Learn to play the Mountain Dulcimer

No one is a born musician!

There is no innate talent to play a musical instrument. 

Your hands have to learn how to manipulate the instrument to get the music you want. 

To do that, you most practice. The more you practice the faster you progress.

The reward is in the journey 

and 

along the way finding joy in the music you create.

Free Learn to Play Tunes: 

Each link below takes you to a page that contains both videos and tab specifically created to help you learn these popular Mountain Dulcimer tunes.

I believe that it helps to break things down into small chunks when learning something as complex as a new song.  Therefore, these "Learn to Play" pages include tab and videos that break down the songs into very short sections. Then, once you have learned the short sections of the song, I also include "play along" videos that allow you  to play the song at a slightly slower speed.  

While I include tab for the "paper trained" musicians, this is also a great way to learn tunes if you "play by ear"!

• Coleman's March

• Southwind

If these are helpful to you and want me to create pages like them for other tunes, please  request a tune ... 

Attend my monthly Zoom Tunes sessions on the 1st Tuesday of the month 

Keys to success on a Mountain Dulcimer ...  

• Accept that everyone's journey to joyful music is different.  Some people have lots of time to practice and can, therefore, make rapid progress.  Most people don't have that kind of time so their progress is a bit slower. 

• PRACTICE!  Set aside a time to practice as often as you can!  See these Practice Tips for more details ... 

• Be sure to tune your dulcimer to the correct tuning each time you play

• Memorize the Fret numbers. (See the photo below)  Compare your dulcimer to the image below.  Keep in mind that you may or may not have the 1+ fret.  

• If your not sure what Tab is ... review the how to read tab page .... 

• Many tunes are available in dulcimer "Tab".  Tab will show you the tuning you need to play the tune and the fret numbers that correspond to each note of the tune. 

• Playing a Mountain Dulcimer is, at first, a bit like painting by number.  Instead of painting, you are playing the notes of the song based on the numbers of the fret.

• Fret softly but cleanly and precisely using your fingertips not finger pads

  • • • Your fingers should be slightly bent most of the time  - Like when you type on a computer keyboard

      • This means the finger nails on your fretting hand must be cut very, very short!

A few details about the parts and frets on a Mountain Dulcimer that are helpful to beginning players .... 

• • Between the Nut and the Bridge is the "Vibrating String length" or VSL. This is the length of the string that vibrates to make the notes. Different dulcimers come in different sizes and this affects the VSL.  Some are about 25" some are 27" and some are even longer.  People with small hands say they are more comfortable playing a dulcimer with a shorter "VSL".

  • The Bridge on some dulcimers is movable and can be angled a bit.  On dulcimers with a movable bridge both the angle and precise position of the bridge affects the intonation.  Intonation means that the correct note is played at each fret position on each string. 

  • Dulcimers are frequently re-turned into different tunings. See a more detailed description about that on the Tunings page.  For now, understand that when you re-tune to a different tuning, for example CGC instead of DAD, that changes the notes that are played at each fret position.  Therefore, people tend to not focus on the notes as they instead focus on the tuning and fret numbers.

  • Very old dulcimers have only the "diatonic" frets of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. 10. 11. 12, etc.  In the 1960's, people started adding the 6+ (also called the "6 and a half") fret.  This allowed them to play more '60s Folk music so it stuck. More recently, people have been adding the 1+ and sometimes the related 8+ frets. These new frets allow people to play modern rock music. There are a number of folks that are now also playing a fully "chromatic" dulcimer that has a chromatic fret board. While some players may want to jump right into a chromatic fret board, it's usually something that only more advanced players try.

If interested, I offer personalized instruction with a live one-on-one zoom sessions