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I received a dulcimer as a gift this past Christmas, which is really nice since I had been interested in learning to play the dulcimer for a long time. I find that it's very enjoyable and relaxing. I was wondering how many other tuba and euphonium players out there also play the dulcimer. This would be the Appalachian (or mountain) dulcimer, rather than the hammered dulcimer.

Mine is made by Applecreek. It's not a very fancy instrument, but it has a nice sound.

My wife and I just bought one a couple of months ago, and it is really a lot of fun. Easy to play, but will be challenging for some time to come to play well.

Here's mine, the Black Mountain Model 36, bought from Music123 for ~$110:



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Joe Baker, who hopes to take it out to Cades Cove (in Great Smoky Mountain Nat'l Park) and spend some time sitting under a tree playing it this weekend.

Well, I play a pretty mean fiddle. And mandolin. And guitar. Do those count?

MA

Wayne, I'm not sure it would sound the same that far from the Appalachians. I probably wouldn't play it in Texas either. But you get it up here on a hillside, or in a little clearing under a hemlock tree, some mountain laurel and rhododenrons blooming nearby, a little brook running behind you -- a dulcimer just seems so at home here! V-E-R-Y relaxing to play or to listen to.




Daryl, do you finger chords, or do you just play it with the drones? I'm trying to figure out chords on my own, but if you know of a good tablature source I'd appreciate hearing about it.
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Joe Baker, whose favorite piece to play is the old mountain standard "Wildwood Flower" (not the comedy song about pot -- this is a totally different, much older song)

MaryAnn wrote:Well, I play a pretty mean fiddle. And mandolin. And guitar. Do those count?

MA

No, those sound like work!

BTW, are you familiar with a Jimmy Buffet song "Something So Feminine About a Mandolin"? Great song, has kind of an Appalachian ring to it, actually -- with fiddle, mandolin and banjo, as I recall. Lyrics:

• It was late in the evenin', just a few of us pickin',
  But the lady she played so easy and fine.
  And the chords that she strummed were so tastefully clever,
  They planted this song in my mind.
  
  Cause there's somethin' so feminine about a mandolin;
  The way that they feel, the way that they ring.
  Just to see slender fingers, movin' so quickly
  Made this boy want to sing.
  
  And when I get older and I have a daughter,
  I'll teach her to sing, and play her my song
  And I'll tell her some stories I can barely remember
  And hope that she will sing along.
  
  Maybe one day she'll take a fancy to pickin',
  'Cause when that bug bites you, you live with the sting.
  And if she could just strum a few simple measures
  She could make some young man sing.
  
  Cause there's somethin' so feminine about a mandolin.
  The way that they feel, the way that they ring.
  And that evening in a pasture, somewhere near Austin.
  That mandolin made me sing,
  Her mandolin made me sing.

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Joe Baker, who wishes he could play ANY of those instruments

My wife got me a dulcimer at our local arts and craft festival.I hated it.It was poorly made for the tourist market and all the chords were not available.I should ad that I had been playing a Gibson 330 for twenty years that has it all.Why settle for less?
Tried to take harmonica lessons but could not bear the gaps in the scales after being a horn man for life.I cannot abide an instrument that is a step down for me but my grandson finds his harmonicas and dulcimer fascinating.

Joe Baker wrote:Daryl, do you finger chords, or do you just play it with the drones? I'm trying to figure out chords on my own, but if you know of a good tablature source I'd appreciate hearing about it.

The book that came with mine is a bit simplistic, just familiar melodies with drone. That's fine, but lately I've been trying some things that at least have a little bit of chord movement. Just about all of that has been what I've found online.

The best place I've found so far is AllTabs (http://www.alltabs.com/). Everything there is free. There is a viewer called TEFview you can install that works with their files, and the printouts look pretty decent.

Also, take a look at Everything Dulcimer (http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/tab/).

At some point I want to buy some books that are a bit more challenging. I also what to learn how to do what you're talking about, doing chords on your own. There was a video I checked out from the library that was all about dulcimer chords. I watched it some time ago just to see what was possible. Now that I have an instrument, I need to watch it again.

It's called "Mel Bay's dulcimer chord video" by Joe Carr.
ISBN: 0786630612

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MaryAnn wrote:Well, I play a pretty mean...mandolin.

MA

In my band, during these politically correct times, we refer to this instrument as a persondolin, thank you.

euphenstien wrote:i love playing dulcimer. i also play guitar and mandolin. i learned dulcimer chords from the experience i had with the other instruments. they are all very similar.

Well, I play a pretty mean fiddle. And mandolin. And guitar. Do those count?

i hope when you say you play a mean fiddle you know "the orange blossom special".

-euphenstien-

She does, and quite well. With her permission, I'll post a link to her -er- unusual rendition: "Brass Grass", a fiddle with french horns and tuba.
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Joe Baker, who doesn't expect to hear this on WSM anytime soon, but thought it was interesting!