Yes- the v is 'down'. The v^ is down,up.  By 'down' I mean the dominant direction that you tend to strum in- some folks strum inwards towards their body on major notes, others have an outwards dominant direction, away from their bodies. Thus, my v means your dominant direction strum. Easy to think of it as 'down', while the ^ is strummed as you go in the return direction of the strum. For more on this, use the blog's right lower keyword search feature and choose 'strumming' for various posts on strumming tips.

Are the little v and upside down v another way of saying down up down

So happy you are enjoying it!

There are many beautiful and plaintive tunes in DAC tuning (Aeolian mode). They are so easy to play in drone style when in the proper tuning.

Here are a couple other DAC/Aeolian tab posts from my blog if you like to explore more:

https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2009/03/here-is-another-old-ballad-in-aeolian.html

https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2009/03/black-is-color.html

https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2009/07/wedding-dress-my-little-doney-gal.html

My oh my oh my! That Shady Grove in DAC is beautiful!

Yes- thank you Dusty! My coffee had not kicked in yet when i wrote that.  lolol   Will correct my post.

@Strumelia, don't you mean Suzette should tune to DAC?  Your link mentions "aeolian," after all.

Suzette, tune to DAC and try my free noter/drone style tab for Shady Grove:

https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2009/03/beautiful-aeolian-mode.html

(I posted over 30 free tabs on my noter dulcimer blog)

Nice!!! Thanks!

Suzette, in the drone style, you never fret the bass or middle strings. They are always left to drone, and you will play the melody on the melody string.

You will sometimes run across tablature that places the melody across all the strings.  That tab is just not for you, so ignore it.  But whenever the melody can be played solely on the melody string, you can ignore the chording indications on the bass and middle strings. Over time you'll discover that a lot of traditional tunes sound great in that style, but some more modern pieces don't.

Make sure you join the Old Style Noter & Drone Group . You'll find lots of guidance there. 

Thanks Mr. Turtle. Yes, I am looking for one finger drone style. So for most songs, I’m guessing I can just play the melody string?

This is not the easiest tab to read, so don't feel bad.

The song is given in two sections.  In each there are three lines.  The top line refers to the bass string. The second to the middle string.  And the bottom line to the melody string.  So in that first section, you start by playing 1-1-1, meaning you fret the first fret on all three strings.  You end that line playing 3-3-5, meaning the third fret on the bass and middle strings and the 5th fret on the melody string.

However, if you are a beginner or if you want to play in the traditional drone style, tune DAC and only play the bottom line (melody string) of each section, letting the bass and middle strings drone.

The description on the page indicates how to read note duration, but if you know the melody, I would just follow the rhythm in your head.

For the record, there are plenty of examples of tab for this song that are easier to follow, so if you can't figure this out, I'm sure people can help you find other tab to use.

How do I read/play this? Is it 6 individual lines? 2 individual lines?

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