Alex, the "reverse" tuning of a strumstick relative to a dulcimer does not impede the playing of exactly the same music note-for-note.  It is merely an issue of ergonomics. In traditional dulcimer playing we fret the melody string and leave the bass and middle strings to drone.  If the instrument is lying on your lap, that melody string has to be the one closest to you so you don't have to reach over the other strings to play it.  Similarly, if you hold the instrument against your belly like a guitar and wrap your fretting hand under the neck, you need that melody string to be on the bottom so your hand can reach it.  That's the only reason for the difference.

Furthermore, in the Amy Grant video, she is only strumming chords.  You could play exactly the same thing in a regular dulcimer tuning or the "reversed" strum stick tuning.

The different tuning is not like the difference between a mandolin and a guitar, but simply the order of the strings.  Elizabeth Cotton was a great fingerpicking guitar player.  She played lefty and merely turned the guitar upside down.  But many right-handed guitarists copied her exact style of playing on a regular guitar.  She reversed, in a sense, the order of the strings, but the strings themselves were still tuned the same.  Many guitarists copy her playing note-for-note but do not need to turn the guitar upside down to do so.

One occasional member of my local dulcimer group has a strumstick and follows the same tablature as the rest of us.  No importa.

Alex, you can learn a great deal about the Strumstick by going to this website . Bob McNally is the originator of this instrument. Note that he does not call it a "stick" dulcimer and it is not a dulcimer but a member of the lute family. It is diatonically fret like a dulcimer, has three strings, and tuning machines like dulcimers, but I think the similarities end there.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Alex, I'm a little confused as to why the reversed strings on the stick dulcimer disappoints you. -Are you wanting to learn how she plays that particular song and worried that you won't be able to figure it out for your regular dulcimer which is not strung in reverse like the stick dulcimer?

Thanks, all.  Online information tends to be confusing about the order of the tuning of the strings, but I suspected they were in "guitar order" and you folk confirmed that.  Maybe I'm being silly, but that disappoints me, as I bought my first dulcimer, new and online, for $20, in large part because I wanted to learn the tuning.  I thought it might help my mental acuity as I aged, one of the reasons for one of my other passions, word puzzles.   At the time, I never thought I'd perform on it or compose for it.  

Since then, I've learned to love it and it's become my main instrument.  And I have a couple of McSpaddens that I love.

Thanks again,

That video of Amy Grant is a very touching, sweet but sad song.  Makes me nostalgic for the old times.

Alex, most strumsticks are tuned like dulcimers but with the bass and melody string reversed, so the bass string is on the top if held as a guitar or closest to you if laid upon your lap.

Hi All, 

Here's a new video from Amy Grant on which she plays strumstick, which, as you all know, is a child or grandchild of the mountain dulcimer:

I think it's pretty nice.  I don't follow her, so I had no idea she's switched from CCM to pop years ago (or that she married Vince Gill).

I couldn't figure out whether strumsticks are tuned the same as mountain dulcimers (or transposed G-D-G) or in reverse.  I'm just curious, but would appreciate knowing if any one can tell me.

Have a great weekend,