Okay, thanks. I appreciate your advise.

So, Rolla, that means tuning to DAA, right?

Thanks, Dan.

I know how you feel. Information overload can be daunting sometimes. I actually prefer pure diatonic dulcimers to the ones with the extra frets. Robert Force and Albert d'Ossche' uaed to remove the 6+ from their dulcimers.

Thanks, Dan. I appreciate your response. I've been reading so much the last couple of days that it's getting confusing!

Welcome to our happy family, Melanie. You should have no problem learning to play without the 6+ fret. Most of the tunes don't require it at all, esp the old tunes like Aunt Rhodie, Cabbage, Old Joe Clark, Mississippi Sawyer or Grey Cat on a Tennessee Farm. When I started learning 4 years ago, the 6+ actually got in my way until I learned to ignore it.

I wanted to thank everyone for the warm welcome here! So many friendly people and good information.

I have a question and I hope I'm not going to have a problem. My grandson has my better dulcimer and I will be getting it back in the next few months. Meanwhile, I bought a handmade one off E Bay simply so I could begin learning and practicing. I found out that this one is 15 years old and does not have the 6 1/2 fret on it. Will that be a problem in learning to play? I know that for many, many years, people have played on dulcimers without this extra fret but I've been reading that this extra fret is important. I'm new enough to all this to not even be able to ask intelligent questions yet.

Am I going to have a problem?

updated by @melanie-cook: 08/05/23 10:07:05AM