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Angle of Attack?

by Steve Eulberg A common question heard from and debated among hammered dulcimer players is:  “What is the best angle to use for playing?” From the images I've included here of my friends, you can tell the answer varies widely from player to player, and even (within the player) from situation to situation and day to day.  These are the extremes that you can readily see. But I've seen each of these players also choose to play use different angles to play, depending upon their situation. Bill …

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How should I practice? The 5 Finger-Regimen

by Steve Eulberg I hear this question all the time from students in my private studio, from my Jamplay.com guitar students and dulcimercrossing.com students. The Five-Finger Practice Regimen is what I always suggest:

1.  Tune up.5 Finger Practice Regime

It doesn't matter what instrument you play, it will sound better (and therefore encourage your practice) if it is in tune. [Note for hammered dulcimer players:  Tune ALL the strings on the instrument, not just the ones you use most!!  A significant part of the hammere…

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Whooing into the hole

by Steve Eulberg

WHAT IS IT?

This bit of dulcimer history always amazes people when I tell them about it.

When I built my first mountain dulcimer (from a FolkRoots kit in 1980), the instructions told me that once it was strung up I was to "whoo" into the soundhole to find out to which pitch I should tune the lowest string.

I was aware of this kind of "tuning" method with reference to native american flutes, which each have their own unique voice, but it was new to me, a guitar and mandolin player.  …

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Welcome to the DulcimerCrossing Blog

DulcimerCrossing.com is an affordable site where you can learn to play mountain or hammered dulcimer at your own pace, from the comfort of your own home!

Here we will give updates about the website, write occasional articles about dulcimer-related items and events, and share some mini-lessons and information about the lessons and free stuff in our site.

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