Dulcimer for the Disabled A few short years ago, I would never have dreamed that anyone would be asking me to write a lesson on playing the Appalachian Dulcimer. I’ve always loved the sound of the Appalachian Dulcimer, and in high hopes that I would be able to master the instrument, I bought a lovely McSpadden dulcimer around the early 1990’s. However, I was frustrated with being able to play it in the way that was considered the “right” way to do so, that is, playing the melody on the first string (single or doubled) with the other strings acting as a drone. The problem was that I’m dyslexic and can’t play any single-note succession without involuntary transpositions and “jump-aheads.” I tried writing up post-it notes for different songs to place on the dulcimer with the order of the fret numbers I was supposed to be playing, but even that did not help. It was like typing (thank heavens for computers to type on!), where my eyes see one word (“from”) but my fingers type another (“form”). For some mysterious reason I have always been able to play chords on the guitar and get them in the right order most of the time. But single note progressions, or even scales, are something I can’t produce in the right order more than maybe three times out of ten on a good day. And this was not a matter of enough practice – I practiced until I thought my fingers would fall off. I finally had to conclude that the dyslexia is “hard wired” and unchangeable. I spoke with a few well-respected players of Appalachian Dulcimer, asking if I could possibly play the instrument with chords. They said it was never meant to be played that way. So I sadly sold my McSpadden dulcimer to someone who was already a good player. However, in 2007, I was playing guitar backup for a workshop at Gebhard Woods Dulcimer Festival with Sandy Andina, a wonderful Appalachian Dulcimer player and she demonstrated how she plays chords on the dulcimer and uses capos to change the key. Although there are not as many choices in this area as there are on guitar, it opened my mind to the idea that I might be able to learn how to play this wonderful instrument after all. I went home from that year’s festival with a lovely low-toned Griebhaus dulcimer and a book with some chord charts and set to work. Learning chords has always been fairly easy for me and Appalachian Dulcimer chords are very easy, since the instrument has only three strings (four if the first string is doubled, but in that case it functions like a single string). Soon I was working with my partner, Phil Cooper, in the band “February Sky,” playing rhythm backup for his expertly-played guitar tunes and songs and chords to accompany my own songs and singing. There are still things I can’t do that chord-playing Appalachian Dulcimer players use all the time, such as hammer-ons and pulloffs (dyslexia combined with slow arthritic fingers), but what I can do is perfectly adequate for rhythm backup for singing or for tunes where the melody is played by someone else. Phil and I have been told that what we do works well, since if we were both playing melody we would most likely get a “typewriter effect.” Phil and I will play a tune or song together many times, until my fingers find their way to strumming or picking patterns that fill in the spaces on his leads. It’s a right brained approach! If you would like to learn to play the dulcimer in this way and are working with another musician who is playing the leads, you will have to find a musician who is patient enough to allow you to experiment until your fingers find their way to the right places, rather than getting it perfectly right on the first try. If you are doing a rhythm dulcimer accompaniment to your own singing, you will have to be patient with yourself, singing the song over and over until you find the right “fill ins” for the melody carried by your voice. But I guarantee you that once you find it, you will know, and your fingers will know, and the accompaniment will pretty much lock itself in permanently after you have played it a number of times. In early 2009, since I knew that Phil was able to play the Appalachian Dulcimer in the “regular” way, I bought a beautiful FolkCraft courting dulcimer, so that we could play duets on the dulcimer on stage. A courting dulcimer has two necks facing in opposite directions. It used to be that a youthful courting couple could be left alone in the parlor as they played the instrument together as long as mom and/or dad could hear the music! On stage, we put our courting dulcimer on a keyboard stand and play standing up to make singing easier. The courting dulcimer pieces have been very popular with our audiences, but another advantage is that having a courting dulcimer makes for an instrument with a bigger voice because of the larger body that is needed to accommodate the two necks. No problem getting this dulcimer to hold its own soundwise against Phil’s guitar or cittern! Also, I can put a capo on one side of the dulcimer and leave the other side open. This makes for smoother transitions between songs, since it is a bit more difficult to put a capo on a dulcimer and adjust it to sound right than it is on guitar. I truly admire folks who can do more on the dulcimer than I can (for example, reading sheet music or tablature is out for me, since they look to me like ants marching across the page), but the right-brained rhythm approach might be a new thing to add to the list of techniques under the mastery of musicians who are more left-brained. And for those who have disabilities similar to mine, take heart. If you like the Appalachian Dulcimer, you may be able to add that lovely sound to your list of musical possibilities after all! There are a number of ways of tuning the Appalachian dulicimer, but the one that I use is called Mixolydian (DAD). The first string (bass string, farthest away from the player) is tuned to D. The second (middle) string is tuned to A. The third and fourth strings (closest to the player) are doubled and function as one string, and they are tuned to D (one octave above the bass D). There is no one way to strum that is the only correct one. It depends on the song, and you can experiment with an out strum, or a back and forth strum, or you can even play arpeggios (where the strings are picked individually rather than strummed) as you hold a chord down with the left hand. Dulcimers are usually played with picks, I like a medium stiff triangular dulcimer pick, but this also varies depending on individual preference, the dulcimer you are playing and the type of sound you are aiming for. Some people finger-pick their dulcimers. In the DAD Mixolydian tuning, the main chords that are used are in the key of D (D, G, A and Bm). Playing the dulcimer in this tuning without pressing down any strings will give you a D minor chord. click here for chords to This Land is Your Land
|