Forum Activity for @strumelia

That cow will never know that a teeny tiny bit of its leg bone will be making beautiful music for years to come. The fox will never know why such a magnificent gift, because of music. Isn't life funny!

Contact Dave Lynch, at Sweetwoods and have him make one of his travel dulcimers with a second top. http://www.strothers.com/sweetwoodsinstruments.com/dulcimers.php Go here, and click on Specialties.

Paul

The concept of incorporating it into a "courting" dulcimer-like instrument might be the one that makes the most sense if you want to have the ability to play both a diatonic, and a chromatic dulcimer in one instrument. The fret boards could either run parallel or opposite each other depending on whether it would make more sense to play each one by turning the instrument around or more like a 12-string guitar idea.

And yeah, we're probably all nuts!

How about doing a courting dulcimer with both fretboards put on in the same direction? I know that my brother, Dave Lynch of Sweet Woods Instruments made a courting box type of dulcimer with double fretboards for a customer who wanted to play different tunings without switching instruments. One of those fretboards could just as easily been a chromatic one.

Easier by far to build a double dulcimer with one diatonic and one chromatic fretboard the engineering to make a replaceable fretboard only would be very complex. Harpmaker's Travel dulcimer with the slide off/on top comes closest conceptually.

The VSL for any two types of fretboard can be any length you like as long as you can calculate the fret spacing.

Check out http://www.bearmeadow.com/tools/flexifrets-install/index.html

Not a replaceable fretboard, just frets.

I would think the idea is worth trying out but I would install it with some kind of stops or keys to prevent sliding around from handling\, ie.,removable pins at each end.

The fret board could be chromatic on one side and diatonic on the other, just turn it over to switch. Screws for holding it in place.

But I would just as soon have a plain permanent chromatic since it's just a diatonic with additional frets. :>)

An interesting concept, but I would suppose that if you wanted a diatonic dulcimer, and a chromatic one, why not just dedicate a fretboard to each? But, hey, Einstein, great ideas begin with what someone else has said couldn't be done.

I play it in Am on my AEa tuned baritone, using a slide.

Since it's been 4 months since your original post, how about an update, Whit?

Paul

Hey Whit, I normally play it in Em. I tuned my baratone to FCF and capoed on 1 and played it. I have Martin Jazz strings on my baratone and it did just fine. You can play any DAD tab capoed on1with it tuned this way if your dulcimer will tune down that low. Its really Low. Could do the same thing ona bass as well. Probably too floppy on a standard dulcimer unless you use heavy strings. I use a 10/14/23 on my standard. I play in Bflat a lot there tuning to Bflat, F, Bflat and its pretty loose.

Gm is the relative minor of Bb major. It will be one of the minor modes, as John & Ken said. Mixolydian is a major mode.You can use G&D for your drones, or you may find Bb & D to your liking. If you are fingering chords, try Gm, Cm, Eb and D7.

Paul

Like johnp, the version of Wayfaring Stranger that I know is played in Dorian or Aeolian Mode, not Mixolydian. I play it on my G tuned dulcimers in GDC - Dorian - the melody string tuned one note down from Ionian GDD.

Don't know how helpful this is for the style you want.The tune I know is gapped at the 2nd and 6th, so in drone style this would be Dorian, Aeolian or Phygian.

john

Edward - I have used the Herdim picks forever - but after reading your post here, I am going to try the V-pick.

Anxious to get them (I am ordering a traditional, large and freakishly large - ultra light). I will post when I get them!

Thanks for the tip!

Edward I Ball said:

Hello Leighann, I tried different picks from Eldely, then saw from videos that Bing Futch endorsed V-Picks so I ordered couple each of there "Bing" dulcimer picks, I love the ultra lite, not to bendy, but they are an acrylic that is not sticky, but warms and grips to your hand, also have a great sound, I ordered couple more of each for a friend, who also loves them, little expensive, but last a long time. You can just look up V-Picks online, fast service.

The "problem" with nail strumming is that you don't get enough volume to be heard more that 6 feet away in a quiet room. Yes, I spent something like years just strumming out, using a Herco brand plastic Thumb-Flat pick. Basically a flat pick with a thumb-sized loop. With practice you can get rally fast with that thumb pick. If you play with things you may be able to strum out with the thumb pick and strum in with a finger pick on another finger.

If you learn to finger-pick you can wear the whole complement of finger picks.

Dropping flat picks usually happens because you're not holding on to enough of the pick (i've seen some beginners using only two fingertips); and are trying to keep the pick rigidly at right angles to the strings. A better technique is to only expose about 1/4" or so of the pick tip, and bury the rest of the pick in your fist. Then strum by rotating the the whole wrist so that the pick brushes the strings, not clicking past each one.

If you have trouble dropping picks, try smearing the wide part of the pick with some rubber cement or something to rough it up.

Robin, if I send you the wool, could you knit me a dulcimer too

Happy New Year to you.

Hi Leighann,

When you first start to knit you usefat needles, go slow and drop stiches but as your skill and accuracy increase you can knit faster with precision using thinner needles and drop less stiches. Eventually, the skill of knitting is 'automated' and your brain can even do other things like chatting whilst happily knitting away

Strumming a dulcimer is exactly the same. Strumming with a pick is a physical skill that requires a very high degree of precision, speed andaccuracy and hours and hours of practice. You can use 'big picks' or other techniques like sticky picks to help the learning process along the way. But, over time, you'll simply and imperceptibly just get better at strumming and holding on to your pick (whatever type of pick you choose to use in the long run). It is one of those skills that just evolves without too much analysis alongside learning tunes.

...but being my nerdy self, I'm researching a lot and playing less...

And therein lies the rub! We nerds sometimes need to learn to let go of the head stuff and simply rely on physical experience, without analysis, to get us to the next stage. And it can be fun to move away fromour preferred theoretical learning style and be a free child activist for a while and just see what happens experientially

Robin

My favorite pick these days seems to be a sticky grip pick I bought from Mike Clemmer. The par away from the point has foam on it that provides comfort as well as makes it a lot harder to drop a pick or have it suddenly fly out of your hand!

I'd use a hole punch to make a hole in the pick you're making from plastic. Drills just aren't my thing, I guess!

I made some "T" shaped tops on my picks. I took blue painter tape and 2 pieces of thin cord (candle wick sized) and taped each piece of cord along the top edges of the pick. This gives it a wide top that is easy to grip. I didn't have a death grip but a too loose grip and it either rotated or slid inward or outward. I wasn't sure if I could use a hot glue gun and make ridges on both sides of the tops. I'll have to try the Gorilla Snot.Go with whatever works

Hi Leighann, I had a dulcimer student who had trouble holding onto the pick and the solution we came to was to buy her a "Shark Tooth Pick". sThe Shark tooth is a cloth sleeve that goes over your thumb and fastens with velcro. The sleeve holds the pick steady at the same time. You can check it out on live by going to "Shark Tooth Pick".

Funny this discussion warmed up again right after our folklore society's newsletter discussed the topic. A suggestion was hold the pick, NOT point down, but sideways. Guy swears by it. I tried it, but am back to point down. Different strokes for different folks...literally.

I use Gorilla Snot brand stuff- keeps my picks from escaping my fingers, very grippy and it rubs off easily after you're done playing.

Cool, Leighann! I love this sort of "found" picks!

Leighann Batemon said:

I found a great pick solution! I use an elongated bread bag tie that I've rounded out the corners. The hole in the top makes it super easy to hold onto, and the elongation of it makes me feel more comfortable strumming. Thank you, everyone, for the nice (andingenious) posts-- I'm really grateful you took the time to respond. I learned a lot!

There's a law that you can't call yourself an acoustic guitarist until you've gotten a couple of picks out of the sound hole without resorting to chopsticks and sticky substances. It's in the Constitution, I think. It got better over time, but I dropped one in just a couple weeks ago.

Paul

I just bought some of these wrist lanyards from ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=271111397520&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160

My intention is to drill a little hole in one side of my pick, thread this through and loop it, and that way when it goes flying out of my hand (as it is prone to do) it won't go far. For $1.69 it's worth a shot.

Another way to keep a grip on a standard size pick is to use the colored rubbery plastic car key covers. You can get all sorts of fancy ones now a days like MS Piggy, or Oreo Cookies, but I've used the old fashion standard color code key caps/covers for years. The rubbery texture is sort of sticky without leaving a gummy film on the fingers.

The brighter the color also makes it easier to find the pick if you do drop it. Another advantage is the cover will add thickness to the top of the pick which makes it easier to hold without clutching.

Oops! In my earlier posting, I neglected to say that I cut my picks so they're more or less the shape of a big ol' kidney bean. With all due respect to my friend KenH, I don't think it's the least bit silly to search Google for how to make a milk jug pick! Some plastics work better than others and some pick shapes suit some folks while still other shapes suit other folks.

Last spring was my first real in-depth exposure to the mountain dulcimer at an all-day event. I had my acoustic bass guitar and loved that most playing was in the key of D. By mid-day I was ready for a pick...not the way I play guitar. Settled on the end of some lunch plasticware. I was pleased with the result (although some players saw it and loaned a pick). I was pleased with my inventiveness. My teacher gave me a "Don't mention my name..." reaction.

Now for the funny thing: At the event the loan of a MD for a year was offered and I was sure I wasn't interested.

Leighann, I often play with a big homemade pick cut from the lid of a plastic food tub. If you wish to take a look at my playing using a big ol' homemade pick-- and it's pretty visible in my hand before I actually begin to play a tune-- in this video:

http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/video/ridin-the-zigzag-wobble-railroad-on-lap-dulcimer-played-in-noter

If I had to play using a little pick, I'm not sure how I'd do it. So, hope this helps!

Welcome Leighann!

The choice of picks is nearly limitless, from feathers to plastic to iridium. However.

There are probably physical reasons why you're constantly dropping the pick.

Reason #1 is that as a newbie you've probably got a "white knuckle death grip" on it; and

Reason #2 is you have far too much pick sticking out of your fist.

You only need to have 1/4" or so of pick exposed. RELAX your wrist and let your hand rotate and move, changing the "angle of attack" from this: / to this: \ as you strum rather than trying to keep the pick rigidly upright like this: |

There is no known long term physiological damage associated with strumming with your nails. If there were, you'd hear about Picker's Thumb or Strummer's Syndrome or some such. Granted, if you like really buffed, highly polished and seasonally decorated nails it's not so good, but that's a different thing.

What "banjo players use" are (usually) metal fingerpicks; they're fine for certain sounds but not for everything. Different pick stiffnesses and materials -- leather, quill, felt, metal, plastics, thin, thick, etc. -- give you different sounds

"Look up on Google how to make a milk jug pick" Why bother looking something like that up??? That's kinda silly. In the time it takes you to type "how to make a milk jug pick" you can make three or four of them! Use a pair of scissors and cut a triangle about 1.5" on a side.Or bigger. Or smaller. Milk jug, credit card, yogurt tub, whatever. Round the corners. Strum. It's said that Jean Ritchie uses a quarter of a butter tub lid as a pick because her arthritis is bad (but she is 90 years young).

Word of advice -- don't let nerdy research get in the way of dulcimer playing time. Two separate activities.

There are various options for you on picks. I use my fingers nearly exclusively now, without thumb or finger picks. The steel strings wear the nails a little more than playing nylon strung guitars (I am a classical guitarist, too.) That means I have to care for my nails more: regular filing, eat the right things, gloves in these winter months.

When I use a pick, I use either pointless picks or a V-pick "Bing." Both are designed to avoid dropping them. That being said, milk jugs or butter carton tops, bleach bottles or cottage cheese cartons, or can make a pick from whatever you'd like in the sizes you think would be best for you!

Rob

The pick grip stuff that's proclaimed by many as the best is Gorilla Snot http://gorillasnotusa.com/gorilla-snot-guitar-pick-grip/

I was lucky enough to meet Dave Brown and Don Whicker through this site. We all live in Greensboro, NC and now get together to play once a week.

Last weekend when I was in Hindman KY, I met a few FOTMD and former FOTMD members. Mike Slone, Dan Cox, John Knopf, and Larry Hicks. I don't think I forgot anyone.