound great together.
Playing dulcimer with a ukelele
Playing and jamming difficulties...HELP ME!
Correction: soprano and tenor ukes are usually tuned in the key of c - foggy brain late at night.....
Playing dulcimer with a ukelele
Playing and jamming difficulties...HELP ME!
Hi -
My hubby is the proud newowner of not just one ukulele, but 2 ( a little Diamondheadsoprano and tenor Fluke) and I as a beginner/intermediate player of a dulcimer would like to play together. The ukes are commonly tuned to the key of G. We have been experimenting a bit but should I retune to CGC to make it easier to accompany him or capo to G while in DAD tuning? I am open to any suggestions to make it easier to do.... ...thanks!
updated by @gale-a-barr: 02/25/19 03:50:36AM
There's nothing like getting to play music on your porch! Enjoy, Donna!And Kate has located information on Mr. Dunkle. It's always special to learn of the builder.
updated by @robin-thompson: 02/16/16 11:48:13PM
a digital data base of traditional folk tunes
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
wow forgot about this one. lost all my book marks while back, now i can add this one back.
a digital data base of traditional folk tunes
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Yep. "Sniff" has been around for better than a decade. Too bad the author only set it to work on an old subset of the Mudcat Cafe song database...
Be aware that for dulcimer tab the db uses the olde 'backwards' listing of strings for tunings -- AAD for DAA etc. Perhaps your best use is to enter the tunings of your strings rather than use one of the 'canned' tabs.
a digital data base of traditional folk tunes
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
thought you folks could use this.....have fun
updated by @ravenmadd-garcia: 06/11/15 07:41:11AM
It's always difficult writing down something that is done almost instinctively. I think we use all sorts of methods all at the same time.
So I might be trying to match a note I can hear in my head, or seeing if the next note is up or down, or trying to gauge how far away it is(the spaces inbetween), Then the words and notes might not sync up and I realise I've missed a note somewhere, or I've got all the notes for the words but need to slip in an extra little something to keep the rhythm going etc.
Every so often shut your eyes and try to carry on playing. Even if you only manage 2 or 3 notes before you have to open them again it does wonders for your confidence.
I function almost entirely by ear (which is why I was first eagerly recruited and then summarily dismissed from my high school orchestra) -- although I also learn by closely watching others play. For whatever neurotic reason I cannot stand reading music or tabs. As my ear and memory fade in old age, the disadvantages of this approach are abundantly clear.As a kid I eventually compelled myself to read music, when, after burning through three piano teachers in two years, there was no one around to show me how to play Chopin nocturnes. But it was very frustrating. It would take me weeks to memorise a piece from sheet music. I could learn the same piece in a couple of days if someone took the time to walk me through it, or just play it in front of me a few times.
I personally have to know what a song sounds like before I can make any sense of tablature or music. In that sense, I learn by ear. But even better is watching someone play something. I can pick up a song much more easily if I can hear it and watch someone play it. In that sense, the visual and the aural go together.
But I would suggest that a lot of folks who think they cannot play by ear and yet use simple tablature to learn songs are in fact playing by ear. A lot of tab does not indicate how long you hold each note or where you pause in between phrases. You succeed nonetheless at playing songs correctly precisely because you know what the song is supposed to sound like and can play that even though the tab does not indicate all that stuff. In other words, you are indeed playing (in part at least) by ear.
I think a great way to learn your instrument is to put it on your lap and try to find the melodies to simple songs that you know really well. I bet you can pick out Mary Had a Little Lamb or This Land is Your Land or whatever. Start with kids songs not only because the melodies are usually simpler, but also because you know those really well. As you get better at "hearing" the difference between a note on the second fret and a note on the third fret, for example, you will get faster at picking out those tunes, and soon you'll be able to work on more complex tunes.
And if you work with chords, those simple songs only have two or three chords. And you know the chord will be one that contains the note you are playing for the melody. That generally means that you will only have two choices for any given melody note. I bet you can figure out which one sounds best.
Of course, more complicated music is . . . well . . . more complicated, but playing by ear is not something that is innate or genetic. It is something you learn. I can do it pretty well because I started playing the guitar at age 9 and did it mostly with no instruction, so I spent years of my life trying to figure out songs that I wanted to play. I wasn't always successful, and I am not always successful today either, but I have gotten better at it, and you can too!
I'm a visual learner, in that I'm far more likely to remember and understand something I read, rather than something I hear. The old saying about "Goes in one ear and out the other" fits me to a T.
When it comes to music this is especially true as I have no memory for instrumental music at all. Unless I have words to associate with the rhythm of the music, and tab to play with, I'm rarely able to remember a tune, much less play it. It can take me forever just to be able to recognize and name a tune that I frequently hear.
Playing by ear is a concept that doesn't work for me for more than the problem with memory, though I'd say that is a major part of my inability, but I also don't hear as well as I should. Thank heavens for electronic tuners and sheet music.
I learn by ear. Its easier if the song has words. Helpful from the start to know if its major or minor modal. I get the tune in my mind and with a dulcimer or tin whistle, I chase notes randomly until I link a note to a word or note in the song. After that the rest of the song or tune falls into place... Bob
yep it was worth the work. I have put the 3nd son to the side for the moment and working on a John Denver Song thats coming along a lot easier. when all else fails take the easy way.
Babs Greene said:
Great going, Phil!
phil said:Got it to work. Just working out the bugs and I will soon be playing somewhere over the rainbow. Just wish the 2nd song was going as easy.
Thanks Dusty I don't know what it is about music theory that confuses me. I don't know if it is because I learned so long ago( and that more years than I will admit to ) to play by ear an can only read the basic in music. maybe one day I will understand it. As for the song I picked, I chose one that I know well. So I would be able to tell if I got it right. Now that you have give me the key to understanding. I have a couple of harmonica books I need to dust off and get to work.
Thanks again, I can be a really dork sometimes.
Phil since harmonica tab shows which holes to blow in or draw from, it doesn't matter what key the harmonica is in. You can use the very helpful charts Tom posted earlier to convert that harmonic tab to dulcimer tab.
On the other hand, there is plenty of dulcimer tab for that song already. Here is Steve Smith's arrangement in DAA and DAD from the Everything Dulcimer Tab Archive.
Here the link to one of the songs I found, but everything I seem to find is in the key of C.
https://www.harptabs.com/song.php?ID=16
Tom McDonald said:
Are you thinking of harmonica tab, Phil? Or standard music notation? Can you post a link to whatever you are trying to convert? It would be easier to show you using your specific example than to just speak in generalities.
phil said:I think I under stand that. but the problem I have is how do you change something form the key of C to the Key D I seem to can't get a handle on how to do that.
Phil, I find all music theory is made easier if you can look at a piano keyboard. From C to D is one whole tone, or two half tones. From C to C# is a half tone, and from C# to D is a half tone.
So if music is written in the key of C, then every note and every chord has to move up that same amount: one whole tone or two half tones. An F note becomes a G note. A G note becomes an A note. A B note becomes a C# note.
For a visual aid you can also use the Circle of Fifths instead of a piano keyboard.
All you need to know to transpose is the key the music is written in and the key you want to play it in. In this case, the big red C is at the very top, and the D is two steps in the clockwise direction. So for every note or chord in they key of C, you move two steps in the clockwise direction to get the corresponding note or chord in D. We see again, an F becomes a G, a G becomes an A, and so forth.
The basic idea is that the relationships among all the notes have to remain the same, so the interval between the original key and the new key will be the same as the interval between any note or chord in that original key and the corresponding note or chord in the new key.
This stuff is hard if you try to do it in your head, but if you can look at a piano keyboard or the Circle of Fifths, it is much easier.
phil said:
I think I under stand that. but the problem I have is how do you change something form the key of C to the Key D I seem to can't get a handle on how to do that.
Thanks, Babs. I've got a pretty decent sheet on harmonica bending at home. It's part of a "harmonica for the dulcimer player" course that I teach. I'm away for work right now, but I'll post it when I get back.
When you bend a note on harmonica, you are getting the lower-pitched reed to vibrate at a sympathetic frequency to the higher note.
Briefly, achieving a draw bend is a lot easier than a blow bend. Of those, the 4 draw and 7 blow are the easiest, so start there. Whistle a note, and drop to a lower note. Feel how your tongue drops down as you do this? Do the same thing on the draw note, and pull the air into that back of your throat. For the blow bend, start with a clear note. As you are blowing, put your tongue up right behind your teeth, and give a high-pressure hiss. Imagine playing with a French accent.
Also (whether bending of not) use your tongue as a valve to start and stop your air, like saying Ta, instead of starting and stopping your breathing.
If you hear the note change at all as you do these exercises, then you've got it. The rest is just a matter of control.
Babs Greene said:
That's a great in-depth post, Tom, which will help me work across the entire 3-string range making use of the full range on the harmonica, instead of the current 4-7 holes which I've been basing things around (plus a hole either side as required etc).
One quick question, though it may be difficult to answer, unless you can link me to a youtube vid which will be of help, how does a person perform 1/2, 1/4 bends (+ two others, is it, full bend and 3/4??)on the blow andthe draw holes/notes? If it's even possible to explain how that's done, of course; I knew the drawnotes had available bends but until the other day hadn't realised that the blow notes also have bends available and frankly no idea how to go about the bend on the blow notes.
Are you thinking of harmonica tab, Phil? Or standard music notation? Can you post a link to whatever you are trying to convert? It would be easier to show you using your specific example than to just speak in generalities.
phil said:
I think I under stand that. but the problem I have is how do you change something form the key of C to the Key D I seem to can't get a handle on how to do that.
Getting started on this project, converting harmonica tab to dulcimer tab.
Many times, people want dulcimer tab for a popular song, and can't find any. We can't help much here due to copyright restrictions. However, you can google most any song title you can think of, followed by the words "harmonica tab" and find something to suit. Convert using a chart, maybe add some chords, and presto! your own instant dulcimer arrangement. And legal, too. You can learn any song you like and play it for yourself.
Here are some ideas to get us started. To use these scale layouts with a minimum amount of muttering under your breath when things don't work out, I recommend locating the highest and lowest note on the source tab first, and get those placed. That will keep you from starting too low, and discovering that you run out of room at the low end of the dulcimer three quarters of the way through the song. That said, use the lowest fret numbers possible to start. Don't overlook the middle and bass strings to find the notes you need.
For my example, I'm going to use Fare Thee Well. It is early enough to be public domain. Also, it's a song I don't know well, so I can give Babs Greene's idea a good trial. Here are two examples , both in D.
Here is harmonica tab plus pictures of dulcimer and D harmonica layouts. Disregard the chords under the harmonica tab. They inexplicably changed the key to G. If you want to add chords, use these instead .
Starting with the D notes, we have 1, 4, 7 and 10 blow on the harmonica, and dulcimer melody/bass string open, 7th and 14th frets, plus the middle string at the 3rd and 10th. This gives a general correlation of 1 4 7 10 blow notes on harmonica = melody open, middle 3, melody 7, and middle 10. Or, you can start on the dulcimer bass string and work your way up.
Offhand and by ear, this works if you bump the dulcimer up a bit. Start with harmonica 4 blow = dulcimer melody open. When you get to the B at harmonica 6 draw, that's on the dulcimer melody 5th fret. Or, you can start with 4 blow = dulcimer bass open, hit the F# at melody fret 2, and keep the whole thing at or below the third fret.
I'll make a better chart when I have time, and record some examples. Early to work tomorrow, time for bed.