This is great why beat yourself up so much? Your vids are too short like samples. would love to hear whole songs.

The Plea is your shining piece and should and could be put here in its entirety today because we want to hear it and we will appreciate it. We are your big fans, man. Come on. Smile and move one inch to the left or the right for a new and different reality, "Kerouac."

Wow .. and thanks! How did you find this? It gets like one hit a month on youtube.

"The Plea" is my favourite self-written tune, though I cannot master the middle part (which is left out here). Sort of ironic that I've never beeen able to play the whole thing through, and every time I try I get frustrated and put down the instrument, some times for weeks.

Nice to see you playing Richard - I echo what others have said. Ease up on yourself there; if your external situation puts limits on the time and energy you have for music, don't add to the pressure by having goals that are maybe unobtainable. Don't make something you love into a stick to beat yourself with (I speak as someone with some similar tendencies to demand perfection of myself!)

You have great rhythm and panache in your playing, and that is what carries an audience....

Thanks Lisa.

"I just wish it was about three times longer."

Yeah, "The Plea" has been eviscerated. It is really 2:04, but I didn't have the guts to include the middle part of the piece, which is technically challenging and I generally fail to pull off without lots of embarrassing screw-ups.

"It's sloppy & choppy, but maybe someone will enjoy it anyway." I certainly did! I thought it was very nice, and I hope to hear more from you. :) Your ginger is lovely also. I have a little cherry ginger (non-custom) and I love it for its bright cheery sound.

I do hope you'll keep playing, and sharing. Thanks!

~Brian

I am so heartened that you enjoyed this clip.

Wish I could focus more on my music, which feels like it's slipping away from me. It's all there in my head, but when I've tried to play recently I'm usually frustrated and overwhelmed by the flaws and a sense of mediocrity. It's irrational, I know -- what does it matter if I'm not Paganini? The root of the problem is surely my "Real Life", and I'm lucky to be able to play at all. Still, I end up raging at my own incompetence, like I've betrayed my own music somehow and don't deserve to play it.

How fortunate I am to have this generous community, which seems willing to tolerate my musical neurosis, ignore the imperfections and accept the music for what it is.

Bobby -- the walnut coke-bottle dulcimer on the table doesn't have any identifying marks, although I suspect it may have been built by the late Paul Pyle. I've seen at least on other identical instrument on eBay. It's a nice little workhorse and the fret scale is accurate in the first octave. The higher registers are out of pitch though, and it does not have much resonance or sustain. I think I bought it for $45.

If you meant the dulcimer in my lap, that's a McSpadden Ginger custom model. I should have changed the strings before recording it. I don't do it justice here, but it's a remarkably expressive instrument -- as it should be, at $800! Far more than I could afford, but I'm glad I bought it.