moutain dulcimer

Spaghetti Sauce A Cooking and Name the Dulcimer

Another week of PE over – yeah! Dang, I woke up rather sore in a few spots LOL.

The rain is back and the wind is blowing. Good afternoon the stay in. Making spaghetti sauce it is starting to smell good up here – it has been cooking in the crock pot since 1pm . …

Spent some time this afternoon playing the dulcimer with my faithful mutts at foot. Catfish usually just goes to sleep while Annie has this need to talk back at the noise. I end up putting her downstairs when I am trying to do the webcam thing.

Taking suggestions on names for my Blue Mountain dulcimer – I am playing her  in the video below so comment away with your ideas – oh – please no sissy name ok. I so can not hear myself talking to her and saying something like sweetie or honey pie LOL

Ok todays video:


Shady Drone

Not much exciting going on around here. PE class was spent getting body parts measured and completing different test to establish base lines.

I have been trying to play Shady Grove on my Blue Mountain dulcimer. It has a different sound than the walnut guy. Although it is hard to hear the difference using the old cheap microphone I have.

The history of the mountain dulcimer is rather interesting to me.  The traditional style of playing with a  noter and melody/drone style is making a come back it seems.

Maybe some day I will own a traditional dulcimer – my definition: without the extra frets (6 1/2) a true diatonic fretting rather than a more chromatic one is hard to find now days and do not come cheap. Maybe some day I will find one hanging around at a yard sale.

Another reason I like the traditional drone style – it is something I can do -well ok Webster: I am practicing LOL. Since I can no-longer get my fingers to cooperate on the fret board of my guitar I thought this might be the way to go. I can form the cords and finger pick on the dulcimer but only on a good day and I refuse to spend my time practicing something that more than likely I won’t be able to do soon.

Dang if I have not found out that strumming and notering is a whole lot harder than it looks! The way the dulcimer is held presents a whole new learning curve also.

So my latest attempt at mountain dulcimer playing: Shady Grove an old folk song here in America that seems to have it’s root’s in the 18th century and sounds a lot like an old 1th century ballad Matty Groves an old English ballad.


Aunt Rhodie kmilyun Style (or lack thereof)

I spent most of the day doing not much of anything – I am so lazy sometimes!

This afternoon KRP and I went to Davis and I picked up a book that covers the basics of modes and dulcimer tunings.  I have not played my dulcimers in years. I did remember that tuning the bass string to the key that the song was in and then the middle and melody strings to the bass string pitch at the forth fret. I know, I know, simple simon.

Sometimes I would just tune the melody string to the bass string.  But now I think I need to figure a bit more out about it mostly because I have the time and all the free tabs assume you know what D ionian or mixukonin men . …

Yes I know that modes and keys are not the same thing.

So today I decided to figure out Aunt Rhodie as I know how it is suppose to sound and I figured that using a noter ( a stick of cut off dowel) and my old guitar pick I could thrash it out.

And just because I like to torture my readers I hooked up a tiny night vision security camera and an old microphone to the xp machine and made a video.  Now not just any ordinary video mind you but one that I am sure I will regret sharing someday as right now I pretty much really suck at playing the dulcimer.

So here you go: