Enjoy mountain dulcimer lessons and hammered dulcimer lessons at your own pace, in the comfort of your own home. With our online dulcimer lessons, you will soon play dulcimer music well enough to join in at jam sessions with confidence.
Choose the instrument you would like to learn.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Mountain Dulcimer | Chromatic Dulcimer |
Hammered Dulcimer | Dulci-Bro | Fiddle |
Click here to enjoy your first lesson at NO charge.
LIBERTY, for MD Players
Liberty is brought to us by Erin Mae Lewis. It is a very popular old-time and bluegrass fiddle tune, great for contra dances, and it's tons of fun to play at jam sessions.
There are all sorts of rumors about this tune - from it being George Washington's favorite song to Benjamin Franklin wanting it to be the National Anthem in the U.S., which implies it was pretty well known back in the 1700's. We don't know for sure if that is true, but it is true that "Liberty" seems to be the "hoedown" of choice among Cajun fiddlers, when asked to play one. "Liberty" is also one of '100 essential Missouri tunes' listed by Missouri fiddler Charlie Walden, and is often one of the first fiddle tunes taught to beginners (in a simplified version).
Enjoy Erin's arrangement as she plays through it for you in this video.
A New Teacher & New Lesson
We are happy to welcome Karen Mueller to the Dulcimer Crossing staff. Karen won the 1986 International Autoharp Championship and was a National Mountain Dulcimer finalist in 1985, both times at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. In 2006 she was inducted into the Autoharp Hall of Fame. Karen is a 2012-13 recipient of a prestigious McKnight Artist Fellowship for Performing Musicians. She is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist; besides autoharp and dulcimer, she plays guitar, mandolin, Irish bouzouki and ukulele. In 2000, the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Association awarded Karen its “Recognition of Excellence.” She has also been an official showcase artist at the North American Folk Alliance Conference.
Enjoy this video as Karen tells us a little more about herself and how she came to play the mountain dulcimer.
The first lesson Karen brings to us is Johnny Don't Get Drunk. This is an old-time fiddle tune, and was listed as one of the "100 essential Missouri tunes." The title seems to imply that there is a message being sent to Johnny by his wife (or mother?): "Don't get drunk, and if you do, don't come bother to come home." But the lively melody surely tempted Johnny to imbibe and raise his glass to the others joining in with him.
DULCIMER CLUBS PAGE
We have added a Dulcimer CLUBS Page to our website (see the 3rd tab from the right at the top). Our vision is to provide as complete a list of dulcimer clubs as possible. But we need a LOT of help to fill in all the blanks with up-to-date information. If your club is not listed, or if the contact information is missing, just click here to fill out our information form with all the details we need to include yours on the map.
EXPLANATION OF BASIC VS. PREMIUM MEMBERSHIPS
It's fast and easy to get started - just TWO simple steps. First register and then sign up for the monthly payment plan. You can cancel at any time, but you probably won't. We keep a steady influx of new lessons coming in, and you won't want to miss a single one.
