Blog

chromatic mountain dulcimer

Chords on Chromatic by Erin Mae Lewis

Erin Mae Lewis Finding and Building chords on a Chromatic Dulcimer. In her chromatic lessons series, Erin, shows how she maps out and builds chords, both the I-IV-V chords for playing progressions, but also the rich chord additions (minors, 7ths, major 7ths, minor 7ths and 6ths, diminished, suspended and augmented)   [Note: this lesson uses both Diatonic and Chromatic Fret Numbers] Here Erin introduces the lessons:

Subscribe to see the rest of the lesson!    

Read more…

Chromatic Scale Patterns

Erin Mae Lewis teaches a new lesson on the skill of playing what she calls "forward" and "backward" scale patterns. This is what she uses to move her scales all over her chromatic mountain dulcimer, enabling her to playing the "string-band" keys, as well as the "singing" keys and helps her be not only a welcomed player, but a sought-after player for bluegrass jams sessions! Her tips will definitely help you, even if you are playing standard mountain dulcimer only.

Subscribe today to hav…

Read more…

Orphan Girl: New Chromatic Dulcimer Lesson!

Orphan Girl by Linda Ratcliff

For Chromatic Mountain Dulcimer Players "Orphan Girl" was written by Gillian Welch, whose musical style combines elements of bluegrass, neotraditional country, Americana, old time string band music and folk into a rustic style that she dubs "American Primitive." Gillian and David Rawlings included "Orphan Girl" in their debut album, "Revival," in 1996. This song is somewhat autobiographical, as Gillian was adopted on the day she was born, and spiritual as none of u…

Read more…

What to Do....when you're snowed in.

by Linda Ratcliff

snowedinMost of you know I live full time in an RV. At the campground where we stay, they don't believe in plowing. And we live at the low end of the park. Early January, there was ice - on top of snow - on top of ice, with NO hope it would be cleared and we didn't even try to get out. Now most of you would have used that gift of time to practice your dulcimers. But I began going through our lessons one by one, and found some ways to make improvements.

•Right now, videos are loaded in a …

Read more…

Comparing the Chromatic and Diatonic Fretboards

In this FREE SAMPLE LESSON from www.dulcimercrossing.com, Guest Instructor, Erin Rogers, compares the Chromatic Mountain Dulcimer Fretboard with the (close to standard) Diatonic Freboard.

This is the first in Erin's Chromatic Mountain Dulcimer Lesson Series on our site. And I just found this treasure:  David Beede, the maker of Erin's Chromatic Mountain Dulcimer filmed some video on its actual "Birthday"!  Take a look:

Erin will be teaching in Winfield at the Warm-Up Picnic on Saturday, Se…

Read more…

Chromatic Mountain Dulcimer--The Dark Side?

The debate rages between:

"traditionalists" who argue for a standard diatonic dulcimer ("I don't want no extra frets bygummit!");

"neo-traditionalists" who argue for a modified diatonic dulcimer with a 6+ fret ("well it is pretty standard these days");

"practical-neo-traditionalists" who are supporters of multi-modified diatonic dulcimer with 6+ AND 1+ frets; ("but I NEED that extra fret to play C and F chords!")

"people on the DARK side" who are supporters of entirely chromatic mountain dulcimers. …

Read more…

Categories