#Dulcimer online tuner full size#

The owner had a 1 1/2 fret put in but, I am playing a AEA.

I belong to a big group so chords will do for now. Q: - I have just recently had a baritone dropped in my lap to learn Christmas songs on. Jerry Rockwell’s web site has a good buyer’s guide section, which is fairly generic, although his instruments are a bit above the price range you mentioned. Joe Zsigray’s web site has a mountain dulcimer club listing that should help you find one near you. Try out as many as the owners will let you play. Is there a dulcimer club near your home? Go to a meeting and ask the members about their dulcimers. If you are into more delicate, finger picked or flat picked melodies, you’ll probably want more in the way of sustain and clarity of the notes. If you play in a “hell-bent-for-leather” strummed style, a dulcimer that doesn’t have a lot of sustain may be what you want. Try to play some on a variety of instruments before you commit your dollars. What *I* think about an instrument is not nearly as important as what *YOU* think about the instrument. The type of instrument one likes is a very personal choice. Keep in mind that opinions on dulcimers are just that, opinions. On the other hand, if the instument you’ve noticed has an accurate fret scale, $150 is probably a fair price for it, if you like the way it sounds. Buying such an instrument basically assures that it will NOT be a “forever” thing. Do you have any recommendations for purchasing one that might help ? Thanks a lot for any advice you might be able to give.Ī: - $200 is quite a tight budget for a good instrument, one that doesn’t sound like a “blue light special.” In my opinion, some of the inexpensive “factory” instruments out there sound overly “harsh” and don’t have a lot of sustain. It sounds better than some of the other lesser priced instruments I’ve been able to find but I know nothing about it. There’s a used one on consignment at a nearby store that’s priced at $150. Since I’m not sure if this is a ‘forever’ thing, I’d like to spend under $200 but not end up with an instrument that sounds like a K-Mart blue light special. Q: - I would like to buy a mountain dulcimer but am totally confused about purchasing one. This approach allows you to backup someone who is singing or playing in the key of B, but will not allow you to play melody. Another workable fingering for a B major chord in a lower position is 2-1-2. Just hold down all the strings at the 5 fret for the B chord, for example. The simplest chord fingerings for these chords are to use the bar chords at frets 5, 1 and 2 respectively.

The chords you are likely to need in the key of B are the B (of course) the E, and the F#. (If your string length is 28 inches.) 10 is probably close enough.Īnother approach, if you want to re-work what you’ve been doing, is to stay in DAd tuning and play back up chords for the key of B while the kids sing the melody. If you want to keep the same tension on the string, but have it come out an F#, it works out that you’d need to go to a 9.5 gage melody string. I often use a 12 gage string for my high D on my dulcimer. You’d have to do the experiment to tell for certain, though.

#Dulcimer online tuner full size#

Lighter gage strings are probably indicated, but on most full size instruments a 10 gage melody string, 12 gage middle, and 22 wound bass string should work, although they might feel rather tight. Should I use a different gauge?Ī: - Do I understand you correctly, that you play the tune in DAd tuning in the key of G? If so, and you want to play the same fingerings and have it come out in B, I think you’d need to tune to F# – C# – F#, not F-C-F. However, is this too high for the strings. Q: - If I want play a song that I arranged to play in the key of G, but now due to > the range of the kids voices, I need to play it in the key of B, what do I do? I’m thinking that I could tune to FCF instead of DAD. Here are some questions I’ve gotten from readers, either by direct email, or through the “Sweet Music” Mailing list over the last couple of years, along with my answers to them.ĭisclaimer: I have no financial ties to any other performer, builder, author or retailer mentioned here, other than, of course, my own products.