Mandolin and Dulcimer

[mandocrucian]

Did a mandolin/Appalachian Dulcimer CD with Jerry Rockwell back in 1990. (Several years before Butch & Schnauffer did one)

[catmandu2]

Concur. The percussion has to be appreciated on this one.

Oh, and one of my most adored artists - shivkumar sharma blew my mind on it. Light as air. That sus- modal work back and forth - I got hooked on that in the 80s could never shake it.

*edit - Oh sheesh, sorry I was responding to Dan tucker, and now I realize he (this) isn't about HD! Ooops.

[DHopkins]

I am mildly amazed at the number of responses to what has pretty much become a dulcimer thread. Back when I made them, I always had to carry a picture around to show people what a dulcimer was. (In most cases, even after I showed them, they still didn't know.) But, I've noticed that more people are familiar with mandolins than dulcimers (but not by much). And I guess we can thank Bill Monroe for it but most who are familiar with a mandolin think it's just used for bluegrass, but that's for another thread.

[catmandu2]

My first awareness of them was collin walcott in the 80s. When I heard (on recordings I imagined it was some kind of "bouzouki" of which I'd no knowledge whatsoever) - only that it was something exotic to my ears. I always played 12-string a lot and liked the double-course thing (led to all kind of naughtiness, mandolins and cboms and stuff).

When I play out with it, seemed like there were as many folks as not with some frame of (exotic) reference as this - as well "old time" is often a type of "exoterism." Yes, folks think Asian, Mediterranean, et al. I didnt play a lot of fiddle tunes, and so folks didn't readily have that "american old-time" context, and harp repertoire was/is probably as exotic as anything to folks.. many also have the central europe connection - especially when I go klezmer or balkan tunes..

*Oops, sorry - see above, wrong instrument

[multidon]

Regarding the mandolin and the dulcimer occupying the same sonic territory: my wife plays both baritone and bass dulcimer. The baritone is a fourth lower and tuned ADA, or also can be tuned GDG without too much trouble. It is a lovely instrument occupying a sonic spectrum akin to an octave mandolin. It is great for backing up vocals and would make a great complement to a mandolin. The bass is an octave lower, tuned DAD. Roughly the same territory as the bottom three strings of a guitar. Also lovely when paired with a higher pitch instrument like mandolin. When she plays those instruments in duet with me, I usually play melody and she plays arppegiated chords. Just lovely.

[sbhikes]

What kind of stick dulcimer? I have a McNally Strumstick, the Grand model. It comes tuned DAD. This is good for playing tunes in D major with two sharps. When it's tuned DGD I can play G tunes or D tunes. If I tune it all up one step to EAE I can play A tunes. With a capo on the third fret, I have even more options. A lot of times the tuning (DAD or DGD) depends on what strings you would play the tune on the mandolin. Tunes on the top three strings are better DAD and tunes on the bottom three strings are better DGD, usually. Using a capo also helps with this "problem" of tunes not fitting well on the strings. You sort of figure this out through experimentation, which tuning works best for which tune.

I also bought a McNally ukulele strumstick and replaced the bottom string with a low string so I could tune it like a mandola. I use that as a travel mandolin. Even though it's a fifth lower, when I go backpacking I play it by myself so it doesn't matter.

[Billy Packard]

This is a tad off track but I have a 1979 Custom CapriTaurus dulcimer listed here in the "Other" column.
Does anyone have suggestions where else I might list it.
It's really special...

Billy

billypackardmandolin.com

[darylcrisp]

i'm thinking the OP may be meaning the appalachian dulcimer and using a stick to fret the strings(as some old timers did).

anyhow, here is Jessica Comeau on youtube. shes awesome and has a lot of free instructional lessons on youtube and tons of songs.
she has an excellent book/dvd that teaches from the very start-highly recommend this for your girlfriend.
Jessica's website: www.JessicaComeauDulcimer.com

instructions from the start:






another youtube offering is Bing Futch, he plays all kinds of music on mountian dulcimers:

[Ivan Kelsall]

Going back many years,i was working in our engineering dept.at British Aerospace. At the time,a good friend of mine,a folk singer / comedian & radio broadcaster,Mike Harding, was doing a series of TV programmes about his trip along the Appalachians. In one programme,he met up with a guy who's name i can't remember,who built Hammered Dulcimers. He of course played a couple of tunes on one of his Dulcimers,& needless to say,i was knocked out.

I went to work the following morning, & one of my workmates came up to me within a few minutes, asking me if i'd seen the programme. He'd never seen or heard of a Hammered Dulcimer before & the sound totally blew him away. He told me that if he could go out at the weekend & buy one, that he would - however,at that time over here,chicken's teeth were common compared with a HD,
Ivan

[James Miller]

I have a little tune I play that mimics a dulcimer sounds on the mandolin.

[multidon]

Daryl, I made the assumption that when the OP mentioned the term “stick dulcimer” he was referring to a strum stick like the McNally or similar. I don’t know anyone in the dulcimer community that calls a dulcimer played with a “noter” a “stick dulcimer, even if the noter is just a stick. I may be wrong, but that is the assumption I made.

Billy, the former Everything Dulcimer website would have been perfect to list your dulcimer for sale. But now it is gone. Your best bet is probably to use Reverb.

[mandocrucian]

I came across a track, "Little Beggarman" on Soundcloud of something I played on a 1994 album by dulcimer player Jerry Rockwell, one of the monster players of that instrument.

I'm playing mandola on this. There's some Okinawaan modification of melody from me in the intro and the solo, and then the things drifts off into an acoustic SF psychedelic section along the lines of It's A Beautiful Day.

https://soundcloud.com/jerry-rockwel...ttle-beggarman

There's another track on that same CD called "Browns Trace Revisted" on which I play (mandolin) which is really good. I don't know if he's got it posted, but check it out if you come across it.



Niles H