Tunings for Noter & Drone - Beginner/Intermediate

Tuning Your Dulcimer for Noter & Drone Playing at Sessions by Robin Clark

The purpose of this lesson page is to help beginners/intermediate players understand better how to tune the dulcimer for playing in noter & drone style at sessions. 

Watch the videos on YouTube for slightly higher quality.

  Introduction

Learning how to make best use of a variety of dulcimer tunings is one of the core skills of playing in noter & drone style.  On this lesson page we will look at setting up your dulcimer for noter & drone playing, physically tuning the instrument using both electronic tuner for pitch and relative tuning for sweetness, and some of the common tunings used at old time sessions.

The notes here are to amplify the content of the page's videos.

I do not describe the dulcimer modes on this page so you may find it useful to read Strumelia's Blog on Modes first if you are very new to the subject. http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2010/09/few-of-my-posts-about-modes.html

Strumelia also has a video demonstrating how to tune back and forth in the key of D to the four most common modes: DAd, DAC, DAA, and DAG and back again:

http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2010/02/video-re-tuning-between-four-common.html

String Gauges

The starting point for effective noter & drone playing at sessions are the string gauges you select for your dulcimer the ideal gauges for noter & drone playing being different from the ideal gauges for playing chord melody as you are looking for both a different balance between the strings and tuning adaptability.

On a standard McSpadden dulcimer (28.5 vibrating string length) the McSpadden 'ionian' string set of 0.022w bass, 0.012 middle and 0.012 melody strings is ideal.  I use these same gauges on instruments down to around a 27 VSL.  On an instrument with a shorter VSL you may want to go  one gauge heavier.

The Principles of Tuning for Noter Drone

Probably the easiest way to think about dulcimer tunings for noter & drone style playing is to remember that the drones' job is to support the tune that you are playing on the melody string with your noter.  So it is the tune you are playing on the melody string that will tell you what drones to select.    If you bear this simple concept in mind the whole process of tuning for different keys and modes becomes a lot easier.

The 4 Most used Tunings

In most dulcimer teaching books the dulcimer modes are described against one key.  For example you may find a book that describes D,A,A as 'ionian' tuning and then goes on to describe D,A,d as mixolidian tuning and D,A,G as dorian tuning etc.  So everything is based around one key with only the melody string tuning changing.  This is OK for learning about modes and when playing on your own but, in practice, it is not very helpful for the dulcimer player who wants to sit in on sessions  and learn songs and tunes in other keys or catch tunes by ear from CDs or videos.

What we will look at here is how to tune for the 4 most used keys and modes in the Appalachian old time repertoire.  By learning how to tune your dulcimer for these 4 tunings you will also learn the principles for pragmatically tuning your dulcimer to pretty much any key and mode you are likely to ever need.  The 4 tunings we will look at here are:

Key of D ionian

Key of A mixolidian

Key of A dorian

Key of G ionian

Key of D Ionian

We'll start with key of D ionian as our familiar D,A,A tuning is perfect for these tunes.  And there are many, many of them in the old time repertoire.

So lets think about the melody string.  To play in the key of D ionian we need to place the root note of the scale the d note on the 3 rd fret because that's where our ionian or western major scale starts. To do this we tune the open string to A to give us a 'd' note at the 3 rd fret.  So the first thing to do is to tune the melody string so that the 3 rd fret plays a 'd' note.  I prefer use my tuner to get that fretted 'd' note accurate rather than the open string A note as the 'd' note is our root note for the tuning rather than the open A string.  Now we can play key of D ionian tunes on the melody string with the noter.

So what about the drones?  Well, we need to find drones to support the tune we are playing on the melody string.  Drones on the mountain dulcimer are always either the root note of the key we are playing in or the 5 th note of the key we are playing, in in any combination.  So we could have root/root or root/5 th or 5 th /root or 5 th /5 th . In the key of D the root note is D and the 5 th note is A.  Therefore our drones could be D/D or D/A or A/D or A/A. This selection will depend on the potential of our string gauges to reach these notes and the mood of tune we want to achieve.  On the mountain dulcimer the 'classic' ionian tuning is root/5 th which is D/A and our usual dulcimer string gauges cope with these drones perfectly.  Just remember that those drones are supporting the melody we are playing and they could just as easily be D/D or A/D or A/A if our string gauges would allow, and we would still be playing in key of D ionian and still using an ionian tuning.  However, each drone combination has a different mood and different combinations will often suit different tunes.  Soldiers Joy, Arkansas Traveller, Angeline the Baker, Julie Ann Johnson etc are all examples of fiddle tunes played in the key of D ionian.

Key of A Mixolidian

Despite most dulcimer books and TABs showing D,A,d as the dulcimer's mixolidian tuning I have yet to find a single old time tune that is regularly played in D mixolidian by banjo players or fiddlers.  The vast majority of Appalachian mixolidian tunes are written and played in the key of A.  So it is very useful to be able to slip your dulcimer quickly into A mixolidian!

Lets start again with the melody string.  The mixolidian scale starts at the open string, so for key of A mixolidian we need the open melody string tuned to an A note.  This is pretty straightforward as we are already there when tuned to D,A,A.  The drones will again need to be either the root or the 5 th of the key of A in any combination.  The root of the key of A is the note A and the 5 th is the note E so our drones can be A/A or A/E or E/A or E/E.  Given the usual string gauges on standard dulcimers we should be able to get to A/A and possibly E/A for our drones.  This will give us the choice between A',A,A or E,A,A  for key of A mixolidian tunes (Old Joe Clark/June Apple/Red Haired Boy)

Key of A Dorian.

Again a vast majority of minor key tunes in the Appalachian repertoire are usually played at sessions in the key of A.  The dorian scale starts at the 4 th fret, so this is where we need to place our 'a' note.  Tuning the melody string to 'd' will give an 'a' note at the 4 th fret and allow us to play the dorian scale in the key of A.  We will need the same drones as for key of A mixolidian, either A or E. Tunes like Shady Grove, Cluck Old Hen, Frosty Morning, Cuckoo, Pretty Polly and many, many more are most often played in the key of A.

Key of G Ionian.

The key of G is very popular at sessions and many fiddle tunes and songs are regularly played in this key.  A majority of 'G' tunes are bright and sprightly and so played in ionian mode.  So we need to place a G note on the 3 rd fret.  Tuning the open string to 'd' will give us a 'g' note at the 3 rd fret.  The drones will be the root and/or 5 th of the key of G in any combination.  So we are looking for G and/or D notes as drones.  Most standard dulcimer bass strings will tune to D and down to low G.  Middle strings will tune down to G and some gauges will tune up to d (this is why it is an advantage to have your melody and middle strings of the same gauge).  Therefore, all 4 possible drone tunings are usually reachable G'/G, D/G, G'/d, D/d A lot of old time songs are usually played in the key of G such as Fly Around my Pretty Little Miss, Columbus Stockade, Mole in the Ground etc.

The 6+ Fret

If you have a 6+ fret then you can reach a number of other keys or multiple modes from one tuning.  For example, the key of A dorian tuning A',A,d will also give you key of A mixolidian if you use the 6+.

Cross Mode Tunes

There are many tunes that can be played in the 'wrong' mode because they don't use every note of the scale.  For example the tune Cripple Creek only uses 5 notes of the scale and does not use the 7th, so it can be played on both the ionian and mixolidian scales.  If you find that you can't tune your melody string to start a tune in the 'right' scale because your string gauges won't allow then you may be able to get the tune to fit an alternative mode.  It is very common for ionian tunes to be played on the mixolidian scale on the dulcimer by missing the 7 th note out of the tune.

Finding Other Tunings

You can apply the principles outlined above to reach many other keys and modes with a standard set of string gauges.  The golden rule is to start with the melody string and get your root note to the right fret for the mode you need for a tune by re-tuning that string.  Then blend in the drones to the root and/or 5 th of the key you are playing.